“To my mind, the life of a lamb is no less precious than that of a human being.” Mahatma Gandhi
Not everyone feels that way. Some feel it’s an extremist view. Buddhism has the totally strange position of not eating meat, unless someone offers it to you. And then you need to make sure that the animal wasn’t murdered specifically for you. “Here, have a burger, I slaughtered Bessie for you.” In that case you must refuse. Bessie the cow would have died in vain, but you don’t care about that. After all, you have principles! For some reason this reminds me of the practice of eating road kill. Hey we’re dedicated vegans, until we find that deceased wallaby at the side of the road and then we can eat it. As long as we didn’t kill it ourselves. Well, that’s pretty clear, isn’t it?
I’m confused. How can a system that varies so widely in it’s baseline philosophy manage to gather followers and converts? (Advice, never join a group of people who feel your gender is inferior. Even when they say, “Oh, we don’t really mean that, let us give you the long explanation, which boils down to your gender is inferior, only with more words. Of course, then women couldn’t be Buddhist and tell us how wonderfully enlightening it is to be one.)
Buddhism is so much fun, because it wanders all over the place philosophically, and you must pay attention. Mainly so you can “Cherry Pick” Buddhist quotes to back up whatever bizarre anomalies occur. But interesting because you get to be a Vegan Meat Eater. At least when the timing’s right.
There are two types of squirrels who visit the deck. One is the garden variety squirrel. I have black, grey, and brown squirrels eating birdseed and peanuts at the squirrel feeder. It used to be a bird feeder. And a second type of smaller squirrel. These small midget squirrels are genetically predestined to be insane. All of them. And they move by teleporting. One will be hanging onto a tree trunk, suddenly jerks at the speed of light, and appears about two inches away in the blink of an eye. They molecularly teleport from point a to point b. Insane Teleportation at it’s finest.
I was sitting on the deck and noticed at my feet was a solitary peanut. One must have fallen when I was distributing them earlier. One of the insane little squirrels saw it and proceeded to mount the deck and chitter away a few feet from me. I was in the way. He/she was warning me to leave the peanut or die.
A regular squirrel became interested and waddled over, and an explosion occurred. The insane squirrel attacked the bigger one. I mean launched itself at the big squirrel chittering away madly. And proceeded to chase him/her around the yard. Back and forth, into the neighbor’s yard, up the telephone pole, across the wires, and through the branches. Warner Bro’s, roadrunner stuff.
How human. How much like us they are, “This is My peanut you scoundrel!” Now, you must die! Just like people. We have wars all over the place over our version of “It’s my peanut.”
The female Cardinal is so perfect, if there’s a perfect. For me, her coloring is exactly that. There’s one who has become aggressively friendly. So, while the squirrels are dancing, she shows up on the deck eyeing the solitary peanut. In the background the two squirrels run by, like a cartoon image.
She grabbed the nut and flew up onto a low branch to enjoy her prize. And watch the squirrels.
Yes the insane squirrel returned, only to find his peanut gone. Of course, she/he started teleporting all over the tree screaming at me. Just like people! Someone took his/her peanut! While they were defending it. Damn, life is hard.
There’s not much difference between me and squirrels, at least psychologically and emotionally. We are much closer together then we think or believe. They are all smarter than me environmentally. Genius level smarter. But, they make the same emotional connections I do, they tease and play, and have moments of contemplation.
I’m not a vegan. I’ve never been convinced being a creature born and raised in the killing fields of earth, where the rule is we all kill and eat each other, evolved to be protein-less. I do the best I can. Like an owl, I try to stick to fish and birds.
Animals are just like us. All of them. No easy answers here on earth. How do I approach this? What now?
More will be revealed.
Be kind. Be so kind.
Bryan Wagner
Visions of a People's Dharma 