The gently humourous yet very touching official ‘Paradise’ video from Coldplay, which speaks of animal liberation. Worth a post in itself, without me needing to comment much. (My review of the song: http://moonpointer.com/new/2011/10/paradise)

A friend admiring butterflies posts this on Facebook, ‘What is the significance of a butterfly?’ I could say ‘It has potential huge significance!’ Think the Butterfly Effect! But I said this, ‘Remind me of this by Alice Walker: “The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any [...]

To Be Truly All-Embracing He presented himself to be free, free even to eat anything, open in an all-embracing way. But doesn’t he see the animals to be not free, to not be killed and eaten, such that they all struggle to embrace life? To be truly free, to be truly all-embracing, is to respect the [...]

Buddhist Views on Cat-Neutering 从佛教观点谈为猫绝育 The below email dialogue with a fellow reader is about the ethics of neutering cats to prevent the multiplication of strays, which might lead to their culling by animal control authorities. She is for the neutering of cats, but was posed some tricky questions by other Buddhists. (She keeps two vegan [...]

I used to take western medicine in general when I got sick, before I became vegan. After I became vegan, the idea of getting well based on the deaths of others gives me a sickening feeling… of unwellness. Nowadays, though I seldom visit doctors, when I do, I ask for concoctions of traditional chinese medicine [...]

This graph is funny yet generally true! Perhaps the Buddha already knew this, which is why he specifically used the number of legs of an animal/insect to remind us of how our loving-kindness (metta) should encompass all! May I have metta toward the footless [eg. snakes and worms] And toward bipeds [eg. two-legged animals] too, [...]

A friend found what (Khadi) seems to be a more ethical form of silk available in India, made from silk cocoons naturally broken open by the moths within, who then fly free. (Conventional silk is made by boiling cocoons with the insect within, so as to not break the silk threads for unravelling.) Came across [...]

I never take the obvious shortcut across the grass. Some might imagine this to be unwise, rigid in using the pavement. But to take the shortcut is to me uncompassionate, because one might trample on plants and insects. It’s a shortcut to harm, and some negative karma too? Related Article: Of Loving-kindness to Our Tiny [...]

During the animal liberation, he seemed particularly angry in the box of many crabs. Using a pair of tongs to hold him while snipping off the strings on his claws, I managed to free one of them. With the free claw, he waved it around dangerously, making it hard to free the other claw. I [...]

Just sent this to the press: I refer to the letter ‘”No meat, no fish” ideology can disturb eco balance’ (Sept 26) by Paul Chan in ‘The Sunday Times’, which stated that that ’we cannot survive on rice and vegetables alone’ and ’if half the world’s population became vegetarian… the sea would be infested with whales, sharks [...]

At a wedding lunch of a friend, two of us were served vegetarian food. We took a peek at the non-vegetarian menu placed at the table and to our surprise, shark fin was listed on it, though the bride had mentioned earlier that she won’t be ordering it. When the dish came and after it [...]

Turning these defenseless animals into egg-producing machines with no consideration for their welfare whatsoever is a degradation of our own humanity. – His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama HHDL joins the campaign against battery (caged) hens. Let’s support and follow his example at http://causes.com/causes/523420 During his recent Southeast Asia Teaching stint at Dharamsala, he remarked [...]

It struck me that the occasional ant that crawls by my office desk is not a bother… Because I don’t really regard this space as my place. Then again, nowhere is really my place – not even the place I live in, as everywhere is shared space with other beings seen and unseen. I am [...]

The girl standing, chatting with her friend at the bus-stop stamps her feet once a while, because ants crawl up them. She does this again and again, interrupting her conversation. Bizarre! Why not move out of the ants’ way? Why intrude into their space? Why punish them and the ants needlessly? Do we do the [...]

Q: I have tried to avoid the killing of insects but realise that this is impossible. I therefore consider that the results of such killings could give minor results such as the little sufferings we get from insect bites. A: Have you tried the path of Metta (Loving-kindness) to avoid killing? This the Buddha did [...]