Chanced upon this elegantly simple yet classic neo-retro Penguin book cover – ‘On the Suffering of the World’ by Arthur Schopenhauer. If you can’t read the quote above, it says ‘A quick test of the assertion that enjoyment outweighs pain in this world, or that they are at any rate balanced, would be to compare the feelings of an animal engaged in eating another with those of the animal being eaten.’ I’m not sure if he was refering to humans as animals too, but why not? In Buddhism, unlike science, humans are classified as not just another species of animals; but an entire different species in itself – due to humans’ general greater capacity for mindful compassion and wisdom. However, when we behave animal-like creatures of habit, we become likely candidates to join the animal kingdom in the next life. Though most humans are not bloodthirsty beasts, we must become increasingly aware that the animal produce we consume is possible only through bloodletting, and that the needless pain and suffering involved does not outweigh the very temporal satiation it ‘promises’.
According to the International Vegetarian Union, whether the German philosopher (1788 – 1860) was vegetarian is uncertain, but his influence on later vegetarians is significant. He once wrote, ‘Since compassion for animals is so intimately associated with goodness of character, it may be confidently asserted that whoever is cruel to animals cannot be a good man.’ And as above, who makes not a good human due to mistreatment of animals might karmically become an animal! He also said this – ‘The unpardonable forgetfulness in which the lower animals have hitherto been left by the moralists of Europe is well known. It is pretended that the beasts have no rights. They persuade themselves that our conduct in regard to them has nothing to do with morals or (to speak the language of their morality), that we have no duties towards animals; a doctrine revolting, gross, and barbarous.’
Schopenhauer was also the chief interpreter of Buddhist ideas in Europe in his time. However, being unenlightened after all, his ideas did not totally concur with Buddhist teachings despite having some similarities. A brief summary of the similarities and differences can be seen at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Schopenhauer#Schopenhauer_and_Buddhism On his modern day influence in Germany and Europe in fanning interest in Buddhism, is an article at http://buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=3,4744,0,0,1,0 from two years ago on its spread in the region.
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