Kutadanta Sutta<\/a><\/em> (on ‘a bloodless sacrifice’), which records how the Buddha taught about the superior and ultimate spiritual sacrifice not being that of any sentient being’s life, but the sacrifice (giving up) of one’s defilements. As the sutta is quite long, I summarised the second half of it into prose form, as below. The ending is wonderful, where the Brahmin Kuntadanta became a follower of the Buddha, and thereupon liberated some 3,500 animals who were initially prepared for going under the knife, to be sacrificed as offerings to the ‘gods’. This I think, could be the first case of mass animal liberation in the Buddha’s time.<\/span><\/p>\nKutadanta asked the Buddha if there is any sacrifice
\nthat is more fruitful than that of animals and other items.
\nThe Buddha answered that
\npresenting regular family gifts are to virtuous spiritual practitioners is so.<\/p>\n
Kutadanta asked the Buddha if there is any sacrifice
\nthat is more fruitful than the above.
\nThe Buddha answered that
\nproviding shelter for the Sangha is so.<\/p>\n
Kutadanta asked the Buddha is there is any sacrifice
\nthat is more fruitful than the above.
\nThe Buddha answered that
\ntaking refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha is so.<\/p>\n
Kutadanta asked the Buddha is there is any sacrifice
\nthat is more fruitful than the above.
\nThe Buddha answered that
\nobserving the Five Precepts* is so.<\/p>\n
Kutadanta asked the Buddha is there is any sacrifice
\nthat is more fruitful than the above.
\nThe Buddha answered that
\npractising and perfecting the Threefold Training** is so.<\/p>\n
The Buddha remarked that
\nthere is nothing further in this world,
\nthat is a sacrifice that is more fruitful than all the others.
\nBeyond that is no sacrifice that is greater or more perfect.<\/p>\n
Kutadanta then took refuge in the Buddha,
\nsetting free the 700 bulls, 700 bullocks, 700 heifers, 700 goats and 700 rams,
\ngranting them life with green grass and refreshing water,
\nletting cool breezes play upon them.<\/p>\n
* of refraining from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying and taking of intoxicants
\n** of moral conduct, meditative concentration and realisation of wisdom to end spiritual corruptions and suffering<\/em><\/span><\/p>\nRelated Article:<\/strong>
\nTwo Ways to End Animal Sacrifice
\nhttps:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/2009\/11\/two-ways-to-end-animal-sacrifice<\/a>
\n<\/em><\/p>\n<\/del><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I came across the Kutadanta Sutta (on ‘a bloodless sacrifice’), which records how the Buddha taught about the superior and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[131,156],"class_list":["post-4329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-veganism","tag-animal-welfare","tag-veganism-vegetarianism","wpcat-74-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4329\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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<\/p>\n