Dalai Lama talks with the animals

[Owlscrying]

June 13

With creatures great and small around him, the Dalai Lama called Wednesday for a halt to lab experiments on animals and made the case for eating only fruits and vegetables - all at the zoo of the late "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin.

"Hunting, beef, sheep farms, piggeries, millions, billions, die," the Dalai Lama said. "We can be so cruel to animals." He said he used to buy animals to save them from the slaughterhouses when he was a young man in Tibet.

"Taking care of animals is essential to developing more happiness in human beings," he said. "I appreciate Steve Irwin and his wife Terri, all their dedication."

The Dalai Lama, his long red robe flapping in the wind, received a standing ovation as he took the stage at the Crocoseum on a sunny but crisp winter morning. Some of the crowd waved Buddhist prayer flags, and about a dozen Australian native birds, including black cockatoos and rainbow lorikeets, unexpectedly flew into the stadium just as he began speaking.

Asked to speak about the importance of family, the Dalai Lama urged parents to show as much compassion as possible to their children, and suggested that children be taught "warmheartedness" as part of the school curriculum.

The Dalai Lama's visit ended when Terri Irwin and her children, Bindi and Bob, came on stage, with Bindi carrying a koala, presenting the Irwin family with Buddhist white scarves, or katas, which are used to signal the positive start of new relationships.

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[Fluffybunny]

I really like the guy, he is quite a man. His books are insightful and his interviews have always had a good combination of wisdom and humor. He seems like he would be a rather interesting guy to have dinner with...

He has a point, in many ways we would be better of if we did not eat animals, but that is a whole long debate I'd rather not get into...

[Daluni]

Yeah, he's my hero. A role model for other religious leaders in the world.

[greggK]

Hooray for the apples and fruits and NUTS. Now, why in the world do we animals here!!!? They don't have souls! They are here to be consumed. Talk with 'em, Dalai! Eat with 'Em Dalai! Take 'em to bed, Dalai! See if you can make a new race, Dalai! Maybe they'll adopt you! I wish somebody else besides PROPHET YAHWEH would try to kill me! *EDIT* that comment was out of line; please read the PM coming your way.

Edited June 18, 2007 by Fluffybunny
To remove rude comment.

[brothers]

Hooray for the apples and fruits and NUTS. Now, why in the world do we animals here!!!? They don't have souls! They are here to be consumed. Talk with 'em, Dalai! Eat with 'Em Dalai! Take 'em to bed, Dalai! See if you can make a new race, Dalai! Maybe they'll adopt you! I wish somebody else besides PROPHET YAHWEH would try to kill me! *EDIT* that comment was out of line; please read the PM coming your way.

You are a crude person. Don't know why people that have nothing good to say say it anyway. Just to see your name here???

[moe eubleck]

Moe does not eat seagulls. Indeed we have had many talks to these majestic creatures as well. Yet no matter how hard we try, we cannot convince them to stop leaving messes on our windshield.

We must write to this llama and beg for his help. Perhaps he may turn the tides of this unwholesome misunderstanding.

[Grandpa Greenman]

I have a lot of respect for the Dalai Lama. He is a remarkable man. Good luck with your seagulls, moe, they are just getting their revenge for all we are doing to the Earth.

[SilverCougar]

The Dalai Lama is very much an aspiering man. (even if I can't spell aspiering lol)

However, there's a few issues that need to be addressed when it comes to makeing the world vegitarian..

First being that if humans wern't ment to eat meat.. we would have never of started all those thousands of years ago out in the planes of africa as any number of proto steps along the way.

Second is.. we've so much invested in the meat business... that if we were all to just stop eating meat... the eccological effect would be horrid. Beef cattle has been known to ruin the lands they're on... so it won't be any good to just let them run free... same with all the other domesticated animals that's ment to be munched.

However... this may also be great for family run farms.. As we would need to find ways to supply the few billions of humans on the planet. Make sure we don't slash and burn old forests for rice patties and wheat/corn feilds. Then there's the idea of people who have yards being able to grow their own veggies..

Might save more wildlife.. no longer having wolves and cougars shot at for *snerks* "killing" all the farm animals...

Well it's 6 one way, half a dozen the other... pros and cons to everything.

[Grandpa Greenman]

I am glad I went and read the whole article.

Lot of interesting stuff in it. Like China doesn't want world leaders to meet with him.

The hour-long zoo tour was a change for the Dalai Lama, whose trip to Australia has prompted lawmakers to express concern about meetings with the man China considers an exiled troublemaker.

After weeks of hedging, Prime Minister John Howard agreed to see the Dalai Lama on Friday. Howard is anxious not to offend Beijing because Australia's economy is closely tied to China's booming demand for natural resources. China, which rules Tibet, has used diplomatic pressure to discourage governments from meeting with the Dalai Lama, and Beijing immediately criticized Howard's decision to see him.

Yes we wouldn't want to offend a government who took over a country by force killing Tibetan monks, destroying temples, and people in the process. I don't have much respect for a world leader who kowtows to Beijing.