Thursday, October 10, 2024
Contact    |    RSS icon Twitter icon Facebook icon  
Unexplained Mysteries
You are viewing: Home > News > Spirituality > News story
Welcome Guest ( Login or Register )  
All ▾
Search Submit

Spirituality

Buddhists release snakes, cause plague

By T.K. Randall
June 9, 2012 · Comment icon 23 comments

Image Credit: Marek Szczepanek
Buddhists in China enacted a 'compassionate release' by unleashing hundreds of snakes near a village.
50 members of the "Let Blessings and Wisdom Grow" Buddhist group believed that they were doing the right thing by releasing their cargo of one-thousand snakes in rural Hebei province, but little did they realise that what were actually doing was unleashing a plague of the creatures on a nearby village.

Police officers soon arrived on the scene to impound the group's vehicles but it was too late, villagers were already reporting sightings of snakes in their houses with concerns being raised about the danger the animals posed to some of the more vulnerable members of the community. "There is one girl in our village who has Down's syndrome and her parents are now scared of leaving her by herself in the house," said Li Guohua of the village committee. "I do not mind Buddhists releasing animals, but they should not disturb us."[!gad]50 members of the "Let Blessings and Wisdom Grow" Buddhist group believed that they were doing the right thing by releasing their cargo of one-thousand snakes in rural Hebei province, but little did they realise that what were actually doing was unleashing a plague of the creatures on a nearby village.

Police officers soon arrived on the scene to impound the group's vehicles but it was too late, villagers were already reporting sightings of snakes in their houses with concerns being raised about the danger the animals posed to some of the more vulnerable members of the community. "There is one girl in our village who has Down's syndrome and her parents are now scared of leaving her by herself in the house," said Li Guohua of the village committee. "I do not mind Buddhists releasing animals, but they should not disturb us."
The 50 members of the "Let Blessings and Wisdom Grow" Buddhist group left Beijing in a nine vehicle convoy last Friday, driving for half a day with their cargo of snakes into the countryside of Hebei province.


Source: Telegraph | Comments (23)




Other news and articles
Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #14 Posted by Archosaur 13 years ago
Its nice to see that even reptiles can get Buddist sypathy but... REALLY??? Maybe they could have helped protect some of the wild habitat, or bred and released any endangered species, and released them into their PROPER habitat? ...wisdom...maybe?
Comment icon #15 Posted by Sanctus Sapientis 13 years ago
Monstrum, this hardly proves that all religions are stupid or dangerous. This was a group of people who did something stupid. Sure, they did it in the name of their religion, but Buddhism did not cause them to do this. There have been plenty of stupid things done in the name of science, yet no one claims science itself is stupid and dangerous. Perhaps they were trying to act in favor of an oppressed group? Reptiles are almost universally hated, snakes especially. It clearly states in the article that releasing animals is a tradition in this area. Could've chosen a better area, though. My quest... [More]
Comment icon #16 Posted by david hack 13 years ago
well that was a stupid thing to do.
Comment icon #17 Posted by trish1997 13 years ago
where did they get that many snakes anyway?
Comment icon #18 Posted by Eldorado 13 years ago
where did they get that many snakes anyway? From the local Chinese Snake-Away?
Comment icon #19 Posted by Michelle 13 years ago
What a racket. If I lived there I'd own a snake store. Sell all of my inventory to people that want to set them free....go out and trap them...then sell them back to the people so they can set them free again.
Comment icon #20 Posted by BaneSilvermoon 12 years ago
It's depressing how many people don't even bother to read the articles before they comment now. Liu Guangsen, a member of the Let Blessings and Wisdom Grow group, said releasing snakes is a particularly good way of rebalancing karma."In China, we think snakes are one of the four evil animals, together with hedgehogs, foxes and weasels," he said, adding that forgiving these animals pays a greater karmic dividend.
Comment icon #21 Posted by Device 12 years ago
Despite it backfiring a little bit, I think they'll still accrue some good karma from this. Besides, the snakes aren't even venomous. I've deduced that.
Comment icon #22 Posted by DeathRain2012 12 years ago
Looks like medussa just took a ****.
Comment icon #23 Posted by DeathRain2012 12 years ago
Looks like medussa just took a ****.


Please Login or Register to post a comment.


Our new book is out now!
Book cover

The Unexplained Mysteries
Book of Weird News

 AVAILABLE NOW 

Take a walk on the weird side with this compilation of some of the weirdest stories ever to grace the pages of a newspaper.

Click here to learn more

We need your help!
Patreon logo

Support us on Patreon

 BONUS CONTENT 

For less than the cost of a cup of coffee, you can gain access to a wide range of exclusive perks including our popular 'Lost Ghost Stories' series.

Click here to learn more

Top 10 trending mysteries
Recent news and articles