[Buddha-l] Re: on eating meat

[Joy Vriens]

Andrew Skilton wrote:

> I'm curious about the tension between acknowledging the sentience/agency (to use
> inadequate labels for what I am referring to) of other species and being
> dismissed as a paid up member of the Bambi brigade and thus dismissed as a kind
> of 'sentimentalist'.  Is it that those who, in a Buddhist environment, do not
> acknowledge what I called the continuity of consciousness are just importing
> incompatible cultural conditionings or religious ideologies into their Buddhism?

Interconnectedness is sufficient continuity of consciousness as far as I 
am concerned, but I like the idea of continuity of consciousness in that 
it doesn't allow one to say things like "animals are so simple, so 
stupid, ignorant, and defenseless, [that men really have no right to 
hunt and kill them for food]." It doesn't allow one to take pride in 
one's temporary consciousness status while comparing it to a lower 
status of other creatures in a judgemental way. Anything conscious is a 
fellow "creature". And that sort of attitude, which doesn't need to be 
sentimentalist, helps one to be more accepting of shortcomings in others 
and in oneself. It also helps one to prepare oneself for possible future 
lower states of oneself in this life (Alzenheimer, strokes of various 
types etc.)

With a hug for you and two pets on the back each for your dogs,

Joy