Contemplating the suffering of animals

Animal realm from the Wheel of Life

     

updated and revised on 25th August 2020

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Bodhisattva Vasubandhu states:

“As for the animals, they have three places, the land, the water, and the air. Their principal place is the Great Ocean; the animals that are elsewhere are the surplus of the animals”[1].

Master Genshin also explains:

“The realm of animals is divided into two parts. The chief place is in the great sea, and branches are interspersed in the realms of humans and heavenly beings” .

a) Animals living in the Great Ocean

In the Buddhist cosmology, the great ocean or sea is the immeasurable extent of salt water which surrounds the four continents inhabited by humans and the Mount Sumeru[2]. In that place there are many types of animals, some many times bigger than those living in our human continent of Jambudvipa. Some are born between the continents where there is no sunlight and where they cannot see even their own bodies. Their suffering comes mainly from eating each other, the bigger ones swallowing up the little ones, while they themselves are inhabited by tiny little creatures who feed on their flesh.

b) Animals living in different places

These are animals that live in some realms of the gods or in the human realms, or they are animals with supernatural powers like the nagas and the garudas.

The animals who live in our realm and the realm of the gods suffer from both eating one another, and from exploitation. They are hunted or raised for their meat and various products of their bodies, thus experiencing inconceivable torments and almost none of them dying a natural death. 

Bodhisattva Nagarjuna lamented the state of animals in the following verses:

“Even when in the state of an animal rebirth,

there are all sorts of sufferings:

Being slaughtered, tied up, being beaten, and so on.

For those who've had to give up [the ability for] constructive behavior

leading to [a state of] peace,

There's the extremely unbearable devouring of one another”.

Some are killed for the sake of their pearls or wool,

Or bones, meat, or pelts;

While others, being powerless, are forced into servitude,

Beaten with kicks, fists, or whips, or with hooks or with prods."[3]

Patrul Rinpoche said:

„The animals that live in the realms of gods and humans suffer continually from their stupidity and from being exploited, while the nagas  pass their lives in misery being tormented by garudas and rains of burning sand. In addition they are stupid, aggressive and poisonous.

The wild animals that share our human world, in particular, live in constant fear. They cannot eat a single mouthful of food without being on their guard. They have many mortal enemies, for all animals prey on each other and there are always hunters, beasts of prey and other threats to life. Hawks kill small birds, small birds kill insects, and so on, continually amassing evil actions in an endless round of killing and being killed.

Hunters are expert in all methods of torturing and killing these animals. They threaten their lives with all sorts of vicious devices-nets, snares, traps and guns. Some animals are killed for their horns, fur, skins and

other products of their body. Oysters are killed for their pearls; elephants for their tusks and bones; tigers, leopards, otters and faxes for their fur; musk-oxen for their musk; wild asses and yaks for their flesh and blood.

It is a terrible affliction that the very body with which they are born is the reason for their being killed.

As for those animals domesticated by man, they are so stupid that when their executioner approaches, knife in hand, they can only stare wideeyed, not even thinking of escape. They are milked, loaded down, castrated, pierced through the nose and yoked to the plough. Not one of

them escapes this continual round of slavery. Horses and yaks continue to be loaded and ridden even when their backs are nothing but one big sore. When they can go no further, they are whipped and pelted with stones. The fact that they could be in distress or ill never seems to cross

their owners' minds. Cattle and sheep are exploited until they die. Once they are too old, they are sold off or killed by the owners themselves. Whatever the case, they are destined for the butcher and a natural death is unknown to them. Animals, then, experience inconceivable torments. Whenever you see animals tortured in this way, put yourself in their place and imagine in detail all they have to undergo.”[4]

            Nagas are animals with miraculous powers who live in many places: in some realms of the gods or humans, bellow the four continents or in depths of waters (oceans, rivers, lakes, etc) where they have their own paralel reality, invisible to us, with cities, palaces and various manifestations. Sometimes, it seems that the waters are just a portal towards their realms which they can reach through other means[5], like for example, through earth[6].

The world of nagas is luxurious, very sensual and sexual. The palaces are fantastically beautiful, filled with all kinds of riches, gardens and lakes, fruits always rippened and perfumed open lotuses. The land is leveled and pleasant to touch like a soft carpet. The naga women are perfect seducers whose magical power of attraction is hard to resis, some of them leading an immoral life[7].

The nagas resemble a lot with the spirits and have miraculous powers but are included in the category of animals because of their body in the form of big hooded snakes like cobras[8], and also probably because of their powerful animal instincts.  They have the capacity to become invisible and shapeshift, the sacred texts often mentioning them to appear in human form, although they can take other forms[9], too. They are temperamental beings and if they are upset or their teritory is defiled they can throw with diseases or cause various problems to humans.

However, there are some nagas who are converted to Buddhism and who protect the Dharma and the disciples of Buddha, sometimes even acting as keepers of sacred texts[10]. In Muccalinda Sutra we are told that the naga king Muccalinda protected Shakyamuni Buddha from rain by covering him with his huge hood. This image is famous in the Buddhist statuary art. Also, in the Lotus Sutra we are told about a daugher of another naga king who attained Enlightenment, and a list of eight great naga kings are often mentioned in audience when Shakyamuni taught various sutras. So, the world of nagas has its own sages and spiritually evolved practitioners. 

Generaly speaking, a being is reborn as a naga due to an ambivalent karma of speech, body and mind. For example, it is mentioned in the Samantapasadika the case of a man who had such a good karma that he deserved to be reborn in the world of the gods but because he was guilty of incestuous relations he was reborn as a water naga who fed on frogs. He was so disgusted with his life as a naga and wanted to become human again as he took human form and received monk ordination to gain the necesary karma to be reborn a human in the next life. Unfortunately, after he became a monk and lived for some time at a monastery, somebody saw his true form when sleeping[11] and the monks told everything to Shakyamuni. He spoke about the specific limitations of nagas and forbade the ordination of animals, on which occasion was proclaimed the rule that each aspirant should be asked, ”manusso’si?”, which means, “are you a human being?” before ordination.[12]

Uncontrolled sexual instincts lead to rebirth in the animal world. However, as nobody has a single type of karma, there is not a single type of animals, some being superior to others. Thus, an uncontrolled sexuality combined with a very good karma in other things[13] may lead to rebirth in a superior form of animal like the naga.

Depending on the modality of birth, the nagas are of many types, each category being considered superior to other: 1) nagas born by spontaneous apparition, 2) nagas born from moisture, 3) nagas born from the womb and 4) nagas bron from eggs.

Nagas are usually associated with the water element but there are also nagas associated with the fire element. It is well known the story of taming a fire naga by Shakyamuni Buddha followed by the mass conversion of the fire ascetic worshippers[14].  

Although the nagas have some miraculous powers and enjoy great abundance, they also suffer from various afflictions. For example, the nags of Jambudvipa (our world) are said to suffer from three calamities:

1)      Their skin and flesh are burned by a hot wind or hot sand storm which appears from time to time in their world,

2)      Sometimes an evil wind errupts in their naga palaces leaving them without clothes, ornaments and protection from heat,

3)      They are attacked and eaten by the Garudas, their natural enemies[15].

Garudas, the second type of animals with miraculous

powers, are very big birds[16] with incredible strenght, being capable to pull banyan trees from their roots (Jataka, 412, 543) or create a powerful wind with the flapping of their wings (Jataka, 518) through which they separate the waters of the ocean and find nagas dwelling places (Jataka, 412) or to cause a storm which can destroy human houses and plunge a whole town into total darkness (Jataka, 360).[17]

Also, because of their supranatural powers, garudas can shapeshift, often taking human form. Their favorite place to live are the groves of simbali trees[18] (Samyutta Nikaya, 48:70), a large community of garudas being mentioned (Jataka, 31) to live in such a forest on the slopes of mount Sumeru[19].

The main food of garudas are the nagas. The garudas are born in all the four modes, simmilar to the nagas, and here too there is a hierarchy depending on the modes of birth: 1) spontaneous appartition, 2) from moisture, 3) the womb and 4) from the egg. This hierarchy reflects especially in the modality of eating, that is, a garuda born spontaneously can eat any type of nagas, while the rest can eat only a naga from the same category or inferior to them. Those born from egg, being the lowest category, can only eat the nagas equivalent to them. There are, however, cases of peace between these two species of powerful animals.

Some garudas are converted to Buddhism and act as protectors of Dharma and disciples of Buddha. Among these some are also very advanced spiritually and even attained Enlightenment.

The sacred texts are very poor in details regarding garuda birds which is why I did not find any information about the causes of birth in this form of existence and the sufferings specific to them, as they seem to have no natural enemies. However, they also get old and die, and suffer from the tirany of instincts like any animal, feeling hunger and the need to eat other animals.

In accordance with Abhidharmakosabhasyam by Vasubandhu,  the lifespan of most long-lived animals is no more than an eon, while the life spans of short-lived animals is not fixed.

---

[1] Abhidharmakosabhasyam, English translation by Leo M. Pruden; Berkeley, Calif, Asian Humanities Press, 1991; vol 2, p. 460

[2] Mount Sumeru is a cosmological mountain, like an axis of the world. Every samsaric world or universe has a mount Sumeru, or an axis in relation with which all the six planes of existence are described.

[3] Verses 89 and 90 from Letter to a Friend (bShes-pa'i springs-yig, Skt. Suhrllekha) by Nagarjuna, translated by Alexander Berzin, 2006, http://www.berzinarchives.com/web/en/archives/sutra/level6_study_major_texts/suhrllekha_letter_friend_nagarjuna/letter_friend.html

[4] Patrul Rinpoche, The Words of My Perfect Teacher, Boston: Shambhala, Revised edition, 1998, p.76-77

[5] When king Uggasena wished to visit the realm of nagas, the naga king Campeya created through his magical power a golden road which lead there.

[6] In Bhuridatta Jataka entrance to a naga dwelling place is described as a whirpool in the Yamuna river, but later, the nagas reach the same place through earth.

Jataka 543 - The Buddhist Cosmos: A Comprehensive Survey of the Early Buddhist Worldview; according to Theravada and Sarvastivada sources, by Punnadhammo Mahathero, Independently Published, Arrow River Forest Hermitaje, 2018, p.169

[7] It is told that the naga king Vimala wished to recruit an assasin to kill the sage Vvidhura because his queen desired to eat his heart, so he asked his daugher Irandhati to find one. She did not oppose, being herself overcome by carnal desires, so she put on a red dress, adorned herself with various ornaments and went on the top of a mountain. There she made a bed of perfumed flowers, danced and sang with a sweet voice: „What gandharva, rakshasa, kimpurisa or a sage would like to have his desires satisfied with me and be my husband for the whole night?” This is how she seduced and recruited Punnaka, the leader of yakshas who tried to kill Vidhura.

Jataka, 546 - The Buddhist Cosmos: A Comprehensive Survey of the Early Buddhist Worldview; according to Theravada and Sarvastivada sources, by Punnadhammo Mahathero, Independently Published, Arrow River Forest Hermitaje, 2018, p.173 

[8] They also feed  like snakes, especially the water nagas.

[9] The sacred texts sometimes mention cases of nagas who assume the form of animals and even objects.

[10] It is said that Bodhisattva Nagarjuna received the Prajnaparamita sutras from some nagas which were entrusted to them by Shakyamuni Buddha.

[11] Nagas come back to their natural form when sleeping, throw their skin, make sex with other nagas and in the moment of death.

[12] Vinaya, Mahavagga 1:63 - The Buddhist Cosmos: A Comprehensive Survey of the Early Buddhist Worldview; according to Theravada and Sarvastivada sources, by Punnadhammo Mahathero, Independently Published, Arrow River Forest Hermitaje, 2018, p.168-169 

[13] For example, somebody observes all the other precepts and be very generous with those in need but has an incorrect sexual life. This combination may lead to rebirth as a naga. Uncontrolled sexuality has the karmic effect of birth into the animal plane of existence (and in some extreme cases even in hell or preta realms) while generosity leads to abundance and miraculous powers.

[14] Once the Buddha reached the monastery of Kassapa in Uruvela, who was the leader of a group of fire ascetics and asked him to let Him sleep in the place called the „fire hut”. Kassapa agreed but told Him that there was a ferocious and poisoned naga there. Buddha was not scared and sat inside the fire hut in meditation posture. The naga became furious  and blew smoke through his mouth. Buddha did the same. „I will conquer the heat of this naga with heat without destroying him”, thought the Buddha. Then the naga blew fire and the Buddha, entering the fire element, did the same. The fire ascetics gathered arround the hut and watched in amazement how it was filled with fire. All of them thought the Buddha will die, but to their surprise the next morning the Buddha left the hut with the tamed naga seated silently in His bowl: „Look Kasapa, here is your naga. His fire was extinguished.”

[15] The nagas who take refuge in the Buddha cannot be eaten by the garudas.

[16] According to Anguttara Nikaya a garuda king can have a wingspread of 150 yojanas.

[17] The Buddhist Cosmos: A Comprehensive Survey of the Early Buddhist Worldview; according to Theravada and Sarvastivada sources, by Punnadhammo Mahathero, Independently Published, Arrow River Forest Hermitaje, 2018, p.177

[18] Bot: Bombax Ceiba. They are also called Kapok trees. In English they are known as Silk-cotton trees.

[19] The Buddhist Cosmos: A Comprehensive Survey of the Early Buddhist Worldview; according to Theravada and Sarvastivada sources, by Punnadhammo Mahathero, Independently Published, Arrow River Forest Hermitaje, 2018, p.177