Buddhism Embodies Respect for Life
Nam Si-jung | US Lawyer
Imagine this scenario: Aliens from a very advanced civilization decide to conquer Earth. Upon tasting human flesh, they want to turn Earth into a human meat farm. Equipped with high-tech military weaponry, they quickly subdue the Earthlings.
The sociopolitical structure of alien society possessing advanced science and technology is not that simple. They have diverse opinions on politics, religion and ethics. Most of them have no qualms about butchering living beings from other planets and enjoying the meat. However, there is a “minority group” within this alien society which contends that “it is not right to commit violence against living beings from other planets.”
This minority is vehemently opposed to turning Earth into a human meat farm. As this minority’s moral demonstrations grow fiercer, the majority eventually embrace the minority’s suggestion to listen to the Earthlings who can speak on their own behalf.
This is my own fictional story to illustrate the relationship between humans and animals. However, what would humans say to the aliens to defend themselves in this scenario? If you readers had the opportunity to state your case directly to the aliens, what would you say? Which religion or which ethical philosophy and worldview would have more power to persuade the alien majority?
In my opinion, the Buddhist worldview that embodies respect for all life is most convincing for the following reasons.
Devoid of an Arrogant, Narrow-Minded, Human-Centered Worldview
The religions that originated with Abraham (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) teach there is only one God, and all humans are His creation. They can go to heaven only when they obey His commandments and moral principles. Upon first glance, it seems that people are encouraged to accept humility by establishing a higher concept of God. But in reality, this is a deluded worldview which is utterly human-centered, small-minded, and even arrogant.
The extremely delusional view that “humans are the creation of and loved by God” implies that “only human lives have value.” Only humans are “endowed with souls” and they should have dominion over all “lesser” life forms. Even mammals, which do feel pain and can express emotions, are regarded a “commodity” bestowed to humanity by God. Descartes’ argument that animals do not have souls and therefore can be used as a commodity originates from this view. Simply put, there is no moral basis to abstain from eating meat.
In the monotheistic tradition of the West, it is an ethical challenge to have others embrace a respect for life for beings other than humans. As long as one dwells in this human-centered worldview, any concept of what is moral is limited by the selfish interests of mankind. There are people who oppose animal abuse (like the alien minority in my story), but no matter how much the minority pleads for “animal liberation” or “animal rights,” the majority, addicted to the habit of eating meat, won’t budge. Despite scientific findings that animals experience not only pain but also emotions, have memory and even a sense of self, the ruthless violence against animals doesn’t stop.
The Western concept of “animal rights” doesn’t somehow seem to fit together with its human-centered moral tradition. Only humans endowed with souls can have “rights” bestowed by God, correct? This is the basic reason why animal rights movements in America and Europe seem to have reached their limit.
Western morality, which is completely human-centered, would be even less convincing to aliens. While contending that only humans with souls are chosen by God, is it possible to appeal to aliens who are not “chosen” by this God to respect human life?
Behind Western imperialism, which has committed centuries of ruthless violence against people of color as well as animals, lies the ethnic-centered arrogant view that “only white people were chosen by God,” and this arrogance has been justified by monotheistic superstition. Whites regarded blacks as half-human and half-animal, and cruelly enslaved them if not killed them outright. The Nazis murdered millions of Jews because they saw Jews as less than human. Applying the same reasoning, there is no reason to feel compassion for animals.
Unlike some other religions, Buddhism has a post-anthropocentric worldview which transcends human selfishness and greed. The Buddha-dharma, which embodies Buddha’s enlightenment and teachings, consists of laws and principles of nature that came from his meditational experiences (non-self) and from his observation of phenomena to see them as they are (insight accordant with reality). In Buddhism there is no room for human-centered prejudice, self-grasping or selfish interests.
Buddhism is meant to be practiced. Above all else it warns against self-deceit and harboring delusions. The Buddha-dharma can only be experienced through practice, not from blind belief. Knowing that humans are part of a limitless network connected to all other beings that is dependent upon causes and conditions, Buddhism neither denies nor disregards humans having animal desires. Buddhism doesn’t conflict with scientific truths because it understands phenomena and sees them as they are (unlike monotheistic religions).
Fear of death leads humans into delusions, such as monotheistic superstitions. Buddhism knows the value of meditation which can free humans from the fear of death. Buddhism is a practice that embodies the concept of dependent origination, which says life and death are one. Practice leads Buddhists to realize that fear of death goes hand in hand with the will to live which is shared by all living beings.
Meditation practice and experience with samatha guide one to realize the following fact: “the self as construed by the self is nothing but another ‘thought’ that arises from the automatic flow of thought which is irrelevant from the will of the self.” There is a neuroscientific contention that the self through which we see the world (the “self” as in “sense of self”) does not exist; rather the self is a background phenomenon that arises from the brain’s arithmetic operation. This can be directly confirmed by anyone through meditation.
I am confident that experiencing non-self is the source of Buddhism’s compassion. Through meditation one can repeatedly experience and confirm the phenomenological truth that the sense of self we experience at each moment is the self and the whole world. The self, which one previously misunderstood to be the self, as the master of the sense of the self, or as the self of feelings and thoughts, reduces its powerful grip through the function of “stopping and seeing” in which the brain repeatedly replays and observes its own process of processing information.
The hormonal impulses of the self, which arouse animalistic desires and selfishness, can be regulated through practice. Only practice, not blind faith or logic, can guide one to attain the “Middle Way (balance of physical hormones).” Based on firsthand experience, one can be liberated from human-centered evolutionary delusions. This is the biological and moral evolution of humans which can be directly attained as a “being who has a sense of self.”
Because we ourselves experience suffering, we should be able to understand the suffering of other living beings. Because we are destined to die, we can extend compassion to all living beings who must also die. How can we not have compassion toward animals who share the same suffering we do? Toward animals who are as helpless as children to violence, how can we not feel pity and compassion? This feeling is only possible as long as we do not deceive our “true self (our conscience).”
I empathize with the moral sensibilities of Western animal rights activists. When Tom Regan, who promoted ethical vegetarianism applying Kant’s moral philosophy, died several years ago, I couldn’t help but respect his lifelong dedication to animal welfare. Nevertheless, the advocacy for animal rights by Western philosophers like Tom Regan and Peter Singer does not extend beyond the framework and limitations of Western thought which is based on human-centeredness.
Buddhism does not promote human-centered illusions and arrogance. Being post-ethnocentric, it does not conflict with alien religions or thoughts. The altruistic appeal of Buddhism, which teaches “to respect all living beings in the universe is conducive to the liberation of aliens themselves,” would touch alien hearts as well and convince alien minds that are inclined to scientific thinking.
All Lives Have Value
All that lives must die. Without death (which is a natural process of returning to the basic elements of the universe) there is no birth; because birth exists, death exists. This ordinary process of transmigration (samsara) is just a truth of the Buddha-dharma, in my opinion. One is supposed to feel fear of death while living. This fear is the other side of “desire (biological will to live).” Thanks to this “mental suffering (afflictions)” one can ironically feel friendly compassion for all living beings.
To not harm another life is deemed the most important precept in Buddhism. If one can become a vegetarian, they don’t eat meat. At the same time, one should not extol doctrinal vegetarianism in which vegetarianism itself is idolized. That’s why the Buddha said it was okay to eat meat if one receives meat in their alms bowl because the donation was offered with sincerity and devotion. Buddhism guards against biological desires, but does not promote asceticism which denies certain normal bodily functions. It only seeks the “Middle Way” which is the law of the universe.
Nonviolence, altruism and compassion are aspects of nirvana, which is the ultimate goal of life. Buddhist compassion is neither the command of one God (or philosophical revision of the command) nor the “logical conclusion of rational thinking.” It is part of the natural cycle in which the universe finds its own path.
Every year an astronomical number of about 72 billion animals are raised and butchered on industrial farms. About 10% die prematurely due to stress and suffering. The stench of death hangs in the air, but still we force ourselves to look away.
Every year an astounding 2.7 trillion fish are pulled from the sea. The amount of edible fish in the world’s oceans is already being depleted beyond recovery, and if industrial fishing continues at the current rate, all the edible fish will be gone in 30 years.
The excessive consumption of meat and fish will not end simply by a minority raising issues, and this level of over-consumption is already threatening the survival of humanity. Raising livestock for meat, which constitutes only about 18 % of the calories people consume, requires over 80% of the available farm land. In addition, the water and land pollution caused by animal waste also threatens the health of humanity. Furthermore, the use of growth hormones and antibiotics doesn’t stop the spread of contagious animal diseases, and greenhouse gas emissions accelerate climate warming.
Of all the species that once roamed the Earth, about 99.9 % are already extinct. Even today it is estimated that about 2,000 species disappear every year. By committing violence against other living beings, we humans are only digging our own graves. We must stop the abuse and torture of animals and learn humility in the face of life and death.
If wonder and respect for life cannot be established as a matter of common sense, violence against other living creatures and environmental destruction will not stop. Western thinking and values can never be separated from monotheistic superstitions. Korea’s form of Mahayana Buddhism, which promotes ethical vegetarianism, should stand at the center of respect of life. Only the compassionate spirit of the bodhisattvas can save us and all living beings in the universe.
Nam Si-jung graduated from the Dept. of Philosophy at Sungkyunkwan University; received his master’s degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, and his doctor of jurisprudence degree (J.D.) from the University of California’s Hastings College of Law. Currently he is a lawyer specializing in venture capital and an investor in Silicon Valley, California. He writes commentaries on current events for IT Chosun. His writings include “Venture@Silicon Valley” and “Why Meditate?” (e-book).
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