Even if the ideal is hard to reach,
working towards the ideal
is still more ideal than to not.– Stonepeace | Books
I saw on TV that Australia was selling huge numbers of sheep and cows to Indonesia. They showed sheep all lined up, going to the slaughterhouse. There was the shot of a cow with a rope tied to its horns being pulled down from the platform to its place of execution. The cow didn’t want to go; it was pulling back and a man was pulling it down…
At that time, I thought I cannot stop this, but now, whatever teaching I do, even tantric teachings, I announce to the world, to [encourage more to] be vegetarian [or ideally, vegan], so that fewer people will eat meat and fewer animals will get killed and they will suffer less…
No eating meat at all in the world – that is a dream… But fewer people eating can happen… We ourselves don’t want somebody else to use our body, to be killed for food. We don’t want to suffer. In exactly the same way, why not all others? Animals, insects, they don’t want to suffer. We can see that when we touch their bodies, they have such fear.
Animals can’t speak. They can’t demonstrate on the road or proclaim their position on TV or in newspapers They can’t parade with placards and loudspeakers. They have no power at all… It’s so painful. People have little concern about their feelings. [This is why we must speak up for them.]
Sun Of Devotion, Stream Of Blessings
Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Some good news. According to the research firm Global Data veganism has grown 600% in the United States since 2014. Primarily amongst younger people at that. It is a start one may hope.