EARTHLINGS

[Blue Garuda]

''Nation Earth presents EARTHLINGS -- the multi-award winning documentary about society's treatment of animals, narrated by Joaquin Phoenix and a soundtrack by Moby.''


This film is extremely graphic and contains scenes of great cruelty.

I advise watching the trailer before deciding whether to watch the whole documentary film.

The spread of compassion is not easy, but I believe we should all do what we can.

May all sentient beings one day be free from suffering.

http://www.earthlings.com/

[Mr. G]

Good documentary that I enjoyed. Makes me want to go vegan.

[Luke]

This film is extremely graphic and contains scenes of great cruelty.

Aaargh!! You're not bloody kidding! Oh, those scenes are horrifying! Blech! I know now that I couldn't handle watching the actual film.

Anyway, I do think it's important to make people aware of the degree to which animals suffer as a result of humans. It might make them wake up from their sleep of ignorance. It might wake them up to the fact that every action they commit has consequences.

Saving even one animal from being tortured or slaughtered is a significant act.

[Blue Garuda]

This film is extremely graphic and contains scenes of great cruelty.

Aaargh!! You're not bloody kidding! Oh, those scenes are horrifying! Blech! I know now that I couldn't handle watching the actual film.

Anyway, I do think it's important to make people aware of the degree to which animals suffer as a result of humans. It might make them wake up from their sleep of ignorance. It might wake them up to the fact that every action they commit has consequences.

Saving even one animal from being tortured or slaughtered is a significant act.

You are absolutely right.

I didn't post this to make people cry (although I did myself) or feel empathy.

Compassion is embodied in our actions.

Equanimity as far as I am concerned means having compassion for all sentient beings, and behaving accordingly.

For some reason my own focus tends to be on dogs and their welfare, so you can imagine how I felt at the scene of a dog who had been skinned alive, raising its red fleshy head in unimagineable pain, as it lay on top of a pile of similarly brutalised animals - living carcasses.

As Buddhists, we want to make changes to our own deluded minds, but we should always be prepared to take any opportunity to lessen the suffering of others beings while we have this fortunate human life.

[Luke]

For some reason my own focus tends to be on dogs and their welfare, so you can imagine how I felt at the scene of a dog who had been skinned alive, raising its red fleshy head in unimagineable pain, as it lay on top of a pile of similarly brutalised animals - living carcasses.

Yuck!! Oh, horrible!

I had no idea it was a dog! I thought it was a ferret or something (not that that would make it any better). In which country are they sknning these dogs alive?? Christ, if there ever was a cause to send a petition around for and to generate international outrage over, it's that!
********

On a more mild note, I went out for a walk the other night when it was pretty cold, maybe -5 celsius. There was a German shepherd sitting on the ground outside as a "guard dog"--although this dog was so kind that he doesn't bark at anyone; he just looks sad and lonely. German shepherds may have fairly thick fur, but I think it's cruel to leave them out in the cold all night. How long will it take before the dog really begins to suffer? Two hours in the cold? Three hours in the cold?

I wonder if the dog would be smart enough to get under a blanket if I threw one over the fence? I would also like to give him a sausage. I dislike buying meat, but dogs enjoy meat more than anything else.

[Blue Garuda]

For some reason my own focus tends to be on dogs and their welfare, so you can imagine how I felt at the scene of a dog who had been skinned alive, raising its red fleshy head in unimagineable pain, as it lay on top of a pile of similarly brutalised animals - living carcasses.

Yuck!! Oh, horrible!

I had no idea it was a dog! I thought it was a ferret or something (not that that would make it any better). In which country are they skinning these dogs alive?? Christ, if there ever was a cause to send a petition around for and to generate international outrage over, it's that!
********

On a more mild note, I went out for a walk the other night when it was pretty cold, maybe -5 celsius. There was a German shepherd sitting on the ground outside as a "guard dog"--although this dog was so kind that he doesn't bark at anyone; he just looks sad and lonely. German shepherds may have fairly thick fur, but I think it's cruel to leave them out in the cold all night. How long will it take before the dog really begins to suffer? Two hours in the cold? Three hours in the cold?

I wonder if the dog would be smart enough to get under a blanket if I threw one over the fence? I would also like to give him a sausage. I dislike buying meat, but dogs enjoy meat more than anything else.

There are many charities working to prevent this, but the culture of some countries is that if a dog dies in agony, its meat will taste better. The clip, I think, was of fur trade (probably Chinese) using dogs and cats. I've seen others, including taking a dog on a 'picnic' where it is hung from a tree and blow-torched alive.

The German Shepherd should be OK. I once bought a collie pup from a farm and asked to see the mother. She was asleep on a snowdrift in -10 temperatures. They are bred to be as hardy as the sheep they herd.

[Inge]

I also was moved by the Earthlings movie, but some times when I see videos like this no compassion arises. I have thought about doing tonglen to this film, because doing tonglen with visualization only makes me more irritated, but I havn't dared do so yet, because I am afraid to have no compassion. Do you sometimes see such things without compassion?

[Luke]

I also was moved by the Earthlings movie, but some times when I see videos like this no compassion arises. I have thought about doing tonglen to this film, because doing tonglen with visualization only makes me more irritated, but I havn't dared do so yet, because I am afraid to have no compassion. Do you sometimes see such things without compassion?

Maybe your mind shuts down with disbelief after you see something which is this horrible. I usually don't feel compassion when I see a horror movie; it's just abstract to me.

If watching less horrible stuff makes you feel more compassion, then stick to the less horrible stuff.

The German Shepherd should be OK. I once bought a collie pup from a farm and asked to see the mother. She was asleep on a snowdrift in -10 temperatures. They are bred to be as hardy as the sheep they herd.

Thanks, I can sleep a bit better now!

Okay, now time for a very cute, therapeutic picture!

[DharmaChela]

"the culture of some countries is that if a dog dies in agony, its meat will taste better."

Honestly I find this concept horrifying. Admittedly, what my countrymen do to cattle isn't remotely compassionate either, but I'm amazed there isn't more visible international outrage over this kind of thing. You don't have the right to brutalize an animal and put it through inconcievable suffering simply because you think it makes it taste better. The idea doesn't even make rational sense when you think about it.

[dzoki]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 028182173#

This is also very moving film, in this case showing a positive relationship between human and animals.
Just seen a trailer of the Earthlings and it is indeed very brutal, alas this is what kleshas cause.

[Aemilius]

''Nation Earth presents EARTHLINGS -- the multi-award winning documentary about society's treatment of animals, narrated by Joaquin Phoenix and a soundtrack by Moby.''


This film is extremely graphic and contains scenes of great cruelty.

I advise watching the trailer before deciding whether to watch the whole documentary film.

The spread of compassion is not easy, but I believe we should all do what we can.

May all sentient beings one day be free from suffering.

http://www.earthlings.com/

Life is suffering, impermanent, and without self. What can one say?
Animals and humans are both in the Wheel of Becoming. Only few of them conceive the wish to escape from it.