"World Day for Lab Animals" is Tomorrow

Discuss the application of the Dharma to situations of social, political, environmental and economic suffering and injustice.
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cjdevries
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"World Day for Lab Animals" is Tomorrow

Post by cjdevries »

Tomorrow is the World Day for Lab Animals.

Here's a link to the popular new short film "Save Ralph", an advocacy film to raise awareness for lab animals:

Here's a link to a film that was produced by a group called "Doctors Against Animal Experiments Germany":
"Please call me by my true names so I can wake up; so the door of my heart can be left open: the door of compassion." -Thich Nhat Hanh

"Ask: what's needed of you" -Akong Rinpoche

"Love never claims, it ever gives. Love ever suffers, never resents, never revenges itself." -Gandhi
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Budai
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Re: "World Day for Lab Animals" is Tomorrow

Post by Budai »

In all of this, the question must be quickly answered within one’s mind:

In cruel means, are the cravings of life justified?

This is a very Buddhist question at the heart of the matter.

We must pursue the Dharma and save our animal friends, for they need us as much as we need them as our friends.
avatamsaka3
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Re: "World Day for Lab Animals" is Tomorrow

Post by avatamsaka3 »

Support the Humane Cosmetics Act. You can express your support here:

https://secure.humanesociety.org/site/A ... ing_030921
amanitamusc
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Re: "World Day for Lab Animals" is Tomorrow

Post by amanitamusc »

At one time i heard Garchen Rinpoche mention that Bodhisattvas would take birth as a lab animal sometimes.
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Budai
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Re: "World Day for Lab Animals" is Tomorrow

Post by Budai »

amanitamusc wrote: Fri Apr 23, 2021 10:47 pm At one time i heard Garchen Rinpoche mention that Bodhisattvas would take birth as a lab animal sometimes.
This needs to be understood! Do you think all of those animals in the slaughterhouses and the labs are just being born there because it’s “their karma” and “they deserve it”? By no means! They are there because of Bodhisattvic reasons very often, and sometimes out of mercy. Imagine if we had no more animals. Imagine what humans could turn to doing (and if you think those people running labs and slaughterhouses would suddenly turn to kindness, how come they have not done so in the case of the animals?) There is great mercy and sacrifice in the animal kingdom for humanity and for each other, and I think this should not be ignored in Buddhism. Respect our animal brothers and sisters. :anjali: .

Anjali to them all.

Om Mani Padme Hum.
Passing By
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Re: "World Day for Lab Animals" is Tomorrow

Post by Passing By »

As a lab researcher I must say that tarring everyone who works in a lab that does animal work as unkind or uncompassionate is a bit much. The reason why animal experiments exist is because of inertia, something very prominent in academia, and the fact that artificial tissue models have yet to reach maturity.

No one actually wants to use lab animals because they are in fact, quite inaccurate in the first place. It's not like people use lab animals to vent some repressed sadism or something. Yet because of inertia, regulators demand it. It's rare you can jump staright into phase 1 or 2 human clinical trials without some animal work first


(hospital and pharmaco labs get round this these days by relying heavily on patient samples though. Far more accurate. But rare and tough to procure in large quantities)
amanitamusc
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Re: "World Day for Lab Animals" is Tomorrow

Post by amanitamusc »

Könchok Chödrak wrote: Fri Apr 23, 2021 11:30 pm
amanitamusc wrote: Fri Apr 23, 2021 10:47 pm At one time i heard Garchen Rinpoche mention that Bodhisattvas would take birth as a lab animal sometimes.
This needs to be understood! Do you think all of those animals in the slaughterhouses and the labs are just being born there because it’s “their karma” and “they deserve it”? By no means! They are there because of Bodhisattvic reasons very often, and sometimes out of mercy. Imagine if we had no more animals. Imagine what humans could turn to doing (and if you think those people running labs and slaughterhouses would suddenly turn to kindness, how come they have not done so in the case of the animals?) There is great mercy and sacrifice in the animal kingdom for humanity and for each other, and I think this should not be ignored in Buddhism. Respect our animal brothers and sisters. :anjali: .

Anjali to them all.

Om Mani Padme Hum.
Q1 Understanding karma one feels compassion for all beings in Samsara. Q2 I can't answer for someone else.
Tenma
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Re: "World Day for Lab Animals" is Tomorrow

Post by Tenma »

amanitamusc wrote: Fri Apr 23, 2021 10:47 pm At one time i heard Garchen Rinpoche mention that Bodhisattvas would take birth as a lab animal sometimes.
I always had suspicions that Henrietta Lacks was actually Tara in disguise (or at the very least, some kind of dakini seeing the hardships she went through during her lifetime).
འ༔ ཨ༔ ཧ༔ ཤ༔ ས༔ མ༔
SilenceMonkey
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Re: "World Day for Lab Animals" is Tomorrow

Post by SilenceMonkey »

Könchok Chödrak wrote: Fri Apr 23, 2021 11:30 pm
This needs to be understood! Do you think all of those animals in the slaughterhouses and the labs are just being born there because it’s “their karma” and “they deserve it”?
You should uncouple the idea of "deserving it" from karma. This is a moralistic interpretation of karma, maybe more in line with Brahmanic views of karma. But that's not how it is in Buddhism.

Sometimes people talk about karma with this sense of Judgement, perhaps a divine judgement. But in Buddhism karma isn't bestowed or anything like this. There's no sense of judgement, no "deserving" or "undeserving..." It's merely the results of our actions.
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