We’ve all heard of sexism, racism and religious discrimination, but how many of you have ever heard of speciesism? What does it even mean? The spell checker in my blog writer doesn’t know the word, it suggests specialism, which is strangely ironic. Let me explain why I want you to know.
Speciesism is the act of assigning varying rights and considerations to creatures, including ourselves, based on the species to which they belong. It is an old idea, we are told that God put animals on the Earth for the use of man, and god, we have been using, or misusing them ever since.
You will know that apart from being Buddhist, I am also vegan. I refuse to eat any product that is part of, or has come from any other living being. So no meat or fish, no milk, cheese or eggs and nothing that contains any of these either.
A little like being Buddhist in a predominantly Christian country, being vegan is definitely considered to be swimming against the tide. We are all told, right from childhood, that food from animals, lamb, beef, pork, milk, cheese, the list is endless, is good for us. In fact, when I was at junior school, I was the class milk monitor.
Sadly, we weren’t told the whole story, as you may have read in previous posts. What we were never told as children, was how cows become beef, baby sheep become lamb, pigs become pork, or how the chickens who laid our breakfast eggs where kept in disgusting conditions, and still are.
We hear about Animal Rights groups, usually when they have committed some illegal act in their quest to release animals from scientific establishments or disrupting whale or fox hunting. But they are right.
Just because we have learned to use our large brains to develop societies around which we can farm animals, doesn’t make it right. Animals, as members of the family of Earth dwelling beings, have just as much right to be here, and exist in peace, as we do.
Other people can, and have put the case far more eruditely than I possibly can in this post, so please can you take the time to watch the video Earthlings. Be aware, it is not for the faint hearted. It will shock and quite likely disgust you, but if it makes you think about our fellow creatures and maybe change your lifestyle, even a little, as a result, it will be worth your suffering.
Do you remember the day you mastered the art of riding a bicycle? Of course you do. For me, it was the culmination of a rather lengthy, and very frustrating process, and but for the perseverance of my father, I might never have learned at all.
Listening to reports of the Syrian negotiations and upcoming elections in Egypt this morning, I was reminded of the wisdom encapsulated in the Lotus Sutra. Generally regarded as Siddhārtha Gautama’s greatest teaching, it forms the basic structure for all forms of Buddhist practice.
My own experiences with Nichiren Buddhism have shown me how powerfully it can change your life. Whether that is simply making you a happier person or helping you see situations from a different perspective, that will help you solve problems in a better way.
We only have to watch the news on TV, listen to the radio, or even simply talk to the people around us, to be aware of the challenges and sadness that can accompany the process of living our daily lives.
Our actions in previous lives are all engraved upon, and contained within, this lifetime. The causes for our present suffering, our joy, happiness or misery, all lie with our own past actions. But Nichiren Buddhism enables us to fundamentally transform our destiny.
Relationship problems are opportunities to grow and mature. Such problems can be character building if you don’t let them defeat you.
There was an amusing end to a dinner party last night, where I was told by one of the other guests, that I was the weirdest person they had ever met. She did soften the message by saying I was lovely, but she reiterated the fact that I was well weird.
As you meet various trials and difficulties, thus polishing all the many facets of the jewel which is life, you will learn to walk that supreme pathway of humanity.
It’s amazing how we and the rest of the Universe are so closely connected. The shoots of progress are suddenly showing through a fog of uncertainty, and I find myself running dozens of ‘what if’ scenarios through my head.
The Search For Enlightenment 
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