Is keeping pets (bought from Pet Store) allowed in Buddhism
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I have bought and keeping hamsters as pets. However, my religion is Buddhism and I was told by my relative that keeping pets is actually not allowed in Buddhism. I wonder whether it is true? I check sites on buddhism and little information on this topic is found. However, there was one site says:
"According to the Bodhisattva precepts, it is discouraged to keep pets in general. Keeping pets is a subtle kind of enslavement, and can lead to attachment. Though many animals are domesticated, this domestication is a result of continual enslavement over the centuries – that rendered the animals no longer suitable for independent survival. Keeping pets perpetuates this for generations to come. Could reverse domestication be possible?"
Thus I went to find out about the Bodhisattva precepts and keeping pets does not really have direct impact on the precepts. Anyone got any ideas on this?
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it is not disallowed. however my master would discourage it as it is creating an ignorant affinity with the lower realms, the animals realms. generally it is best to avoid creating affinity with beings from lower realms, be it animal or spirit realm
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Hmmm. I see. I will take in your Master's advice. Thanks for the info.
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Originally posted by An Eternal Now:
it is not disallowed. however my master would discourage it as it is creating an ignorant affinity with the lower realms, the animals realms. generally it is best to avoid creating affinity with beings from lower realms, be it animal or spirit realm
What do u mean by creating an ignorant affinity with lower realms? Can u elaborate on the consequences... -
i cant remember as it was very long ago that i heard about it. maybe got to do with animals ending up as your family members
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Sigh type a whole lot of words but nothing came out :P nevermind save my energy . But whats wrong with animals becoming your family members ? And what makes you so sure your current family members are not animals in their past life ? SO do you want to avoid them too ?
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we strive to gain enlighten or least gain rebirth in higher realm.
What I think affinity to lower realm is we should do charity to them and not attached to them, as the attachment may lead to your own rebirth back to the lower realm.. and this make us unable to practice the buddha dharma.
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What newbie said is true. These articles explain the reason why: http://www.jenchen.org.sg/vol4no4e.htm
http://www.humanbliss.com.sg/MyImages/SiYangDongWuDeGuanNianYingGaiBian(1)GuanNian(4)YuChi.pdf -
I think sometime Buddhist spiritualize thing without proper understanding of modern living. There are many report in the west on how keeping a pet such as dog can make a old folk happy which lead to healthier body and mind.
On the other hand, in Singapore, a lot of youngster kept pets out of fun when the fun period died down. They tend to dump and mistreat the pet. Some parents out of kindness will release the pets in parks which indirectly cause their death. Since the pets has been domesticated therefore they are unable to live due to the lack of survival skill. They end up being starve to death.
I think one word of advise is if one want to keep a pet, please put in extra effort to look after it. Finally, I don't think there are any sutra that said you can't keep a pet. In fact, a lot of temple keep dogs and cats to guard the temple from burglary and rodent. Last round, I even saw a youtube how a nun kept a praying cat in Korean Buddhist temple.
There is always two side to a coin. It depend on one's view. The important thing don't mistreat the pet and always keep the environment clean so that paraside will not be pass on to the owner and family.
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i think a real good monk/nun won't purposely buy a dog to guard "his" wealth. they go by affinity, if have, have, if don't have, don't have. :)
read a good praxis, if his previous life never commit stealing, his belonging opening put on street also nobody will take. :)
think some of the 'stray or unwanted' pet/cat/dog just came by affinity to the temple. and the temple can't reject affinity or sent them to SPCA to end their life.
the key is also don't be emotionally attached to them, like u have a strong relationship with them bah.
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i suggest you adopt those kana abundone dog/cat. They are very poor thing. If you don't adopt them. if they old or sick will be put to sleep. You keep them is to save a pet life. I believe to help those in need whether they are human or pet.
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Originally posted by An Eternal Now:
What newbie said is true. These articles explain the reason why: http://www.jenchen.org.sg/vol4no4e.htm
http://www.humanbliss.com.sg/MyImages/SiYangDongWuDeGuanNianYingGaiBian(1)GuanNian(4)YuChi.pdf
Thanks, helpful articles.Amazing how you always manage to pull these quotations out...
I have always been a bit uneasy when seeing people being too attached to pets... esp when i see a fellow dharma friend being very attached to her pets. But had never been able to vocalise out the problem. Thanks for clarifying.
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If you keep the Bodhisattva vows, one of the vow is NO Pet keeping allowed in the house.
However, i ever saved a small red fish from office which would be flushed down the toilet if i don't and that started my aquarium . Now it become a fengshui good luck object in my house. I didn't mean to keep pets but from saving a small fish, i end up keeping fishes as pets or fengshui blessing. So tell me , is this right or wrong?
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i bought my dog from a pet shop many years ago and it's been staying with us since as part of the family for almost 8years. so it means that any of us would take rebirth in the lower realm?
Originally posted by An Eternal Now:it is not disallowed. however my master would discourage it as it is creating an ignorant affinity with the lower realms, the animals realms. generally it is best to avoid creating affinity with beings from lower realms, be it animal or spirit realm
i disagree from the 2nd sentence onwards. it needs some refinement and/or it's misintepreted.
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Originally posted by Wiser:
If you keep the Bodhisattva vows, one of the vow is NO Pet keeping allowed in the house.
Would someone kindly quote the actual vows or sutra that said. You can't keep a pet.
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There are two sources of Bodhisattva vows:-
Two sets of Buddhist vows
There are mainly two specific sets of vows that Buddhists take in formal settings nowadays, although every Mahayana aspirant is encouraged to make individual vows too.
One set is from the Brahma Net Sutra and followed in China, Japan & Korea & the rest of East Asia.http://www.purifymind.com/BrahmaNetSutra.htm
The other is used as an expanded set of rules for those aspiring to become Bodhisattvas, by the Tibetan & Mongolian Mahayanists of Central Asia:
These constitute secondary vows:-32. On Harming Sentient BeingsA disciple of the Buddha must not sell knives, clubs, bows, arrows, other life-taking devices, nor keep altered scales or measuring devices. He should not abuse his governmental position to confiscate people's possessions, nor should he, with malice at heart, restrain or imprison others or sabotage their success. In addition, he should not raise cats, dogs, foxes, pigs and other such animals. If he intentionally does such things, he commits a secondary offense.From what I understand secondary downfalls are unhelpful as compared to root downfalls. -
The secondary vows numbered 48 and 46.
The issue is also whether you've undertaken any of the vows.
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Originally posted by An Eternal Now:
it is not disallowed. however my master would discourage it as it is creating an ignorant affinity with the lower realms, the animals realms. generally it is best to avoid creating affinity with beings from lower realms, be it animal or spirit realm
Either you heard incorrectly from your master or your master does not have good insight in buddhism. Aren‘t we ourselves and many living beings still in lower realm. Buddha is not able to liberate beings of lower realm without having affinity with them. They are buddha by nature. -
Ya. keeping pet is against the Bodhisattva precepts of Brahma Net but NOT in the yogacara Bodhisattva Precepts
still comes back to initial motivation
when i was young , father buy alot of goldfish and guppy
we rear and never have any survive more than 9 months
its kind of sad to see them eventually die
so i never want to rear pets fm then onwards
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This is slightly off-topic, but I thought I'd mention it anyway.
A few months ago, when I stumbled upon the website for the Sanghata Sutra , there was advice in it to recite this sutra in the presence of pets or other animals in order to benefit these other sentient beings.
Thinking aloud, I wonder if keeping pets depends really on the intention and motivation behind doing it. If it's to save them from certain death at temporary animal shelters, then I would have thought it is ok. If we expose them to the Dharma by letting them listen to sutra recitations, dharma talks and even play Buddhist chants for them, I would think the effects are meritorious both for the owner and the pet. But these are just my personal opinions on the matter.
One thing I definitely do agree with though, we should not get too attached to pets, in the same way that we should not be too attached to even our own family members. The Buddhist goal afterall, is liberation.
(and if anyone has vowed to keep the Bodhisattva precepts, then of course one should abide by them.)
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If I have pets, I will let them listen to chantings and dharma talks.
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Originally posted by Wiser:
If you keep the Bodhisattva vows, one of the vow is NO Pet keeping allowed in the house.
However, i ever saved a small red fish from office which would be flushed down the toilet if i don't and that started my aquarium . Now it become a fengshui good luck object in my house. I didn't mean to keep pets but from saving a small fish, i end up keeping fishes as pets or fengshui blessing. So tell me , is this right or wrong?
last time when i have not learn buddhism, i used to live in kampong, our grand parent use to have a fish farm. got chicken, got pigs etcs. we also have dogs/cats, that come from no where. the dog were not so much in capivity as they can roam around freely. so it's ok. but we also got catch small animal, like birds and put then on cages. this is not okay. think. we are reaping some karma related to enclosure and family not getting along. now i never want to keep fishes. ignorant when young./\
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I am certainly not attached to my fishes. In fact when they died, i would chant for them.
I started keeping fishes because i wanted to save one fish. And it turns out the position i put the fish tank is good fengshui for me.
However after some deaths, i decide to keep the minimum in my small fish tank. Just 4 suckerfish and it is more of a fengshui for my house than a pet now.
I think if you keep a pet out of a good reason, like saving the pet ( the cat in the Korean temple) from hunger and death, it is a good karma and a good seed sow for the animals when you introduce them to your chanting.
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On casual observation, one would have seen the applicability of the twodifferent set of vows, both are agarian cultures, one predominantly onagriculture, the other, pastoralist.
Owning or keeping pets have may have two unhelpful causes,one of overly
attachment, the other, indifference, leading to impersonalisation.People often have fuzzy lines between ownership and relationship withanimals as pets. Also perception of different member of the family differs.The type of pets we keep also depends ability to cope with demands of therelationship. Cats and dogs have different bondings as do breeds.There is a need to consider the pet as a member of familly, as obligationsto towards the animal is different if compared to an infant as inclusion tothe family, even though the baby is tougher to raise. Thus when bringinga pet requires commitment and thus much thought. Some pets are moreadaptive and some families are more accommodating, however, the reverse isalso true. Animals also provide companionship for the childless.I am a sucker for animals, as a kid, I would enjoy playing with animals, feedingchicken, rearing fishes. I would try adopt feral dogs and cats, only to be told toreturn them back.One thing about loving animals is you develop empathy and responsibility overother sentient beings, you learn to be aware of them as being an individual,capable of emotions and idiosyncrasies. Also animals are capable of returningour affectoins and also capable of being naughty. And also responsibility too,there was a British documentary on how to prevent their cats from bringing homeprey which the cats brought back to their owners.Another is the impermernance of life, as pets are inevitability of shorter lifespanthan us humans. The stronger the attachment, the more the loss is being felt.Now, the question is, do you wish to expose or shield your kids at an earlierage than necessary? Death is is something is dawned slowly on us.Keeping fishes, note plurality, as there is less connectivity with them, althoughi may be wrong, but, we live in two different environment, and also it is so veryeasy to flush them down the toilet when they die. However, it is also possible to observe individuality in each of them, even though they don't communicate with youlike non aquarium pets.