The Extraterrestrial Sangha.

The question if often asked, "If rebirth is true then why does the population of the Earth increase?"

In the Pali canon it is said that there has been 28 Buddhas other than Siddhartha Gautama who is the Buddha for this age on Earth. This means that there must be other worlds out there and other beings that benefit from a Buddha (I can't and won't speak for others but this is my belief). These worlds help explain where all the beings that continue to increase the population on Earth come from. Another answer to the population increase is that some animals and insects are being reborn here as human beings. It has been estimated by science that insects outnumber humans by 200 billion!!

The Buddha Gautama once held up a glass of water and said that there were thousands upon thousands of life forms within, which was proven with the invention of the microscope. So if microscopic organisms can exist in a small drop of water then is it so difficult to imagine other worlds populated with other sentient beings? In other words, our world is but one of those tiny organisms in that glass of water (universe). So I was meditating and thinking about this all today and I am reconsidering my belief that the six realms are purely states of being in this world and that bodhisattvas are not real.

I still don't know but I'm not absolutely denying the possibility as I had before. I guess right now I'm agnostic about it all. As of right now though I still find it more beneficial to see the effects of the six realms in the present moment and to live in a way that best avoids those effects. Now, like I said I've come to a place where I'm not denying that they are also places but seeing it that way right now isn't as helpful for me as seeing it the other way. Perhaps that will change though as my practice deepens over the years but it may not either. I guess I'm just saying here that I'm not ruling anything out.

However, I still feel that it is more important to take care of the present moment right here and now than spend hours upon hours trying to understand the metaphysical. Though meditating upon the metaphysical can have its benefits. My concern is upon the present moment and making sure that my actions/thoughts, etc comport with the Eight-Fold Path. I find it more helpful to be skillful and to do my best to follow the Eight-Fold Path out of understanding of how my actions/thoughts, etc. effect others (and myself) than out of fear.

I have found personally that doing something out of fear doesn't stand the test of time. I begin to resent things when I do them out of fear but not so if I understand why an action/thought, etc. is less skillful and harmful to others. Avoiding certain actions out of compassion creates better results for me than from doing it out of fear or doing it because everyone says so. I have discovered that doing something to "fit in" or because everyone says so doesn't work either because I feel like I'm just faking it and going through the motions. When this is my motivation I eventually get tired of playing the game and give up.

~Peace to all beings~

Read More

Sarah Palin: No Friend to Animals.

"For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seed of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love." ---- Pythagoras (c.582 - 507 BC)

James: I don't get too political on this blog (I have another one for that) but animal welfare is something that I feel strongly about. If the wolves are too high in numbers than repopulate some of them to different areas of wilderness. There are plenty of wild place still left in Alaska, Canada and other parts of the other American states that could take them. Or at least give them to animals refuges and/or zoos. Although zoos don't always treat the animals with the best care but it is better than killing them.

However, Alaska governor and now vice-president selection of Republican Senator and presidential hopeful Senator John McCain doesn't seem to mind engaging in barbaric practices of what can't be called another other than a massacre of a beautiful and important animal to the eco-system. They keep the moose population in check but the governor and her supporters want to upset that balance because the citizens of Alaska like to eat moose up there and need high numbers of them. All this killing so that humans who don't have to eat meat can consume flesh:

No friend to wild animals, Palin has offered incentives for people who kill wolves in an effort to boost Alaska's predator control program which so far has failed to meet expected numbers. The incentives include offering 180 volunteer pilots and aerial gunners $150 in cash for turning in gruesome legs of freshly killed wolves. Outraged by Palin’s predator control program, environmentalists have argued that bounties have no place in modern wildlife management.

Alaska Governor and GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin is a strong promoter of the aerial hunting of wolves and bears, a practice that has been condemned by conservationists, scientists and many hunters alike. It involves shooting wolves and bears from the air or chasing them to exhaustion and then landing and shooting them point blank. The animals, shot with a shotgun, usually die a painful death. The hunters involved in the program keep and sell the animals' pelts.

In a region west of Anchorage, she authorized the killing of up to 70% of all bears (1400 bears) including mothers and cubs.

She supports drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), an extremely sensitive region where millions of animals could be harmed or killed. Senator McCain has long opposed this drilling as do most energy experts who see it as useless.

• The Board of Game, which she appoints, has approved the killing of black bear sows with cubs as part of the program and expanded the aerial control programs.

• The media is currently looking into reports that state officials implementing one of the aerial wolf killing programs illegally killed five-week old wolf pups just outside their dens.

James: She also advocates taking the polar bear off the endangered species list was believe it or not done by Bush to protect the animal. We all know that the polar bears rely heavily upon the ice shelves to hunt and raise their young but thanks to global warming there territory and thus numbers are disappearing.

She also opposes the listing of certain whales on the endangered species list of animals to protect. Not sentient being's life should be put put ahead of our lust for cheap energy:

Alaska's Cook Inlet beluga whales are a unique group of white whales whose numbers have dramatically declined in the past two decades due to pressures ranging from pollution to increased ship traffic. Governor Palin opposes the listing of the Cook Inlet beluga whales, citing the listing as a threat to oil and gas development, despite their genetic uniqueness and the fact that their numbers have decreased from 1,300 in the 1980s to about 350 today.

James: If you are an American, a vegetarian and/or a lover of animals and want to protect them in the wild than this is information that you should know before voting in November. I for one will not be voting for the McCain/Palin ticket for this and many reasons. Animals are voiceless and can't defend against whole sale slaughter and so it is up to those of us who love all sentient beings to stand up for them and fight against their abuse and murder.

~peace to all beings~

Read More