OT : can animals listen to prayers ?

[prana]

maybe off-topic , maybe not

This is more a story than a question.

We had a couple of dwarf bunnies from the RSPCA. One of which recently dissapeared from our backyard. I woke up in the morning to find some hair left on the ground, and he was gone. We are stilll unsure if a feline took him, or perhaps a bird. We suspect the latter since we could not find any blood.

Anyway, the past few days, my wife and myself have been chanting away, and are training our bunnies to be indoor bunnies (use the toilets and not bite the wires) to stop anything like this happening again. Usually, "Coco" the other male bunny is always running away from us (If you don't spend time with the bunny when they're young, they tend to not like giant humans or be afraid of them).

We have been doing a lot of chanting, and Coco would be free to run around us, and of course, all prayers are for "Latte" in front of the altar.

"Coco" is always sitting by the altar. But for some strange reason, when I was chanting underneath the altar, the mantra of Bhaishajye, Coco would put both his front paws on me. The second night we did chanting, and I was chanting the Amitabha prayers, Coco did the same, putting his paws on me. My wife then proceeded to chant the mantra of Om Mani Padme Hum Avalokitashvara, and Coco again did the unlikely, putting his front two paws on her, as if knowing we are chanting for his dear friend Latte.

Well call me crazy, optimist or smoking too much incese offerings (or maybe perhaps rabbit pee) but sure is strange that this is the first time in about 7 months our pet bunny voluntarily put his paws on us....

Do you believe in spirituality in animals ? Dont lose faith altogether yet. We suspect he is highly spiritual.... hehehe just thought I would share.



side note : we hope Latte gave many hungry animals good, and that he has gone to a better place.

[ewallace]

This has to be the most frightening post I have ever read on this forum. I am just thankful that this was not posted right before Easter.

[Water Dragon]

Everytime my wife yells at the dog, the dog goes and hides in her crate. Can animals understand the hysterical screaming of an upset Mexican women? Call me crazy or say I've been smoking too many blunts; but I think the dawg can speak Spanish!

[WanderingMonk]

Yes, animal can "respond" to prayers. All sentient beings are capable of responding.

As buddhist theology goes, all beings travel through the "wheel of life" (samsara) going from one form to another until enlightenment.

There a story about the Buddha and Anada meditating in a park. A bird flew in and landed in Anada's shadow. Although Anada had cultivated his mind and body, the bird was still unease. When the bird walked into the buddha's shadow, the bird was at peace.

Basically, transcendental meditation help the practioner's mind to be at peace. The advance practioner can help other to be at peace just by his presence.

So, perhaps, your rabbit is responding to the "positive energy" generate while you are chanting.

By the way, shouldn't you be chanting Amitabha's rebirth mantra or the Great Compassion Heart Dharani for your deceased rabbit? I don't think chanting Avalokitashvara's heart mantra is going to help right now. The first 49 days after death is the most important. If you chant the rebirth mantra, it will help more (before the next rebirth). Avalokitashvara heart mantra is good, but in case of helping dead souls, use the rebirth mantra. Just my opinion.

wm

[prana]

WanderingMonk: Thanks for your thoughts.... We chant Amitabha's mantra for our deceased, but the others because we were sworn to practise them. We do Vajrasattvas mantra also because of the war...

Glad to read what you have written and thanks much for taking the time to write it out. It's been a difficult few days for us both. Didnt realise losing a pet can be so difficult.


Ewallace : sorry it was so disturbing, though I tried not to describe it too vividly.

Water Dragon : Perhaps he does :) Or perhaps he's just used to the loudness.... and knows what to expect.

[joedoe]

I believe animals respond to your energy, and your rabbit was responding to the energy resulting from your prayers.

So yeah, in a way animals listen to prayers :)

[prana]

Originally posted by joedoe
I believe animals respond to your energy, and your rabbit was responding to the energy resulting from your prayers.

So yeah, in a way animals listen to prayers :)

Hey Joe,

You know I intended for this thread to be just a friendly passing on message, didnt realise it would bring disgust & positive serious conversations alike.... We got the bunny during the difficult times, so he helped us get through. And now he is moving on....

Cant help buy cry like a child.... for %@*& its just a rabbit, but those eyes of his I keep seeing peeking out of his hiding spots :( I'm such a useless fella.....

Hows things JD ? Hows life treating you anyway ? Perhaps this should be a PM (sorry)

[Yung Apprentice]

I think it's just the chanting. Chanting is very relaxing to do and to hear, maybe he just likes your chanting, like music to his ears, it may soothe or relax him.

[IronFist]

Does the chant still work if it's not in the original language (Sanskrit or Tibetan I assume, or whatever language that is in)?

In other words, would it have more meaning if it was in the chanter's native language?

Or is the outcome of the chant dependent upon the phonetic syllables of the chant?

I've always wondered this.

IronFist

[Laughing Cow]

I think it depends on the type of animal.

Animals that live in larger numbers tend to be more sensitive to moods and similar.

Not sure if he understood the prayer, but I think he felt some discomfort and tried to soothe/comfort you.

[dezhen2001]

sorry to hear about your rabbit buddy :(

I know that animals respond to qigong for sure - dunno about prayers :p

when i train hard qigong dogs seem to sit and watch at the edge of a circle around me - they dont come inside or closer to me at all... i think maybe they are curious and scared of the issuing power.

Cats on the other hand... they come right up to me... especially when im upside down in a handstand doing breathing exercises... many times i have almost lost my balance because of their tail and face brushing my forearms :D

dawood

[prana]

Thanks for all the replies.... one thing about having pets, even though they cant "talk" back to us, some of them, a select few, sometimes shows much more intelligence than they can express.... hmmmmm

Reminds me of the old days when old ladies used to say to us that dogs can see the Yum and the Yong (Yin as well as the Yang).

[David Jamieson]

prana-

methinks you is anthropomorphizing a wee bit.

while animal life forms are sensitive to our moods, i am not convinced they understand our language in any of it's forms.

the rabbit may sense your melancholy mood, but he does not mourn or feel loss in the sense that we as humans do.

it is part of the joy of being an animal perhaps? to not be attached?

cheers

[prana]

Kung Lek,

Well spotted there ! Thanks for setting me straight ... still kinda clouded by all this mess still and everything else that is going around...

[Former castleva]

Perhaps the wabbit likes the sound.

"Reminds me of the old days when old ladies used to say to us that dogs can see the Yum and the Yong (Yin as well as the Yang)."

Great.Well it is,indeed noticed that dogs (as probably various other animals) do have high levels of sensitivity as I like to call it.
But rather than spiritual,they are viewed as biological mechanisms.
They can react strongly to changes in air pressure and certain electricity,and earth´s magnetical fields (I´m not sure how far we have got in discovering more about this)

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

and people think im fu cked up.

[Mr Punch]

The number of times I prayed for my dog to get me a beer, and has he ever? Has he ****!

He does understand anything ending in 'off', and anything in a Scooby voice.

And he responds very much to moods.

He also writes award winning plays whenever I'm out of the house (I'm absolutely positive).

[WanderingMonk]

Does the chant still work if it's not in the original language (Sanskrit or Tibetan I assume, or whatever language that is in)?

In other words, would it have more meaning if it was in the chanter's native language?

Or is the outcome of the chant dependent upon the phonetic syllables of the chant?


To Ironfist,

It depends on what he is chanting. If he is chanting a sutra (which bulk of the text are sermons), then he should chant the sutra translated into his native language. So, he can understand it better.

When chanting mantra and dharani, he should try to pronounce it as close to original as possible or as close as his guru pronounce it as possible (if he is a member of Tantra school).

In Buddhist theology, mantra and dharani are condensation of wisdom in sanskrit. Every character has several layers of meanings and the pronounciation the mantra activates certain "qi channel" in the practictioner (using MA terminologies).

Translating mantra/dharani into the native language of the practictioner will limit the meaning of the mantra. Also, it will lose of its effect of activating "qi channels". Thereby, defeating its purposes. This is why in chinese translation of sanskrit sutra from India, the mantra/dharani part of the sutra is never translated. The translator always try their best to preserve the original phonetic pronounciation.

wm

[IronFist]

So in some cases it is the phoenetic syllables. I guess it's kind of like the sounds you make in the Iron Wire form of Hung Gar. Each sound reverberates a certain way within you and does certain things. That makes sense.

Thanks for answering my question. I was just about to get ****ed off that no one had answered it yet :)

IronFist