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Thread: Buddhist 'life release'

  1. #1
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    Buddhist 'life release'

    I've always thought this was the stupidest Buddhist tradition. When I was in Bodh Gaya, people tried to sell me fish to release in the lotus pond. I was like 'why don't you just release it yourself and get the good karma instead of selling it to me?'

    Buddhist 'life release' breeds illegal animal trade in Hainan
    Andy Hong and Staff Reporter
    2014-10-08
    08:57 (GMT+8)


    Sea turtles released in Hainan, May 9. (Photo/Xinhua)

    Businesses which cater to individuals wanting to perform the Buddhist practice of life release, or releasing animals back to nature for spiritual purposes, have been established on China's southern island province of Hainan, a place where endangered species are known to be bred illegally, China National Radio (CNR) reports.

    In the coastal resort of Sanya, CNR reported the existence of a life release operation in the Buddhist-themed Nanshan Cultural Tourism Zone. Various species of fish and turtles are available for people to set free into the sea, with prices ranging from 39-1,999 yuan (US$6.35-$325). The most expensive are sea turtles, which can cost up to 50,000 yuan (US$8,150).

    Workers there told CNR that the turtles are purchased from licensed farms and that they are not recaptured after being released.

    However, a report by Shanghai-based online news agency the Paper said local fishermen had admitted to capturing the released sea turtles and selling them back for a profit.

    One sea turtle breeder from a nearby town said that his farm is unlicensed since the turtles are protected animals in China and breeding them is not allowed. Yet he still sells smaller turtles to businesses for 1,000 yuan (US$162) and larger ones for 2,000 yuan (US$325). These are later priced to customers at 4,000 to 5,000 yuan (US$650-$815).
    Gene Ching
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  2. #2
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    Quote Originally Posted by GeneChing View Post
    I've always thought this was the stupidest Buddhist tradition. When I was in Bodh Gaya, people tried to sell me fish to release in the lotus pond. I was like 'why don't you just release it yourself and get the good karma instead of selling it to me?'
    Maybe it's silly because it's a cultural tradition and has nothing really to do with Buddhism in any actual sense?

    Blame Mahayana. It caused the waves of cash for grace. It still does. And look at all the people who think that karma can be acquired like money through actions such as this.

    Ah well, that's the wheel for ya.
    Kung Fu is good for you.

  3. #3
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    How Awful

    That is certainly missing the point. I guess people will always try to cheat.

  4. #4
    Better ways 1 :

    Hundeleben im Shaolin-Tempel (Doglife at Shaolin Temple - in German language)
    Attached Images Attached Images  

  5. #5
    Better ways 2:

    Tibetan Monks in Qinghai protecting snow leopards:



    Buddha and the Snow Leopards

    A documentary by Zhou Bing

    In co-production with Beijing New Century Media & Sund Media International (China), CCTV9, NDR/arte

    Snow leopards are one of the most endangered cat species worldwide and are strictly protected. Their habitat continuously shrinks because of environmental destruction and the local herdsmen broadening their pastures. A conflict between humans and nature. Buddhist monks try to solve this conflict with an extraordinary project: The herdsmen are given cameras to document their daily lives and rediscover their traditional understanding of nature.
    News

    and:

    Buddhist Monks are Champions of Snow Leopard Conservation

    September 10, 2013

    Our team in China has enlisted monks at several Buddhist monasteries on the Tibetan Plateau to help protect snow leopards. They are convinced that these monasteries can be crucial partners in the fight to save these endangered cats.
    Tibetan Buddhist Monastery

    Hanle Gompa, an ancient Tibetan Buddhist monastery in India

    A majority of people on the Tibetan Plateau in China – and across the snow leopard range – practice Tibetan Buddhism, a faith that highlights love, respect and compassion for all living beings.

    Tibetan Buddhist monasteries are often found in the same high-mountain areas that snow leopards inhabit – and they have long had an important role in protecting nature and wildlife. Since Tibetan Buddhism considers the snow leopard and other wildlife as well as their habitat sacred, monks would patrol wild landscapes surrounding monasteries and implement edicts against killing wildlife.

  6. #6
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    The dog and leopard posts are quite interesting

    Spotted: Residents 'release life' right into waiting fishermen's nets



    On one side of a lake in Jinan, local residents performed the Buddhist practice of "releasing life" setting free dozens of captured fish, meanwhile on the opposite side of the lake, fishermen joyfully pulled in a nice day's haul.



    According to reports from NetEase, park workers at Daming Lake in Jinan city, Shandong Province, quickly responded to the illegal fishing activity, and it soon turned into a good old-fashioned game of hide-and-seek with fishermen trying their best to conceal their day's catch and fishing implements from the workers.






    This isn't the first time that the opportunistic nature of the fishermen in Jinan has sparked some outrage. Last year, Jinan residents attempted releasing some 800 captive carp into the Yellow River, only to have the fish's freedom cut tragically short just a few minutes downstream by prudent men with nets. It seems like Jinan's Buddhist population is going to have to adapt faster, and not sure that releasing the fish into a small city lake is heading in the right direction.



    "Release life" or "fangsheng" is the practice of releasing animals from captivity into the natural environment. Fish are released for enlightenment and turtles are released for longevity. After a ceremony in Shanghai last year, local Buddhists became enlightened when learning that they really shouldn't release 250 kilos of fish into the water at the same time. Meanwhile, last month, businessmen in Hainan became enlightened upon realizing that they could make a lot of money in the long run by exploiting this practice.

    by Alex Linder
    Hold the phone...is that a bokken in the 4th pic?
    Gene Ching
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  7. #7
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    The snake release is kinda funny...


    Photo Illustration by Emil Lendof/The Daily Beast

    World
    12.28.14
    The Buddhist Business of Poaching Animals for Good Karma
    The Chinese are participating in ‘life release’ ceremonies in which wild animals are held for ransom, then released in exchange for good karma.

    The Communist Party of China gets a bad rap for cracking down on religion. In many cases, it’s true. Christian proselytization is limited, and the practice of Christian faith requires government sanction. Uighur Muslims encounter racial discrimination throughout China, and face many other limitations even when they are at home in Xinjiang, including the banning of fasting during Ramadan and the prohibition of “Islamic dress.” But visit any major city where a Buddhist temple stands—specifically, a Han-Chinese Buddhist temple, not the Tibetan variation—and you will find a renovated monastery that is cared for meticulously. Its outer walls will likely be the same shade of saffron that nearly all other temples in China wear, but you’ll only get to see what’s inside after you pay for a ticket.

    Regular worship is a luxury that the poor can’t afford, and visits to Buddhist temples in China are usually touristic affairs. Except for special occasions, the temples' monks see more hands clutching smartphones than incense sticks, more camera straps than prayer beads.

    Religious profiteering has spread beyond the tourism industry. Various organizations and private entrepreneurs have hijacked the idea of ji gong de, or “accumulating beneficence,” to develop businesses around fang sheng ceremonies, where caged animals are released into the wild as good deeds.

    Two and a half millennia ago, Siddhartha Gautama sought enlightenment. He told his followers to do good, so they did. His teachings eventually spread eastward, where Buddhism—with local customs and deities tossed in to suit the Chinese spiritual palate—was the dominant religion for many years. The religion shaped all facets of life: art, medicine, literature, and even dynastic politics. Nowadays, it even molds business.

    The business model is simple. Poachers capture animals from the wild—usually fish, snakes, birds, or turtles—which are then sold to Buddhist organizations that charge private individuals who want to be part of a “life release” ceremony. The participants get to feel better about themselves despite the artificiality of the process, and the animals are likely captured again to restart the process. It almost mirrors the Buddhist cycle of life, death, and rebirth.

    Think of it as a frequent buyer program for personal karma, or a spiritual band-aid.

    Grotesque profiteering aside, life release ceremonies can devastate the eco-system. The red-eared slider is indigenous to North America. Owing to its popularity as a pet, it has spread across the Pacific to China. They’re an invasive species, and have been taking over as the alpha turtle in Chinese river waters, displacing local varieties. It’s impossible to estimate how many red-eared sliders now call China home, but they’re easy to spot along slow-flowing rivers in East and Southeast China.

    In 2008, over a thousand snakes were released in one ceremony in a village on the outskirts of Qingdao, a city on the eastern Chinese seaboard that faces South Korea. Those snakes attacked unwitting passers-by, or invaded homes and hotels. Some were actually venomous, and killed farm animals. The villagers managed to exterminate about 400 snakes within days, but were still plagued by the remaining reptiles weeks after the incident. The do-gooders who released the snakes were never located, but the villagers know where they performed the ceremony because large sacks that originally carried the snakes were left behind in the hills.

    In other cases, it’s common to see injured or underfed fish or birds in captivity, basically held for ransom by the poachers, waiting to be released. Some are wounded in transport, or even killed. “They’re just little creatures from nearby,” one seller in the southeastern Guangdong province told me, “and if a few get hurt or die as we catch them or move them around, there are plenty more.” When I confronted him about the artificiality of the ceremonies, he retorted, “Letting animals return to nature is a good deed. The monks say so.”

    Fang sheng tour group packages are easy to come by. They typically cost about ¥400, or $65, and include transportation, a few sacks of animals to release into the wild, and a Buddhist monk’s oversight to lend legitimacy to the procession. All that a participant has to do is pay in cash, climb onto a tour bus, and chant na mo a mi tuo fo—“homage to Amitabha Buddha”—during the ceremony.

    It’s a big business. China Economic Review reported that a single association based in Beijing has released 15 million animals at a cost of over ¥6.9 million, or $1.1 million, in 2014. There are no figures to describe nationwide earnings for the industry (if it can be called that), but there were at least 281 life release organizations in China in 2010. A 2010 Pew Research project states that half of the world’s Buddhist population reside in China, which makes up about 18.2 percent of the country’s population. But even those who don’t identify as formal Buddhists often still practice Buddhist rituals, like life releases, as part of cultural custom.

    The Chinese Buddhist Life Release Network, an organization based in Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei province and a city near Beijing, holds an annual fang sheng gathering that brings together veteran monks and devotees for a large scale life release ceremony. Last year’s gathering saw over a thousand animals released. Most of them were large birds—hawks, egrets, and even pea****s—for spectacular visual effect as they took flight. When approached by phone to comment on this year’s gathering and the extremely heavy commercial aspect of life release ceremonies, the organization offered no response.

    The pervasion of life release ceremonies is part of a wider trend of commercializing Buddhism in China. Stroll through the snack aisle in grocery stores, and finger foods produced under license with the renowned Shaolin Temple are easy to find. Incense sold at temples can cost several hundred yuan. Temples and shrines have been registered as businesses and traded on the stock market, prompting a government crackdown two years ago.

    It’s an invasion. Buddha is losing ground. Mammon is winning.
    Hold the phone...Shaolin finger foods?
    Gene Ching
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  8. #8
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    Too stupid, too much money

    Hangzhou tuhao buys up 33 thousand river crabs and releases them all into river, ecologists appalled



    A mysterious millionaire from Zhejiang province bought up 1.2 million yuan worth of crabs and released the whole lot back into a river, much to the dismay of aquatic-life experts.
    According to a report by Qianjiang Evening Post, a number of men allegedly in the employ of the crab-loving tuhao spent several days buying out the region's stock of the animal, approximately 5 tons worth.
    Much to the bemusement of local traders, the buyers paid in cash and when asked what they intended to do with the animals replied that they were going to set them free. The wholesale market authority said they could not intervene as the buyer was not intentionally trying to manipulate prices.
    The Hangzhou fisheries authority were less sanguine about the incident, warning that releasing such a large number of crabs into the river at this time of the year would likely impact those already migrating down the river to lay eggs.
    Experts also claim that the crabs could potentially introduce bacteria into the ecosystem which some species may not have been previously exposed to.
    This millionaire's bizarre act of compassion is rivalled in its stupidity only by the woman from Guangdong province who last year bought a large batch of venomous snakes and released them into a public park.
    [Image via Wikimedia]
    Contact the author of this article or email tips@shanghaiist.com with further questions, comments or tips.
    By Dominic Jackson in News on Nov 21, 2015 11:59 PM
    This is what our new Chinese-Tycoons-amp-CEOs thread is all about.
    Gene Ching
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  9. #9
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    even more dumb

    550 Pounds of Fish Were ‘Mercifully’ Released Into the Waters of Beijing—and Then Died
    By Juliet Song, Epoch Times | April 29, 2016Last Updated: May 2, 2016 9:58 am


    Chinese residents release captive fish into Daming Lake. (Sina Weibo)

    On April 25, a group of people in Beijing taking part in a Buddhist folk ritual poured about 550 pounds of live fish into the Chaobai river to accrue virtue through their acts of mercy. The activity lasted about ten minutes, with some reciting Buddhist scriptures as others threw the fish out of buckets.

    But the deed turned out to be anything but merciful, as the fish, weighing about three pounds each, could be seen struggling and dying in the low-quality waters of the Chaobai.


    People release fish into the Chaobai river. (via Beijing Evening News)

    “The Chaobai river is not suited for the release of wildlife. Fish from aquatic farms are doomed to die once released here,” an official from the bureau regulating the river told Beijing Evening News.

    The water, in addition to being dirty, is poor in oxygen content compared to that found in farms, which asphyxiated some of the fish.

    The ritual activity was organized by a professional group, which apparently led the participants to believe that the river was a good place to free the fish, which they purchased from suppliers for the express purpose of the ritual.

    One witness said that the participants had given the party organizer hundreds of yuan (dozens of dollars) to purchase the farm-raised bighead carp.

    “There have always been people performing live release in the Chaobai river, but I’ve never seen so many fish being freed at once,” the witness said.

    The Buddhist ritual has been notorious for causing ecological damage. Fish and other aquatic life are often freed in areas where they either die off and cause pollution or become invasive pests. Foxes released in areas where they are not common may menace local fowl.

    Internet users commented on the news. One wryly lamented that the fish were not cooked and eaten, so that they could “at least die in clean water.” Another criticized the ritual itself: “They’re too keen on buying luck, so they’ve inadvertently created bad karma for themselves.”

    The authorities at the Chaobai do not allow the ritual, and stare at participants until they leave, the Beijing Evening News reported.
    This whole concept needs to be abolished.
    Gene Ching
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  10. #10
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    This is just all kinds of dumb

    Chinese town goes into snake killing frenzy after woman releases 900 serpents for ‘good karma’
    by Asian Correspondent Staff | 9th June 2016 | @ascorrespondent


    A woman caused a snake infestation in a town in Sichuan, China. Image via Shanghaiist

    A VILLAGE in China faced an ‘infestation’ of snakes after a woman released some 900 serpents back into the wild in a nearby mountain area.

    The woman from Nanjing reportedly released the snakes in Dujiangyan, Sichuan, as an act of religious devotion called “fang sheng”, a Buddhist ritual of atonement that encourages believers to release captive animals back into nature, Shanghaiist reported.

    The act supposedly cleanses sins and brings ‘good karma’.


    Image via Shanghaiist

    Unfortunately, the snakes made their way to a nearby village where terrified villagers beat many of them to death.

    Reports say villagers have have had sleepless nights over the last week. One villager was said to circle his house hourly to check for snakes.

    Chengdu Economic Daily reported that the Chengdu Wildlife Services Department had identified some of the snakes as venomous, according to the pictures spread on social networking website Weibo.


    Image via Shanghaiist

    The woman is known as a fanatical practitioner of “fang sheng” based on her Weibo posts. The release of the 900 snakes was reportedly her latest release of animals.

    Angry netizens said the woman had been responsible for the town’s infestation, though she later denied releasing them in that area.

    One Weibo user said: “You must have done some pretty bad stuff to be so desperate for good karma.”

    Forestry specialists said the mass release could disrupt the ecological balance in the areas, while police have also aired their concerns over the matter.
    Where the heck did she get 900 snakes?
    Gene Ching
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  11. #11
    Chan Master Sheng Yen gave an interesting talk on this topic. Not surprisingly he combines Buddhist ethics with a modern understanding of conservation and animal protection and a good dose of common sense.

    He ends by urging Buddhists to cease the practice of buying and releasing captive animals. He says it is "not a meritorious action but a sin" and recommends making donations for conservation organizations instead.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otz_kHS20hI

    The specific part on life relase starts at 4:24

    https://youtu.be/otz_kHS20hI?t=4m24s
    Last edited by rett2; 06-09-2016 at 09:53 AM.

  12. #12
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    Slightly OT

    Nice post, rett2. Good to see Buddhist leaders speaking out against this.

    This one below isn't really a Buddhist one, but similarly dumb.

    100,000 fireflies get released to die for people's enjoyment at a Chengdu park



    In another questionable ecotourism venture, a park in Chengdu released around 100,000 fireflies for the public to enjoy. Insect experts were not pleased, at all.
    The insects were released in front of crowds from a glass cage on the night of June 25th, reports West China City Daily. Look how pretty there are:




    However, the very next day, Mr. Zhao, the head of the Insect Museum of West China, expressed his disapproval. He claimed that the fireflies can only survive in specific environments, and the park simply does not meet their needs. 100% of them will die in between three days and a week, he says, a survival rate similar to these butterflies that were pinned onto a woman’s robe.
    As if that wasn't bad enough, the fireflies that were released are also highly unlikely to have been farm-raised, because of their large number and the high cost of raising fireflies. They were more likely caught from the wild, which could have environmental consequences.



    A similar event was cancelled in Changsha last year due to a public petition letter, titled “I refuse to go to the tomb of fireflies” co-authored by local animal protection organizations. At least no butterfly genocides have been reported yet this year.



    By Amy Yang
    [Images via NetEase]
    Gene Ching
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  13. #13
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    Kung Fu is good for you.

  14. #14
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    More

    Chinese villagers are forced to arm themselves with wooden clubs after HUNDREDS of snakes are released into nearby area

    150 snakes have wreaked havoc on Shuangdian, Sichuan province
    Residents have been forced to carry weapons made from wood
    Animals have taken over areas frequented by locals such as herb patch

    By SOPHIE WILLIAMS FOR MAILONLINE
    PUBLISHED: 11:27 EST, 12 August 2016 | UPDATED: 11:42 EST, 12 August 2016

    Locals in a Chinese village have been forced to carry wooden clubs to help fend themselves from 150 snakes that were illegally released into the wild.

    Snakes have been seen in the village of Shuangdian in south west China's Sichuan province, reports the People's Daily Online.

    Residents of the village which is near the Ten Thousand Buddha reserve have been forced to carry makeshift weapons to help fight them off.


    Frightening experience: Snakes were released into the Chinese village causing chaos

    According to reports, last month two cars came to the village spreading more than 150 snakes around the area.

    According to villagers, they usually plant herbs however they are unable to enter the areas containing the plants out of fear of coming face to face with the new residents.

    They have resorted to carrying wooden batons to protect themselves from the reptile.

    82-year-old Zhao Zhaoxiu told reporters that she would go out with a stick to be prepared for the snakes.


    Unwelcome visitors: According to reports, around 150 snakes were released into the area

    This isn't the first time snakes have been released in the village.

    Around two months ago snakes were released in the same spot. A local wildlife protection team was brought in to help capture the animals.

    After 10 days, the team managed to catch 150 snakes.

    Animal protection authorities said that those who wished to release animals into the wild must obtain permission.

    Those caught releasing wild animals which cause damage to people and property will bear legal liability.
    This would really **** me off if it happened in my neighborhood.
    Gene Ching
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  15. #15
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    I guess, maybe someone forgot about that cause and effect part...

    Did they release vipers or something?
    Kung Fu is good for you.

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