animal rights | AIR | TREES | WATER

WOLF WARS

Wolf Hunt Sabotage Manual,
by “The Redneck Wolf Lovin’ Brigade”,
distributed by Earth First!

WE WERE HERE FIRST

Earth First! Media has released a manual which provides detailed information for disrupting wolf hunting in those states that allow it. Titled The Earth First! Wolf Hunting Sabotage Manual, the text, complete with step-by-step graphics, explains how to find and destroy wolf traps, handle live trapped wolves in order to release them, and various methods, including the use of air-compressed horns and smoke-bombs, for stopping wolf hunts.

The authors of the manual describe themselves as, “hunters and proud of it,” adding, “But we aren’t proud of what passes for hunting these days and especially for what passes as ‘sportsman’ hunting. Somehow, the National Rifle Association, yuppie trophy hunters, cattle barons, and the Obama Administration are in cahoots in an effort that promises to wipe wolves clean off the planet. And in that case, we choose to be saboteurs for the wild.”

The manual, which was sent to Earth First! Media by unknown persons calling themselves “the Redneck Wolf Lovin’ Brigade,” is being published electronically at Earth First! News and is being offered for others to print and distribute.

Panagioti Tsolkas, a correspondent with Earth First! Media, says the manual is being published in light of regional delistings of wolves in the Great Lakes region and the Northern Rockies since 2011 where subsequent wolf hunts have accounted for over 1,500 wolves hunted or trapped. “According to several wildlife agencies’ reports, there are fewer than 6,000 wolves left in the lower 48 states where wolves once numbered in the hundreds of thousands,” Tsolkas added.

In June of this year, the Obama administration announced that it plans to push for nearly all wolves, excepting those in the U.S. Southwest, to be stripped of Endangered Species Act protections despite compelling evidence from numerous scientists that wolves have not recovered as a species. “We are coming into a new era of wolf genocide,” said Tsolkas, adding, “It will be important for individuals and groups with a passion to protect wolves to take this manual into consideration. It will surely save lives, but it is also a very dangerous undertaking. Wolf hunters have guns and obviously little morals when it comes to what they shoot.”

Over its 33-year history, Earth First! activists have used hunt sabotage to disrupt hunts across the country. “This wolf hunting manual could very well spark a new version of Whale Wars. It’ll be called Wolf Wars.”

So Get Out There You Wolf Liberators. The Wild Beckons and Thanks You.

Hunt Sabotuers Tactics Book (HSA)

4 Comments

May 27, 2013

NIKOLAS SCHRECK | “MY SHIFT FROM DARKNESS”

Roosevelt Hotel Lobby

I had the pleasure of officially meeting Nikolas in December of 2012, after maintaining a long distance relationship since our initial meeting on 08.08.08. via telephone communication
(Charles thought he and I should meet, and so he gave me his phone number while I was visiting him in the hole, 2008).
A prior post here-
ATWA– an excerpt about “ATWA” and it’s inception prior to the terms “deep ecology” and “revolutionary environmentalism” (and prior to “Earth First!“), from Nikolas Schreck’s huge contribution debunking the “myth” of Charles Manson, “The Manson File – Myth and Reality of an Outlaw Shaman”– provides much needed insight into one of the many pieces of the whole, that is Charles Manson. Truths that hitherto had been mostly non-existent to not only myself, but to the public at large, Nikolas has illuminated through many years of insight. This work that Nikolas has shared with the world is a clear light- a warm wind which counters the cold winds of this dark age.

I hold the highest Regard and Respect for Nikolas, his teachings, his work, and his spiritual evolution over the years (Zeena’s as well).
I consider him a brother, comrade, and teacher.

And so, For All Beings, I wanted to share “Mehr Licht” (More Light) with a couple excerpts from Nikolas’ latest interview for the occult magazine, “Secret Knowledge”, with Nik’s permission of course.
“MY SHIFT FROM DARKNESS”: AN INTERVIEW WITH NIKOLAS SCHRECK,
BY GUS BRESLAUER
Excerpts used with permission from Nikolas Schreck
“Secret Knowledge” Vol. I

When asked how Nikolas feels “about the Westernization of Buddhism in our modern society”,
he answers, in part-
“…In the largely secular, materialist, individualist, “rationalist” West, Buddhist teachers have to start from scratch, teaching Westerners the ABC’s of what spirituality is, which wastes a lot of time and energy. And in order to appeal to minds programmed to believe that only what can be scientifically proven is valid, much of the magical supernatural aspect of Tantric Buddhism is downplayed in the West. Another thing that bugs me about Western Buddhism is how it caters almost exclusively to the privileged, spoiled and well-educated elite who can afford the time and money required to take a nice little spiritual vacation by attending the teachings held at ornate dharma centers in a comfortable atmosphere of snobbish self-congratulation. I’d like to see a more socially engaged and classless Buddhism made accessible to the street, to the disadvantaged and despised, to prisoners, the homeless, the terminally ill, where the antidote the Dharma offers is desperately needed. There are 84,000 Buddhist teachings for all types of temperament and lifestyle, but it seems to me that sort of approach would be more in keeping with the wild yogic Mahasiddhas who were the founders and masters of Tantric Buddhism in India and Tibet. If Tantric Buddhism in the West really seeks to free all sentient beings from suffering, it has to develop the skillful means to speak to areas of society it currently ignores. Another factor is that this is the Kali Yuga, the cyclical phase of spiritual degeneracy. The Buddha predicted that in the Kali Yuga, the Dharma would become increasingly less comprehensible to humans until it died out altogether for many thousands of years. It may be that the West’s embrace of egoic individualism, hypercapitalist materialism, non-stop digital entertainment via information overload, and atheist reductionism has sped up the Kali Yugic tendencies to such a toxic degree that only a very few can even truly grasp the Buddhist teaching at all, let alone practice it…”

When asked about Nikolas’ spiritual evolution, and whether his political stance has had a similar evolution, Nikolas answers, in part-
“… To the minimal degree that my political stance was ever understood by the public at large, yes, of course, that’s evolved over the years too. I’m still a monarchist who believes rulership must be guided by divine and spiritual authority rather than corporate-sponsored election by a mob or a dictatorship of the proletariat. But I no longer believe any kind of political system can address the deeper spiritual dilemma facing humanity. All efforts should be directed to ultimate liberation by spiritual practice rather than the futile Samsaric ups and downs of politics. What some mistakenly interpret as a mundane and political agenda on my part was actually an intrinsic facet of my spiritual quest in my exploration of how to change human behavior through magic. You mentioned the counterculture and that’s a good key to this quandary. My understanding that a truly comprehensive politics must be informed by a spiritual perspective, and isn’t simply a pragmatic matter of economics and social policy, comes from my upbringing in the late 60s and early 70s counter-culture. Back then, it was a common utopian belief in radical factions that a total revolution on every level was imminent, and that the entire social, spiritual, sexual framework of human existence would be drastically transformed by mass insurrection against the prevailing establishment values. I expected to be on the front lines of that civil war that unfortunately never happened. If you weren’t there, you can’t imagine how intensely this expectation of revolution was in the air. That revolutionary ideal was imbued with the 1960s magical revival and the sudden awareness of mystical experience mass use of psychedelics revealed. The best example of this magical politics was the ritual banishing and exorcism a collective of pacifist radicals performed on the Pentagon in October 1967. When Squeaky Fromme was accused of trying to assassinate President Ford in 1975, I thought, “Oh, good, here’s that revolution I’d been waiting for.” Now, I know you were expecting me to get into Hitler, not hippies, but there’s a strong similarity between the 1960s American counter-culture revolt against “The Establishment”, and the 1930s German counter-culture rebellion against what was called “The System”. They were both concerned with changing humanity at the root, making a new world, a sharp break with politics as usual, and they were both greatly focused on pioneering radical ecology and getting back to nature and the soil. And more importantly, they were both informed by magical, pagan, and spiritual ideals that few other political movements have ever been concerned with. What interested me about the history of the Third Reich wasn’t the political aspects, but the fact that several National Socialist leader’s planned to bring about a new religion in Europe once the war was won. While in Germany to research my first book in 1983, a study of Nazi occultism which I ultimately decided not to publish, I investigated this subject exhaustively…”

Support independent publishing & purchase your copy now from:
http://www.lulu.com/shop/stephen-bower/secret-knowledge-volume-one/paperback/product-21015040.html

May 14, 2013

THE WORLD IS A PRISON

“The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.”

Amid all kinds of inhumane shit within the prison and incarceration system/industry of the usa
(-Hunger strikes and the force-feeding SOP (STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE) of Guantanamo “detainees”
–Pleasant Valley and Avenal State Prison Outbreak of Valley Fever resulting in over three dozen deaths, which no one hears about, and
–the delay of the order to evacuate inmates)
I received an email today through the F.A.C.T.S. (FAMILIES TO AMEND CALIFORNIA’S THREE STRIKES) newsletter-

From Carol Strickman at prisonerswithchildren.org

“I just received a phone call from a prisoner at Corcoran who reported about a power outage at Corcoran which is resulting in a “modified program” like a lockdown; no air conditioning resulting in “very hot” temperatures (he says in 100’s) with prisoners passing out; medical people are not responding or are responding slowly. Prisoners under medical care can get cold showers but not anyone else. Water is lukewarm, neither hot nor cold.

He states that prisoners have been told that the problem is a broken generator part which must be shipped from Germany and may take 6 months to arrive. The power is being cut off at 3pm daily and not going back on until 1 or 2 in the morning.

I did a google search and found the following corroborative article:

Central Valley Business Times, Saturday, May 10, 2013

Corcoran prison transformer explosion probed
The cause of an explosion of a power transformer at California State Prison-Corcoran is being investigated by state corrections department officials and Pacific Gas and Electric.
Limited electrical power was restored to the prison by Friday morning after the main transformer in a PG&E substation that powers the prison exploded and caught fire late Thursday afternoon.
No one was injured and the fire was quickly extinguished, the state says.
Back-up generators supplied power to the institution Thursday night so prison operations were not interrupted. The acute care hospital and the lethal electrified perimeter security fence continued to be powered by backup generators and, as a result, there were no escapes, the Department of Corrections says.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The prisoner who called me is well known to California Prison Focus. I also learned from a family member that Saturday visits were cancelled.
This prisoner wants us to make calls to the warden and/or Sacramento to let them know that we know about this, are concerned and demand that the outage be repaired immediately. We could also be calling Senator Loni Hancock and Assembly member Tom Ammiano, and PGE.
The prisoners are really suffering in the heat and need us to raise a protest.
Carol

Carol Strickman
Staff Attorney
Legal Services for Prisoners With Children
1540 Market Street, Suite 490
San Francisco, CA 94102
415-255-7036 ext. 324
FAX 415-552-3150
http://www.prisonerswithchildren.org

To donate to LSPC, click on
https://npo.networkforgood.org/Donate/Donate.aspx?npoSubscriptionId=5384“

From “CDCR TODAY”
FRIDAY, MAY 10, 2013
Transformer explosion knocks out power to California State Prison-Corcoran
Limited power restored early this morning

CORCORAN – Limited electrical power was restored to California State Prison-Corcoran (CSP-COR) by Friday morning after the main transformer in a PG&E substation that powers the prison exploded and caught fire late Thursday afternoon.

The fire started at 4:35 p.m. and was quickly extinguished by the CSP-COR Fire Department, the Kings County Fire Department and the Tulare County Fire Department. The cause of the explosion is unknown at this time. No one was injured.

Back-up generators supplied power to the institution on Thursday night so that prison operations were not interrupted. The acute care hospital and the lethal electrified perimeter security fence continued to be powered by backup generators and, as a result, there were no escapes. As a precaution, CSP-COR administrators restricted movement of the 4,420 inmates housed there and this morning, the prison is on modified program which restricts some inmate movement and participation in rehabilitation programming.

At 1:45 am Friday, PG&E routed some electrical power to CSP-COR from the adjacent California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison in Corcoran, which was unaffected by the transformer explosion and fire. Power to non-essential services at CSP-COR has been shut off, but inmates are being provided hot meals, there is power to waste water operations and all back-up generators are running to power all emergency circuits.

CDCR officials noted that the electrical problems will not interfere with visiting scheduled this weekend at both prisons.

Plant operations staff from both prisons and crews from PG&E are continuing to determine the cause of the explosion and assess the damage to the substation as they plan both short- and long-term repairs

February 19, 2012

CHARLES MANSON | STATEMENT | PAROLE HEARING | 1986

"...Know this: from the prison graves the Christhead is no new trip, and the so-called Christians have been and are feeding on the blood of Christ children. You are so misled and caught up in lies that your souls and your justice are locked in the bank. Actors play your leaders in the same war patterns set by the dead..."

I have been reading The Manson File- Myth And Reality Of An Outlaw Shaman after waiting years for this English translation, and after (again) reading Nikolas Schreck’s inclusion of Charles’s statement to the board and to the world I was moved to post it here – into the world – yet again…
FORTY THREE YEARS!

As anyone in the know knows, throughout the state of California, the country, and the world: the lawyers, courts, and government of the U.S. lie and cannot be trusted. (California Department of Corrections included.) To keep this so-called Board of Paroles from telling more lies about me, my family, brothers and sisters in soul in truth and of God, I have come to this hearing to make statements to and for the public record to be marked in history.
I have been kept in handcuffs for over sixteen years and kept for the most part in solitary confinement, as the so-called authorities kept changing the names from solitary to “administrative segregation” to “quiet cells” and other coverups each time the court ordered elimination of solitary time, or the public began to hear about mistreatment. Their fears and guilts were covered up by distortion, lies, and confusion to mislead and misinform the public for more tax dollars and bigger criminal justice business, actually fed by the misfortunes and blood of children.
I’ve been kept in mental wards, nut wards; I’ve been beaten, drugged, and have lost track of the times I’ve been handcuffed to the bars or left to be killed. Inmates have told me that doctors and other C.D.C. staff have tried to have me killed by telling them lies about me killing pregnant women and eating their unborn babies, or have implied threats to their personal safety along with promises of paroles and other favors. I have witnesses to all I say but no court will touch it because they broke their laws to put me back in prison, and each day they break all the laws by keeping me. They violate every human right in the book, yet they keep preaching to the world as if they had no sins and were all good guys.
So, for years doctors and staff have been falling off me with heart attacks, sicknesses, killing themselves or being murdered, as they did me wrong by trying to use this case to set a new prison system and continue to pick up the paychecks. I see all new cops, new staff. For each inmate sent to kill me, the prison system has lost staff. All of the judgments and the blame that is pushed off on me will be reflected back in the fires of the Holy War that you call crime. It suits your fears not to face the actions you are creating and calling up in your prison crime factories, as your deceit is reflected. And then you are paid for the stories of crime sold to the public in TV and movies.
The children of the 1960’s that you call the “Manson Family” wanted to stop a war and turn the government and world to peace. They gave their lives when they took lives and they knew it. They gave all to clean up ATWA- air, trees, water, animals, the whole of the life of Earth, in love and concern for brothers and sisters in soul. They gave to get their brothers and sisters out of cages and to touch some intelligence upon the Earth. By living next to the land, we did see the drought and famine coming. For my part, I was complete and willing to take responsibility for any influence I had over THE mind of all, but your courts ran for the money and away from their own fears, guilts, and responsibilities. They didn’t want to confront the truth about themselves.
Your government invented the Watergate coverup but never did say what they were really covering up a Holy War invoked from the soul. When Manson, aka Lord Krishna, Jesus Christ, Mohammed, the Buddha, was condemned by the press and THE PEOPLE OF CALIFORNIA VS. MANSON, you condemned yourselves.
You condemned yourselves in the so-called Manson Family, putting the son of God on the prison cross again. I broke no law, not God’s nor Man’s law. God knows this; the Holy Spirit knows; and anyone in the truth knows. What you are buying and selling in God’s name you will suffer. With your own judgments convicting yourselves of being Satan, the anti-Christ, you stand your world on fire. I am Abraxas, the son of God, the son of Darkness, and I stand behind ALL the courts of the world. Until I get my rights, no one has rights. I’m God’s messenger from and in the truth, brother and son to all men. (666 your computers will print the same read-out to your book brains.) Until I get the same rights my fathers had, I will stand in Nixon’s place, convicted as the false prophet, as fire burns and the children starve and the land dies along with the air, as the wildlife becomes poisoned and the trees are being cut so fast that wildlife will not survive, NOT WITHOUT WORLD CHANGE.
I did, I say “did” invoke a balance for life on Earth. From behind the time locks of courtrooms and from the worlds of darkness, I did let loose devils and demons with the power of scorpions to torment. I did unseal seven seals and seven jars in accord with the judgments placed upon me, upon my circle. All who had no forgiveness will have no heart, and did set loose upon the earth destruction in the balance of their own judgments. These are the people who gave their own children no chance for survival. These are the people locked in death wishes which they project into the minds of the children.
To the faithful I say this, so that understanding can be touched and because I know you have been misled: I did live among you in the will of all, in and out of prison for over twenty years before I was put on trial in 1969. From the 1940’s, I lived a lifetime in and on your prison cross, kept in your punishments to be your goat, your blame, all your bad, long before your children of the ’60s picked me up and my will from the leftover garbage of past wars you waged upon your young. I am a child of the ’30s, not the ’60s. I told and answered in truth for what I was asked. What they did and do to balance themselves in their own points of view for the life they said they wanted is their own responsibility. You gave them your blame, and all of your problems but no forgiveness. They were you – your reflections yet you keep your children in cages and want new prison crosses for your own profits, and the same cycles continue as your judgments are pushed off to the unknowing people for more tax money in old and useless jobs. They are also making up more TV movie crime, as if you don’t have enough. Know this: from the prison graves the Christhead is no new trip, and the so-called Christians have been and are feeding on the blood of Christ children. You are so misled and caught up in lies that your souls and your justice are locked in the bank. Actors play your leaders in the same war patterns set by the dead.
I could have a parole and have no soul. I’ll keep my soul and shirk your parole. You people have no authority from justice. You’re crooks running the numbers racket you got no respect. I don’t want into your thoughts as anything but a number and you are dismissed from any service you claim to do in the name of God.
Prison is a frame of thought. I’m out of that. I don’t want out of your prison unless I can go with my brothers and sisters. If I have the whole world and not my Family, I would have nothing. I’m not broken. I’m not beaten. My own Holy Revolution against pollution is still in full swing. I am my own government. Even if Reagan is trying to ride on my life. I am my own court and judge, my own world, my own God, in my own rebirth movement started behind the judge’s chambers in 1943. God is in me and I’m in God and we both have a spirit of justice for the world.
You can try to kill me a million times more but you cannot kill soul. Truth was, is, and will always be. you have beaten me, broken my neck, knocked my teeth out. You’ve drugged me for years, dragging me up and down prison hallways, laying my head on every chopping block you’ve got in this state, chained me, burnt me, but you cannot defeat me. All you can do is destroy yourselves with your own judgments.
All that cannot get under me and in God’s will will not live over me but for a short time and that will grow to be a thousand hells, for you not only gave me your heads in truth by Dying, but have made me Christ four times in the world thought, Satan four times, Abaraxas four times. But over that I already was the 666 for 17 years in government prisons and am still brother in that chamber of thought with knives in darkness. My 666 Beast is running free outside, in one will, with permission to do anything except to destroy water, air, trees or wildlife, or the people with the marks of the Father on them. My armies move in ways beyond your programmed book brains in a Holy War to redeem life on Earth. For ATWA they move in all things, everywhere, coming from all you don’t know, from all you can’t or won’t try to understand.
There are many people who have already made a lot of sacrifices in order to turn the world around, to redeem their own ATWA. So, the people who lie and have lied will suffer the sufferings of a lot of people who gave. Reborn Christians who are real in their rebirth don’t need to find God’s words in books. The people who want life on Earth are with me in the will of life and working beyond money. The others can go to their deaths however and wherever they find it. The same God I speak of is all gods in ONE GOD. One world. One court. One government. One order. One mind. Or continue with the madness you have judged for yourselves to live in forever. The time has ended and will catch up to each person’s thought as it does.
Before 1969, for over twenty years, I suffered your prison cross. I give that to live, because I didn’t know the difference. I forgive and it is in my will to forget. But for the last fifteen years, there is no forgiveness. The IPCR is the green field with a red bull. Until you all accept one God, one government, one order, there will be no order. One religion, or no religion. Religion is God’s biggest problem.

“Just as a circle embraces all that is within it, so does the Godhead embrace all. No one has the power to divide this circle, to surpass it, or to limit it.”
To do so will be your destruction.

Note for the record. In the all that was said about me, it was not me saying it, and if you see a false prophet, it is only a reflection of your judgments, for in truth, it is motions, not words, that speak for the Manson family. We each have our own worlds and judgments. I have no judgments outside of what you all have set for yourselves. I’m content wherever I am. Whatever you do or say does not touch my inner circle. I have peace within myself. Peace of mind.

PS – The U.S. started the Second World War.

“I forgive and it is in my will to forget. But for the last ~~fifteen~~ (forty three) years, there is no forgiveness.”

January 23, 2012

Monsanto

Monsanto is killing the Earth.

For those who don’t know the hideous Truth about Monsanto-
(One of Many Death Corporations that are trying to kill you and me and him and her)
From an ORDER OF ATWA (source) post- Monsanto = Death

“Monsanto is the world’s leading producer of the herbicide “Roundup”, as well as producing 90% of the world’s genetically modified (GMO) seeds.
Over a 110 year history (1901-2011), Monsanto Co., the world’s largest seed company, has evolved from an industrial chemical concern into a powerful, threatening agricultural products company. Monsanto profited $2 billion dollars in 2009, but their record profits fell to only $1 billion in 2010 after activists exposed Monsanto for doing terribly evil acts like suing good farmers and feeding uranium to pregnant women.
Monsanto is a US based agricultural and pharmaceutical monopoly, Monsanto Company is a producer of herbicides, prescription pharmaceutical drugs, and genetically engineered (GMO) seeds. The global Monsanto corporation has operated sales offices, manufacturing plants, and research facilities in more than 100 countries. Monsanto has the largest share of the global GMO crops market. In 2001 its crops accounted for 91% of the total area of GMO crops planted worldwide. Based on 2001 figures Monsanto was the second biggest seed company in the world, and the third biggest agrochemical company…”

: True evil has a name: Monsanto

And from prior posts at IRONLIGHT (source)- Monsanto

“The Monsanto family were the first documented Jewish settlers to have migrated to New Orleans from the Netherlands in 1758. They were known slave owners and slave traders of 18th century. In 1901, the Monsanto family founded their eponymous chemical company. Its history is intimately linked to the production and promotion of highly toxic chemicals such as the herbicide, Agent Orange (used as a chemical weapon in the Vietnam war, resulting in 400,000 deaths and disabilities, and 500,000 children born with birth defects), and PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls, which can affect fertility, child development, the immune system, and increase the risk of certain cancers). Monsanto has known about the “systematic toxic effects” of such chemicals for decades, but has instructed its salespeople to maintain silence because, “we can’t afford to lose one dollar.” The gigantic biotech corporation now imperils the agricultural biodiversity which has supported life for thousands of years. The endless list of genetically modified seeds now sold and controlled via strict patents by Monsanto endanger age-old agricultural patterns under the presumptuous slogan of ending world hunger. What they really want is to control the future of the world’s food supply — that is, to enforce world hunger — much in the same manner, and with the same effect, that they control every aspect of life in occupied Palestine today. -W.”

: The World According To Monsanto-

MORE FILMS ON MONSANTO

January 15, 2012

The 17th Karmapa on Environmental Buddhism

“The question that remains is when will the intolerable moment occur for all of us? Will we allow the sea to rise and cover the Pacific islands and the Himalayas to be reduced to bare rock? Will we let amazing wildlife species become extinct and simply fade to a story that is told in future generations? Should thriving forests be turned into farmlands to meet our unending demands? Should we live with ever-growing mountains of garbage because we are unable to manage the effects of consumerism?”

I found this article that the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism’s spiritual leader, His Holiness The 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, wrote for “Conservation Biology” December issue to be very enlightening in explaining the relationship between Buddhist philosophy and environmental ideology.
I have inserted some excerpts from the article here and provided a link to the full article in its title below-
Ultimately, a call to action.

“Walking the Path of Environmental Buddhism through
Compassion and Emptiness”

“As I grew up and began studying Buddhist philosophy and teachings, I discovered great harmony between Buddhism and the environmental movement. The emphasis on biological diversity, including ecosystems—in particular, the understanding that animate and inanimate beings are parts of a whole—resonates closely with Buddhism’s emphasis on interdependence. The essence of Buddhism lies in the union of compassion and emptiness: the deeply felt dedication to alleviate the suffering of all living beings and the understanding that everything is devoid of self-nature. These two halves of a philosophical whole speak particularly to the goals of the environmental movement. Let me explain what I mean.

The most exalted example Buddhists use to explain compassion is motherhood. Consider all that your mother probably has done for you since the time you were conceived—carrying you for 9 months, experiencing the hardship of labor and birth, feeding and clothing you, taking care of all your needs, and worrying about you long after you reach adulthood. Most mothers never stop caring unconditionally for their children. Regardless of whether one believes in reincarnation or not, one can suppose that all living beings are like mothers to us. The food that appears in front of us at dinner was grown, packaged, and prepared by people we probably do not know. The clothes we are wearing were produced by people we probably will never meet. Yet we are benefiting from their hopes, dreams, and labor. Plants, animals, and raw materials have all been used to provide us these things. This is the interdependence that characterizes life—no one thing exists by itself alone, or can survive alone. We are all part of one world ecology and the world is extremely compassionate to us.

Emptiness, in contrast, can be best explained by using the example of the self. What do we imagine when we think of the self? Exactly where does the self reside? Is it in the heart or the brain? In the incoming breath or the outgoing breath? In the movement of our limbs? In our interaction or relationship with others? The self differs greatly at ages 15 and 25. Because it is impermanent and intangible, the self is empty of any inherent self-nature. And, because this is so, our happiness, our sadness, our successes, and our failures are also empty by nature. This does not mean that we are nothing, but that we are constantly moving, absorbing, and shedding. Consequently, we need not experience great attachment to our experiences and can develop equanimity regarding all phenomena. To experience this freedom from the conviction of a self and the self-importance it creates means that we can dispense with the artificial distinction between self and other and can be part of all phenomena everywhere.

How does this relate to the environment? According to Buddhism, ignorance of the empty nature of self and the rejection of compassion is the root cause of egotism, anger, attachment, and greed. Ignorance is why human beings have degraded the environment and are driving so many species to extinction. Ignorance causes us to place an excessive worth upon the self and anything related to it; my family, my possessions, my country, and even my race. Perceiving the diversity of the world through the limited lens of self means we can impose grave harm upon Earth without concern, because Earth has become “other.”” …

“During the last 100 years, over 95% of the world’s wild tigers (Panthera tigris) have vanished. As human needs have continued to expand, we have taken more and more from nature and left less and less for other animals. However, the magnificent tiger has almost completely disappeared due to consumer demand for its skin and body parts. We are driving a species to extinction simply because we believe wearing its skin makes us look wealthy or that consuming tiger parts will make us healthier. Doing such a thing is essentially non-Buddhist and uncompassionate—not only for the tiger, but also for ourselves, because this act is bound to have negative karmic consequences for us.

Compassion for the “other,” whether people, animal species, trees, or other plants, and for Earth itself, is the only thing that will ultimately save us human beings. Most people are primarily concerned about their work, wealth, health, or family. On a daily basis, they probably feel they have more urgent things to worry about than their environmental footprint. Of course, paying attention to this issue would mean having to make inconvenient choices and changes in their lives. I am not so different. Although I had considered giving up eating meat for many years, I became a complete vegetarian only a few years ago. Somebody presented a short documentary that showed how animals suffer before and during the act of killing. Watching it, I could feel the fear felt by the animals. Like a thunderclap, I became aware that these living beings were suffering so greatly simply to satisfy my habitual preferences. Eating meat became intolerable for me at that moment, and so I stopped.” …

“Finally, I believe that the very future of life on Earth depends on those of us who are privileged to live more simply. To live simply is to be compassionate to yourself and to the world. A life full of material goods and barren of compassion is quite unsustainable from an ecological and karmic point of view. Of course, advertisements are always telling us that the path to happiness lies in purchasing the goods they sell. How is it that the advertising convinces us even when we are skeptical of its message? Our attachment to our own happiness, possessions, family, and self creates a lack of perspective that makes us susceptible. However, if we can be mindful of the emptiness of self, we can create a space for choice rather than habitual consumerism. We don’t have to live a life that is sold to us—we can make the brave choice to live simply.”

A Logo for the Environment (29th December, 2007)

Transcript: An Explanation of the Kagyu Monlam logo by the Gyalwang Karmapa December 29, 2007

On December 29, 2007, His Holiness talked movingly about protecting the environment in a speech in Bodhgaya:

“There is a new logo for the Monlam this year, and I would like to explain it.

“Throughout my life I have always felt that the outer natural elements and my own mind are close. I have a special connection with the four elements. I am not being superstitious and saying I can talk to the elements, but sometimes it feels that way.

“Ever since the human race first appeared on this earth, we have used this earth heavily. It is said that ninety-nine percent of the resources and so on in this world come from the natural environment. We are using the earth until she is used up. The earth has given us immeasurable benefit, but what have we done for the earth in return? We always ask for something from the earth, but never give her anything back.

“We never have loving or protective thoughts for the earth. Whenever trees or anything else emerge from the ground, we cut them down. If there is a bit of level earth, we fight over it. To this day we perpetuate a continuous cycle of war and conflict over it. In fact, we have not done much of anything for the earth.

“Now the time has come when the earth is scowling at us; the time has come when the earth is giving up on us. The earth is about to treat us badly and give up on us. If she gives up on us, where can we live? There is talk of going to other planets that could support life, but only a few rich people could go. What would happen to all of us sentient beings who could not go?

“What should we do now that the situation has become so critical? The sentient beings living on the earth and the elements of the natural world need to join their hands together—the earth must not give up on sentient beings, and sentient beings must not give up on the earth. Each needs to grasp the other’s hand. So doesn’t the Monlam logo look like two hands clasping each other?

“Its shape is also similar to the design of the Sixteenth Gyalwang Karmapa’s Dream Flag of peace and serenity, which is used regularly among the Karma Kamtsang. If I were to make up everything myself, I doubt it would have any blessings, but using the previous Karmapa’s design as a model probably gives this blessings.

“This is a symbol of the Kagyu Monlam. We hold the Kagyu Monlam for the benefit of the entire world. We will not give up on the earth! May there be peace on earth! May the earth be sustained for many thousands of years! These are the prayers we make at the Kagyu Monlam, which is why this symbol is the logo of the Kagyu Monlam. I also think this might become a symbol of people having affection for the earth and wanting to protect it.

“Now I will boast a bit. As I mentioned before, I am the one who designed this logo. I have the strong feeling that I am connected to the natural elements. Technological devices do not agree with me. I feel most comfortable using natural things. When I use technological devices, my body feels rather uncomfortable, although I have no choice but to use them.

“Both the body and mind are strongly connected to the unaltered, natural elements. Because I made this logo, I think it could probably provide some protection against dangers from the natural elements of the external world. But do not think that this logo alone will protect you: if you jump into fire or water while wearing it, you will still die. It is first and foremost a symbol that we are not giving up on the earth.

“Thank you”

AIR | TREES | WATER | ANIMALS |

Tag: animal rights

August 12, 2013