Benefits of Liberating Animals

Benefits of Liberating Animals

Date Posted:
October 2005

Rinpoche gave the following talk to a group of students in Malaysia and Singapore on the benefits of liberating animals.

If you liberate animals, it helps you to have a long life, or you can dedicate the merit from their liberation to those who have life obstacles. In this life we are human beings, which is due to our past good karma ripening. But human beings have so much physical and mental suffering, no freedom, and are completely overwhelmed by delusion and karma. Fortunately, we have met the Dharma. The animal realm has terrible suffering, and the best thing is to think of something that benefits them. The best thing one can do to benefit animals is to circumambulate them around a stupa or statue as many times as possible. This means they have a chance to purify negative karma, and have a cause for enlightenment and liberation from samsara. That is what they need. If you circumambulate 100 holy objects, you create 100 causes for liberation and happiness. If there are 10,000 holy objects present, then you create 10,000 causes for happiness and so on. Each insect, worm, frog, shell, fish, or ant creates 10,000 causes for enlightenment. That is the best thing to do. Start by reciting mantras over some water, which blesses the water, which you then pour or sprinkle on the animals. Then you can say prayers and take them around the holy objects. They get so many benefits from the blessed water. Not all animals can listen to your prayers, but birds and frogs can hear you chanting the mantras when they look at you with their big eyes and stop making a noise.

By reciting prayers and chanting powerful mantras for animals, they attain a higher rebirth and liberation. You can perform Refuge Practice, Thirty-five Buddhas, and Vajrasattva practice. This purifies so much suffering and can definitely help them. If you have strong compassion, bodhicitta, and a realization of emptiness, when you blow on the water to bless it, it has greater power, and karma can be purified.