Confronted with the problems that characterize our herding culture, we are perhaps like the metaphorical man wounded by an arrow that the Buddha discussed with his students. He said that the man would be foolish if he tried to discover who shot the arrow, why he shot it, where he was when he shot it, and so forth, before having the arrow removed and the wound treated, lest he bleed to death attempting to get his questions answered. We, likewise, can all remove the arrow and treat the wound of eating animal foods right now. We don't need to know the whole history. We can easily see it is cruel and that it is unnecessary; whatever people have done in the past, we are not obligated to imitate them if it is based on delusion. Perhaps in the past people thought they needed to enslave animals and people to survive, and that the cruelty involved in it was somehow allowed them. It's obviously not necessary for us today, as we can plainly see by walking into any grocery store, and the sooner we can awaken from the thrall of the obsolete mythos that we are predatory by nature, the sooner we'll be able to evolve spiritually and discover and fulfill our purpose on this earth. .Will Tuttle
About This Quote
The quote is talking about the idea that we think we need to be cruel and eat animals for food and other means of survival and that we can not change and we are stuck in our past. The Buddha said that we don't need to know what caused us to do things in the past let's just stop doing them, needless cruelty is cruel and unnecessary.
Source: The World Peace Diet: Eating For Spiritual Health And Social Harmony
Some Similar Quotes
- Men build too many walls and not enough bridges.
- You are evidence of your mother's strength, especially if you are a rebellious knucklehead and regardless she has always maintained her sanity.
- Tolerance of intolerance is cowardice.
- As you walk through forestsor the meadows of your mind, Stop and talk to those you fear Good friendships you may find
- The question has often been asked; Is Buddhism a religion or a philosophy? It does not matter what you call it. Buddhism remains what it is whatever label you may put on it. The label is immaterial. Even the label 'Buddhism' which we give to...
More Quotes By Will Tuttle
- The only position that leaves me with no cognitive dissonance is atheism. It is not a creed. Death is certain, replacing both the siren-song of Paradise and the dread of Hell. Life on this earth, with all its mystery and beauty and pain, is then...
- Tolerance of intolerance is cowardice.
- In a well-functioning democracy, the state constitution is considered more important than God's holy book, whichever holy book that may be, and God matters only in your private life.
- The morning after the 9/11 attacks..we began talking about the Twin Towers attack. Ruud shook his head sadly about it all. He said, "It's so weird, isn't it, all these people saying this has to do with Islam?" I couldn't help myself.. I blurted out,...
- ..Bin Laden's quotes from the Quaran resonated in my brain: "When you meet the unbelievers, strike them in the neck." "If you do not go out and fight, God will punish you severely and put others in your place." "Wherever you find the polytheists, kill...