On Jun 9, 11:51 am, Jangchub wrote:
On Tue, 10 Jun 2008 00:03:10 +1000, Erik Vastmasd



wrote:
On Mon, 09 Jun 2008 05:36:44 -0500,when reading "rec.gardens", I'm
certain I caught a glimpse of "Jangchub " saying:

On Sun, 8 Jun 2008 20:58:09 -0500, "Nelly Wensdow"
wrote:

I snipped Nelly's post for brevity but I support her comments

No, nothing wrong with NOT being vegetarian at al. It's my choice to
be vegetarian. I do find that alfalfa pellets are rather inexpensive
and rabbits like those, so I use it to deter the critters from plants.
It doesn't stop the squirrels from coming down eating one bite from
each on the tree. Even still, I would never consider trapping, live
or otherwisem, the squirrel for fear they do have a nest somewhere and
will be taken away from nurturing the infants.

I eat both meat and vegetables so I'm not a vegetarian. But I'm a keen
gardener and grow vegetables because I'm able to grow them and it saves
me having to pay for them at the supermarket.

We have an abundance of Native and Feral animals that can attack our
veggies so if we don't control those animals there is no point in
planting vegetables in the first place.

All I suggested to you was to grow a heart in that garden of yours.

You have said something similar before and I still can't understand what
you mean.

A little compassion goes a long way. If you rationalize it to mean you
should kill animals because they are starving, this is not what I
meant.

Recently we had a cull of 400 Kangaroos because drought conditions
caused lack of feed. If the cull hadn't been carried out they all could
have died.

In another situation where a small confined population of Hares [an
introduced species] were in danger, they were culled to preserve their
community.

I daily set traps to catch feral cats which are picked up by the RSPCA.

When I rescue rats or ants out of my swimming pool, the life
I'm saving is my own.

I just don't understand what you are trying to say?

I'm saying I don't discriminate between human and animal life. I see
both as valuable and would not kill either, intentionally. I believe
in karma. Karma is a Sanskrit word meaning action. Everything I do
will have a reaction which will ripen at some point. If I save an ant
from the pool, someone will save me. If I kill, I will eventually be
killed. Action/Reaction. I'm a Buddhist and we don't believe in
killing anything.

Culling to prevent starvation? I'm a little torn by that one.
Admittedly, I have put my pets down when they were suffering. That
type of killing karma is not as heavy as if I did sport hunting for
fun, not food. I won't kill animals to feed me, either. If I don't
eat meat I am not part of the cog where animals suffer to feed me.
Because it's in the package at the grocery store doesn't mean it
didn't once have a face with eyes. I don't know, this is who I am. It
upsets me when people kill because I don't want to see them suffer,
but there is nothing I can do about that.

This may all sound ridiculous and superstitious, but not to me or to
the billion other Buddhists on the planet.

I think we could all benefit by having a bigger heart.

I'm a little curious about something now. You mentioned in another
post that you weed your garden. I understand you have to kill plants
to eat and survive, but how does weeding fit in? This is simple
curiosity, since I weed without compunction. You mentioned you won't
use a herbicide, so I wondered if there's a difference- there
certainly isn't any difference in that the plant is dead. (Not saying
anything against that either, since while I am not organic, I also
don't use any pesticides or herbicides on my property).

Chris