Joe and Glenn, All types of life (that I know of) are sentient. There may be other categories of things that are not alive that are also sentient. I don't know. Continuing a discussion along this line is the very same as Joshu's koan 'Mu!'. Who cares?
The only thing you need to know is YOU are sentient, and that means you have Buddha Nature. It's now up to YOU to discover it, and in doing so the illusory concept of YOU will dissolve and there will only be Buddha Nature. (And then all these questions about sentient beings will dissolve also.) ...Bill! --- In [email protected], "Glenn Rogers" <rgthiessen@...> wrote: > > Joe, > > Okay, so from the perspective of the first noble truth, animals are sentient > and plants are not; I get this. From the perspective of non-discrimination, > however, there is absolutely no difference between me and a plant or a cloud > or the cow I eat. I would not exist (at least in my current manifestation) if > it weren't for all of these elements, and more (sunshine, fossil fuels. They > are all in me and I am in them; the cosmos is in all of us and we are in the > cosmos. > > Glenn > > --- In [email protected], "Joe" <desert_woodworker@> wrote: > > > > Glenn, > > > > One of the Four Noble Truths taught by the Buddha was the reality of > > ...Suffering. > > > > Animals suffer: Plants do not (seem to suffer). > > > > Maybe, some day, plants will be shown to be equally -- however differently > > -- as sentient as animals. Then, all vegetarians and vegans will be in > > some trouble. > > > > I too am a strict omnivore, Glenn. But I have been in/gone through 10 or > > 12 year periods of being solely vegetarian, from time to time. > > > > Things keep changing. ;-) > > > > --Joe > > > > > "Glenn Rogers" <rgthiessen@> wrote: > > > > > > ...why do monastics (and some lay practitioners) defend not eating meat? > > > They still rely on plants for their survival. [snip] > > > ------------------------------------ Current Book Discussion: any Zen book that you recently have read or are reading! Talk about it today!Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
