Buddhist Devotees ‘liberate’ 300,000 cockles as part of Animal Liberation
DEVOTEES of a local Buddhist temple released 300,000 shellfish into the waters off Pulau Ubin as part of a traditional practice known as animal liberation.
The rite, which is tied to Buddhist belief in reincarnation, commonly involves the release of birds, fish and turtles. Members of the Thekchen Choling Temple chose to liberate cockles instead.
‘People won’t think of releasing these animals,’ Venerable Ani Thubten Chodron said. ‘They won’t bother about these small lives. We release animals that people neglect. We hope that these animals will have a very good rebirth and good life after this.’
According to Buddhist belief, liberating an animal makes a positive imprint on its mind and frees it from being reborn as a lower being. The temple community pooled together $3,000 and managed to buy two tons of cockles from a distributor. Read the full story in Tuesday’s edition of The Straits Times.
Source: The Straits Times Source of Image: Wikipedia