Buddhists here in Syracuse study what the Dalai Lama is teaching in order to increase the richness of the spiritual awareness of their Buddhist experience. And the positions of the Dala Lamai in dealing with worldly events are seen as important to Buddhists here who feel he is working towards a more civilized world. And so a recent article in The Buddhist Channel, http://www.buddhistchannel.tv, titled "Dalai Lama joins campaign against battery hens" is of interest to Buddhists here in Syracuse.
In this article it is reported that the Dalai Lama has condemned battery hen farming and is urging consumers to switch to buying eggs from chickens kept outside of cages. The Buddhist spiritual leader has said "Turning these defenseless animals into egg-producing machines with no consideration for their welfare whatsoever is a degradation of our own humanity. Switching to cage-free eggs would reduce the suffering of these animals."
The Dalai Lama issued this statement in support of a campaign against battery hen farming by Humane Society International. The Dalai Lama, who fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet, has commented that most caged birds have less than the size of an A4 sheet of paper as their living space. The Dalai Lama has also said "The abuse we inflict on hens has always been particularly disturbing to me and I have always been particularly concerned toward how these animals are treated in industrial food production."
The Dalai Lama's statements come at a time when animal rights campaigners around the world have been pushing for an end to factory egg farming. It has been reported that Finland, Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Norway have already banned battery hen cages. The European Union countries are phasing them out and there will be a total ban on the farming practice by 2012.
A Humane Society spokesman has commented cage-free does not always mean "cruelty-free" but cage-free hens generally have 250 percent to 300 percent more space per bird and are able to act more naturally than caged hens. The factory farms in India alone confine 140 to 200 million hens in battery cages, according to Humane Society estimates, and there is little "cage-free farming."
Clearly the Dalai Lama would appreciate support from Buddhists here in Syracuse for an end to battery hen farming across the world.
Mandel News Service: http://www.mandelnews.com
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