Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that knows poems. ~Rainer Maria Rilke

Monday, February 11, 2013

Sentience

" Just as you have the instinctive natural desire to be happy and overcome suffering, so do all sentient beings; just as you have the right to fulfill this innate aspiration, so do all sentient beings. So on what exact grounds do you discriminate?"
~Dalai Lama~ 
(Head of the Dge-lugs-pa order of Tibetan Buddhists, 1989 Nobel Peace Prize.)

So, are dogs or other animals sentient beings?
Here is a definition....
Sentience is the ability to feel, perceive, or be conscious, or to have subjective experiences.  Philosophers used the concept to distinguish the ability to think ("reason") from the ability to feel ("sentience"). In  western philosophy, sentience is the ability to have sensations or experiences. For Eastern philosophy, sentience is a metaphysical quality of all things that requires respect and care. The concept is central to the philosophy of animal rights.
What do you think? Is this an animal who has no purpose, cannot think or feel, have experiences?




I think not.

(Thank you Shorty, Max and Cutter for allowing me to capture your buddha nature with my camera.)

10 comments:

  1. and i would agree with you....smiles...love the pics of your pups...they know more than we think...i think

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  2. Not sure about their Buddha Nature, they sure can get rowdy! sometimes, but no doubt they are sentient. After all, They Own Us, as you have often documented.

    Lovely post, gifted photos. FlatCat still absolute Max favorite...

    xoxo

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  3. It's Monday!

    all I know is that there is love going both ways with me and my critters
    Now I need to go and soak my sore muscles love those photos

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  4. Yes I believe all animals feel love, pain, etc. Have a blessed day. Madeline

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  5. Love this post. My orange marmalade cat, Milo, (age 14) is very sensative and feeling. My Welsh Pembroke Corgi, Chelsea, knows me inside and out. They both know when I am sad, ill or ill-tempered. Bless them both.
    xo, Cheryl

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  6. I always have a hard time with "sentiences", more so on days when I fall over my downward dog and bump my head on my budda~ Lately my attempts at being on the mat around my critters, always gets into a funny pickle ~ as they tend to "reason" that my mind should be on only them ~ they definately do in on ~ ''purpose" ...so my answer is YES ~ they fulfilled their "aspiration". ... What was that question again ? ? ;)

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  7. Well you know I'll be agreeing with you on this one Connie...after all Dog is God spelled backwards! There are many times when I witness Griffin going through his emotions...thinking, feeling joy and pain, dreaming.

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  8. A kiss on the hand,

    cleansing of a teary cheek,

    My dog’s affection.

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  9. A dog is there for us to love and give love back in return. He knows when we are sad, happy, or pensive and he offers us what we need to suit those moods. If only he could speak to let us know how he is doing. Because yes, he does feel...
    Gotta love our pets!

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  10. :)

    Buddhist religion is discussed between my son and I after we both took a religious studies course together last year, and with his travels through Asia. It will be the closet we ever step toward a practiced religion, ever.

    Love your photos in the last three post...I need to get back out and take them again.

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