Portuguese boy with strong imprints
A student of mine shared with me an article on Huffington Post. It was an article based on a video of a very young boy named Luiz Antonio. In the video, his mother gave him his dinner of rice, potatoes and octopus tentacles. Instead of eating it immediately, he questioned his mom on the source of the octopus tentacles… After going back and forth with his mother, he finally came to the conclusion that all animals are animals… and animals are not supposed to be eaten, but to be taken care of!
“So… when we eat animals they die!“, says Luiz “Why do they die? I don’t like that they die. I like that they stay standing up… These animals — you gotta take care of them… and not eat them!” This is coming from a very young boy! Amazing!
What an inspiring video… His parents must have brought him very up well. Children like these will grow up to be very nice and compassionate people. They won’t just follow the crowd, but think for themselves. A kid with a powerful imprint from a previous life.
Tsem Rinpoche
[Extracted from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/31/luiz-antonio-vegetarian-where-meat-comes-from_n_3366242.html ]
Luiz Antonio, Adorable Child, Sums Up Moral Argument For Being Vegetarian As Only A Kid Can (VIDEO)
Or view the video on the server at:
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/Dont-Want-to-Eat-Octopus.mp4
Unlike most children his age, Luiz Antonio wants to eat his vegetables. It’s the other stuff that apparently gives him second thoughts.
As evidence, YouTube user Flavia Cavalcanti has an adorable video, originally uploaded in Portuguese, of little Luiz struggling to comprehend the origins of his meal. Potato? Easy enough. Rice? Sure. Octopus gnocchi? Fat chance.
In a recently uploaded version with English subtitles, Luiz dances around the subject a bit, asking simple questions trying to grasp how, exactly, the “legs” of an octopus ended up on his plate; more importantly, he wonders, what happened to the rest of the octopus?
“Is his head still in the sea?” Luiz asks his mom, who responds, “It’s at the fish market.”
“The man chopped it?” Luiz asks. His mom then informs him that all animals we eat, even chickens, are chopped up, prompting the sharp realization, “No! Those are animals!”
“So… when we eat animals they die!” a wide-eyed Luiz acknowledges. “Why do they die? I don’t like that they die. I like that they stay standing up… These animals — you gotta take care of them… and not eat them!”
After that epiphany, Luiz realizes his mom has been touched by his compassion.
“Why are you crying?” he asks.
“I’m not crying,” his mother responds. “I’m just touched by you.”
“I’m doing something beautiful?” Luiz wonders aloud, prompting his mom to direct him back to the plate, “Eat! No need to eat the octopus, all right?”
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Inspiring video of a Portuguese boy with strong imprints. His dinner plate was served with rice, potatoes and octopus tentacles. After some questioning he told his mother that animals are not supposed to be eaten, but to be taken care of. This surprised his mother as her young son understands about the killings of animals. He don’t want to hurt animals , he knew the pain and sufferings of animals been killed . That’s wonderful , it’s a good beginning for a young boy to have compassion for animals at such a young age.
Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing.
It’s really unusual for a kid to talk like that. Luiz definitely had some imprint on being kind to animals or even a vegetarian in his previous lives. It will really give a shock for a kid to feel the animals but it is a good shock. What he ask and said is what most of the adults would not want to think or face. Really rejoice for Luiz to have such realization at this very young age.
This young boy is not only cute but has a very kind heart. At such a young age he knows that killing animals bring pain to them and do not want to eat meat. A very compassionate boy.
This Portuguese young boy has a very beautiful heart indeed.At such a young age he know animals are not supposed to be eaten, but to be taken care. Not all children at his age would thought and said such things.Hope this beautiful article will inspired us…..
Thanks Rinpoche for sharing.
Luiz could be someone in his past life, its very ‘unusual’ for a kid at his age to argue and ask questions on the source of his food, most shockingly he put himself into the octopus’s position and seemed to understand that animals have feelings too. It sure is not a small thing for a boy to think, and talk like that.
Dear Rinpoche, I think think Antonio’s previous life or many lifetimes ago was a caring person who fights for animals rights if not, he wouldn’t have a thought like this because he is just a boy about 5 years old.
i love this kid! he truly has his mind in the right place, i hate it when people eat animals, they have lives too! i love animals and i really think they should have rights! please become vegetarian, thank you for sharing Rinpoche.
谢谢仁波切的分享。密传一向来都相信转世，这小朋友有很强的慈悲印记，真是他前世累积的功德和福报。我还是强调那句话，冥冥中有注定。我们今天可以皈依于仁波切门下。其实我们前世都已经认识了。祈愿仁波切长驻在世，常转法轮。
When I first see this boy on Facebook, I was inspired by his pure love for animals. He may be young and innocent but he is wise and being a true human that doesn’t want to create harm to other animals. He is such a sweet boy. I was moved when he said :”These animals — you gotta take care of them… and not eat them!” Such wise words from him. Thank you Rinpoche for sharing. Namtse!
能在那么小就有如此的慈悲与大爱的心，我想这小朋友一定是在上一世，一定是做了大量有关于慈悲与大爱的工作，而留下了如此强烈的印记，造就了这一辈子并还是小孩就已经让那慈爱的种子欣欣发芽 （无限随喜）
最感动我的部分是，他那么小，就能够感动到他的母亲，感动了许多的人，那么小就开始了把爱，关怀动物的生命的这一个伟大资讯，渲染在我们每一人的心中
祈愿我们都能够做到这样，同样的把这资讯与大爱慈悲的佛法，不断的与所有的人分享，利益与帮助一切众生，好使我们也能够种下那深深动容的印记 ：）
看了这段影片后真觉惭愧，那么小的小孩都知道持素爱护动物。想到自己常常忍不住欲望，让欲望战胜了理智！心里怪不好意思！我要加油啰！
It is so rare to have a kid a this young age to say no to meat and only eats vegetables. Imagine eveyone in this world is like him there would be peace, lesser extinction everyday and the pain from the animals will be all gone.
The video teaches me:
1. Children actually can teach adults/parents lessons of life, what we adult need is just keep our ego low, do not think children know less than us or even they must listen without questioning from us. Have to admit, this needs practice, and remind yourself everyday. When we can learn and listen to a kid, we can learn from many, and learn much faster and much more.
2. I was so impressed with the kid’s strong imprint and reasoning and arguing power. I believe kid has more or less the latter, and it might “erased” by parents/adults in the process. Treasure this before we lose it, for our kid to be a happy and conscious kid.
3. With his strong imprint, he creates less negative karma by not harming others since such young age and can be a very powerful lesson for many around him and around the world.
Thank you Luiz Antonio!
Such beautiful heart from a 4 year old kid, as I know normally kid are very demanding, always wanted everything to go their ways, but this boy is so different, he loves animal so much and don’t want to see them dying, he wanted to see them alive and running freely, hence, he does not want to eat meat. how beautiful with his mind and action, even the mother was touched by him. I would believe this may be due to his strong imprint in his past life, an animal lover, hehe.
This is a very uncommon occurrence for a kid to have compassion for what he has been brought up as food. I do think this boy is very special, to have concern for animals, perhaps he spent many lifetimes saving, caring and helping animals. In our time children are desensitised from feeling for the animals. As all the items they eat come in fillets, chunks, parts, cans and so forth. So much so the kids in Singapore did not even know how a chicken looked like. I believe if more kids actually knew where their food was coming from they will not be so easy to just eat meat indiscriminately. If children had to kill their own animals to eat I doubt many would want to keep to such a diet.
This is an amazing story. it reminded me of my friend who was very upset that her son didn’t want to eat meat when he was younger.. i was horrified when she told me happily, “but thank god he now eats a bit” and that they had been trying very hard to get him to eat meat. I guess it is because people really don’t know better and it is the social norm to eat meat and to see meat as a necessary part of our diet. It is only when more awareness is raised regarding the lack of necessity for meat in our diet and that we need to learn more about compassionate eating that we can change society’s view.
Shelly tai on 30 June at 830pm
Wow! What a special kid such a young age already so compassion is such a shame for an adult who cant even not eating meat for a day. Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this amazing story with us.
By the accent he surely is brazilian! I’m brazilian myself.
Nowadays especially city area, the kids will draw an image of chicken drumstick when you ask them to draw chicken. They didn’t know chicken meal came from something with lives, and it involves killing when we demand for meat…
Luiz is a good boy wanting to know where the food come from, after he knew it, he refuses to create the cause for animal to die and killing.
This is so touching that even adults like us, many just demand meat to fill their desire for taste, how sad is that?
Let’s learn a lesson from Luiz: “These animals — you gotta take care of them… and not eat them!”
He may be young, he may seem to be talking silly, he might also seem childish to you but what he has to say echoes a thousand years!
It is more than evident that reincarnation exists and when a person with strong positive imprints return, most likely they bring with them the virtues they used to work on back then. Like this kid, it is evident that he has been a vegetarian in a different time before this and can explain with great logic why vegetarianism is good and cruelty to animals is otherwise bad.
with proper guidance n nurturing, this boy can reach his fullest potential in order to ripen that potential, the parents must encourage them on the right way. Hence, in the monasteries, young reincarnated Lamas are brought back to the monasteries at a very early age in order to familiarize themselves with what their predecessors used to do.
i am happy that this boy can say this because how as a young boy he can already see that animals are alive too and it is bad to eat them. i hope this boy grows up to be very nice man and i hope he saves animals in the future too.
Dear Rinpoche,
This boy reallly does have strong imprints!
Just seeing the video I have been so touched to see such a young boy come out with so much logic and common sense on why we should stop killing and eating meat.
Not only does this video promote vegetarianism but is also another video of proof that reincarnation exists.
I love the way he quoted this “So… when we eat animals they die!” a wide-eyed Luiz acknowledges. “Why do they die? I don’t like that they die. I like that they stay standing up… These animals — you gotta take care of them… and not eat them!”
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this video
Love
Jutika Lam
Wow, this coming from a boy of such young age is amazing! I would have never known for anyone to day this. I can say that every single thing that this boy had said to his mother was true. Animals do not deserve to die. And my favourite thing that he had said was “I like that they stay standing up.” I found that one line just so cool, and deep for a young boy to say.
What Rinpoche said reminded me of a certain peom witten by George Bernard Shaw, some words of which I can still vividly remember:- “Quote: We are the living graves of murdered beasts, slaughtered to satisfy our appetites, We never pause to wonder at our feasts, If animals like men could possibly have rights. How can we hope in this world to attain the peace we say we are so anxious for, we pray for it “o’er Hetacomba of slain” To God while outraging the mortal Law, Thus cruelty begets the offspring – War! Unquote”.
Every action we perform leaves an imprint on the mental consciousness, and these imprints are to be brought forward to the next rebirth. Obviously this little intelligent boy is someone special who is not easy to be influenced. From his conversation with the mom, he is so stern that eating animals is not virtuous and refused to eat at all. His imprint of being either a vegetarian or being someone very compassionate and kind is so strong that he still practicing it and the delusions of “eating meat is good” cannot fool him.
This kid has a very beautiful mind filled with compassion and wisdom. You can see him paused and think about the idea of eating animals with very deep and penetrative thought. Then he asked very direct question to probe the motive behind eating animals. He is not hesitant in expressing his wished, without any fear, and gave his reasons. Indeed he showed us a very good example of what you take in your meal do affect you and the people around. As parents his mum respected his wishes and doesn’t pressure him into eating the octopus.
This kid is teaching his mother, how much care he has! He is teaching his mother and he is caring about that poor animal that is in his plate…. He will turn his mother and the whole family vegetarian, how could they not grow a compassionate heart with such a passionate compassionate boy in the family…
Thank you Rinpoche sharing nice story. Proud of this kid Luiz , just a 3 year old kid and prefer to be vegetarian rather than eat meat . Really strong imprint from previous life, Love and care to animals , very good become vegetarian since young.
Luiz is not an ordinary kid, at such a tender age, he could tell his mom all animals are not to be eaten and should take care of them. His mother cried because she was so touched by her son’s compassion and love for the animals, hope that he can inspire his family and the people out there to become vegetarian if you are not one yet.
Seeing such a small kid with such strong imprints is so touching.
Just like what Luiz says he like that animals stay standing up.
Animals are not born to be killed and to be put on to our plate.
Its really amazing that such a small kid has such strong imprint to cause the family to stop eating meat.
This kid really put the parent to amazement.
Such strong imprints in this young boy Luiz. Sometimes a child sees things differently from us adults..it’s just as simple as what he says. When we eat any meat, the animals has to die in order to satisfy our taste buds. There are no two ways about. Don’t kid yourself people.. 🙁
Thank you Luiz, for reinforcing my vegetarian choice. You’re awesome.. You put us adults to shame..
Thank you for sharing, Rinpoche.
Luiz is such a cutie pie, so young yet so intelligent! I’m touched by him, he’s just a little kid but the things he said make sense! Although this is just a short video, but it speaks louder than words. I’m happy for him, he will grow up to become a wonderful human being.
Thank You for sharing Ripoche.
I am amaze that this little kid has such a good heart and compassionate! I find that sometime kids can be our teacher and they can be very inspiring because of their pure heart and the questions they asked sometimes make the adults think, answered and realised!! Incredible kid 🙂
Dear Rinpoche, this video is so touching coming from a young kid who speaks from his heart about not eating animals but caring for animals. It reminds me so much of my son, Xander. He has always been inclined towards vegetarianism from young. When he was a year old, he refuses to eat the fish or meat porridge and would spit it out so he just ate Gerber baby food and drank milk. When he was a few years old, he refuses to come sit around us when we were having dinner as he thinks our food is very smelly. Up until now he still thinks its smelly. So he literally live on drinking milk, eating bread and biscuits when other kids of his age would jump at the chance of having McDonald’s burger or nuggets. Believe me, we have tried so many times to coax him into trying McDonalds (before Alex & I turned vegetarian) and he would only eat the fries and pancakes. Only lately he has opened up to eat vegetable porridge, vegetarian macaroni, vegy pizza. We used to think he’s such a challenging child for being so picky in his food. Now we truly believe that he has a very strong vegetarian imprint from previous life and that he is definitely does not have the desire to eat meat at all. My daughter also once told me that animals are our friends and hence we should not be eating them and i find it very profound coming from a child. We are now embracing vegetarianism and trying to encourage our friends and family to do so too.
Thanks for sharing this story Rinpoche! It is amazing how a young child like Luiz can have such a high intelligence and compassion for animals. It is extremely rare for a child to do this. He is very smart and wise for his age and I completely agree with his thoughts. Animals are meant to be like us,born not to be eaten but to live.
Thanks Rinpoche for Sharing with us this great live story.Luiz Antonio is amazing .In this age he choose to be vegetarian and not meat.This is naturally and not ask by his parents.He have a such good quality for me to learn.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this video, very direct , logic and heart touching. I can imagine the mum cried at that moment, to have such a caring and compassionate kid.
Like what Beng Kooi said “Sometimes kids really put us adults to shame.” May this video inspired many more parents to nurture their kids to be vegetarian, may many more non vegetarians be inspired by Luiz.
Luiz shows us how contaminated we adults have become and it is time for us to learn from children’s purity and not try to influence them into our samsaric ways of living in self indulgence and pure horrid selfishness.
Luiz pure logic of not having animals to die by not eating them but caring for them is bodhichitta in its best simple yet profound manner of life and practice.
Perfect illustration of the pure unselfish mind.
Definitely that there are previous imprints that made this kid not to eat animals. And he could think logically on why animals should not be eaten. He is so cute that even his mother could not win the conversation. Good on him!
Another proof that reincarnation exist.
Most children his age will not eat vegetable yet Luiz Antonio is not ordinary child. It must be from past life imprints that he prefers not eating meat/animals.
“So.. when we eat animals they die!…I don’t like that they die. These animals….you gotta take care of them …and not eat them”.
So much logic from such young boy. Let us learn from him and be kind to animals. Cut down on meat or better still be a vegetarian.
Little Luiz amazes his mother and us, when he pauses over the sight of legs of an Octopus on his dinner plate.’What happened to the rest of his body?” he asks.He also makes statements like: “So.. when we eat animals they die!…I don’t like that they die. These animals….you gotta take care of them …and not eat them”.
This little boy can ask questions and make statements that show deep care for animals.He doesn’t like that they die, when human beings cut them up. he thinks of the different body parts that used to belong to on animal, who was alive and kicking and happy, like he is now.
For a young boy to think so deeply, it is true that it must have been previous life’s imprints.This is truly very touching. Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this story with us.
We should strive to create deep positive imprints of love and care in our mind-stream, for it to open up later or in future lives.
This kid is so special, towards the end of this video, i think his mum was convinced and let small little Luiz to have vegetarian, she might join little Luiz becoming vegetarian as well…
小孩永远是最真诚和天真无邪，内在存在着的是没有被污染的灵魂。Luiz确实是不平凡的小孩，在他的年龄层想的不是吃喝玩乐，想的是为何人类对这些动物那么的残忍，他们是不应该被伤害的，小小的心灵但是却有着如此大的慈悲心，Luiz的举动是来之于强烈的前世印记。
Luiz的真诚言语真的值得让人深思，我们更加要对所有的众生更加有慈悲心以及怜爱。
How inspiring for a young boy to be telling his mother about it instead of the other way round. Rejoice for the mother too.
What a sweet and wonderful exchange between Luiz and his mom. I was moved when the little boy said that he doesn’t like it when they die and wants animals to be standing up, meaning alive. The first thing that is amazing is how such a young person arrived at that conclusion because it cannot be by the influence of his parents who are clearly meat eaters. So it must be something imprinted in him from his previous lives and that struck me as being incredibly wonderful that the compassion that was in him from his past lives are “carried forward” into this life. Doesn’t that proof that the things we develop in our mind-stream, the wisdom and compassion that we cultivate, do not go to waste.
Compassion comes so clearly to Luiz but what is also amazing is how he processes information-asking questions and joining the dots and very quickly come up with a conclusion that so many educated adults fail to. When we eat meat, we cause animals to die and that is not right.
I am also very impressed with Luiz’s mother who was quick to appreciate her son’s kindness and does not force him to eat what he clearly does not want to – not because he doesn’t like it, but because he knows its not right. She cries towards the end of the video being very moved by her son. Compassion is contagious and in such a beautiful way.
I hope this video goes viral for it carries such a good message.
It was touching Luiz have show kindness to animal in young age. How nice if everyone think like him.
I love this kid! He’s so intelligent, at such a young age he already understands where the food on his plate comes from. It was such a beautiful moment for him and his mother, having touched her she must be so proud of her son to cry. I really enjoyed how he conversed with his mother, it seemed like he already knew where his food came from and just wanted to clarify with his mother. At the end his mother telling him to just eat the potato and rice was so funny. We were all thought when young to be caring, loving of others, human beings and animals yet it was contradictory for us to have meat on our dinner plates. I really hope this video would spread more awareness of being a vegetarian. Thank you for sharing this video Rinpoche.
Thank you Rinpoche for the sharing.The young boy is very intelligent for his age.He have a strong sense of compassion and reasoning which strike a deep impression on anyone who is near him.He even made his mother cry,so touching.In fact it made my eyes swell up in tears too.
Rejoice for him…
Dear Rinpoche,It’s so wonderful. I think this little Luiz Antonio was a vegetarian or maybe a vegan in his previous life. Many people enjoys eating meat but they say ‘I love Animals’ and at the same time they didn’t know that they are creating sufferings to animals. If you say you love animals then start being a vegetarian and stop doing things that will harm animals. Do you like to see animals getting slaughtered? I hope everyone will start learning from this little boy.
It is a simple logic that even a three-year old Luiz can figure it out… but we adults tend to justify wrong doings, with excuses, for the sake of our own attachment.
Luiz is definitely a special boy with a golden heart… his imprints from past lives are very strong. He will grow up to be a good man; kind and compassionate 🙂
Indeed, this kid is special. This is not intelligence because I know many incredible people who are highly intelligent but choose to ignore the plight of animals. Therefore, I can tell that it is not intelligence but a meritorious mind, a mind that chooses to face facts and act upon it. There are plenty of intellectuals with plenty of knowledge but are unable to act on the knowledge they have. Worse still, there are plenty of people who know a lot of Dharma but do not practice. What’s amazing about this is the fact that this boy is so young and he can think in such a sublime way. Good boy and I hope he continues in this way…
Thank you for sharing such a beautiful and inspiring post! How smart is young Luiz! Such strong imprints and it is shown at such a young age. Many of us just take it for granted as we like how the meat taste. And the worse part is when we find different ways to cook it so that we can have more choices. And charged expensive for exquisite and special way of meat. We kill the animals because we want to taste their flesh. What is the difference with being a cannibal? Not eating meat doesn’t mean that we are fanatic or following blindly due to religion but to generate compassion for other beings, just like little Luiz.
Sometimes kids really put us adults to shame. Sometimes as we grow up, we become insensitised to death and suffering, or perhaps we allow society’s norms and our own preference to overrule our innate good nature. Kids have a fresh perspective and aren’t afraid to question what we all take for granted sometimes.
Those who are already vegetarian, be inspired by Luiz. Those who are not, be more inspired…
Incredible how a small kid like Luiz can think in such a way. One would think that he would prefer to eat everything on his plate except the greens, but he reacts the opposite, knowing that he would not want to eat animals as he would be the cause for their deaths.
Thanks Rinpoche for sharing this story. It is not simple for a kid like him have this type of thought. Rejoice for him. I hope my kid will do that same thing too in near future. Antonio is right that animal is like us, human being, they are not born to be eaten.