What custom is this?
Dear friends around the world,
I respect all cultures and customs because they are unique. Customs that hurt people, the environment and animals should be changed though. It’s not necessary anymore. Please see the short video. It might be hard to watch but necessary so you understand what is going on. However painful it is for you to see the video will not hurt as much as the bodies of the animals in this video. Please share as much as possible to create more awareness and more petitions to sign for this to stop.
In your compassion, sign and stop this horror. Thank you.
Tsem Rinpoche
Dear Rinpoche,
The gruesome butchering of the bull above happens in Guizhou Province 贵州省 the and minority autonomous region of Guangxi 广西. It is one of their customary when one of their own tribes passed away, they tied the bull to a pole and butchered it alive.
There are two different versions, one mentions that the blood from the bull is poured into a bowl with alcohol and is drunk by the villagers. Second version is that it is butchered and the meat of the bull is shared by the villagers. Such practice has slowed down and stop in the past due to economic downturn and the villagers could not afford to buy the bulls to be used in the rituals.
Not until there are unscrupulous businessmen who due to their selfishness and greed to draw visitors to the village with such unique customary, hence it happens again, and clearly can be seen there are people who take video and photograph of such event.
Here are two petition websites of such cruel event.
1) https://www.change.org/p/info-cits-com-cn-mettre-fin-%C3%A0-cette-pratique-cruelle-end-this-cruel-practice?just_created=true
2) http://urgence-animaux-de-chine.over-blog.com/2015/10/enquete-et-reponse-sur-la-tradition-des-boeufs-dont-on-tranche-le-cou.html
Frederick Law
(Please copy and paste onto your browser the links to sign the petitions please. Thank you with hands folded. Tsem Rinpoche)
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Whatever custom it is, it’s not right to treat bull in such a way. Killing them already not acceptable but now it’s crucially tortured until death. Look at how painful the bull is! Imagine if we are the one being tied and being slashed running around the pole in pain, can we take it?
It’s amazing that we can’t take such tortured but in the video the people can enjoy watching the bull in pain from the slashing. Such culture should not exist anymore. More and more people should be educated or make aware of stop hurting animals and respect all living beings. We can see there are more people go for vegan/vegetarian due to health conscious and as well as stop hurting animals. At certain rural area such cruel activity may still exist but the government can promote vegetarianism for staying healthy and saving animals live.
Your Next Meal!
Yummy? Tasty? Behind the scenes of the meat on your plates. Meat is a killing industry.
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videouploads/comment-1559986650.mp4
This is Daw
This is what they do to get meat on tables, and to produce belts and jackets. Think twice before your next purchase.
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videouploads/comment-1559986627.mp4
Don’t Take My Mummy Away!
Look at the poor baby chasing after the mother. Why do we do that to them? It’s time to seriously think about our choices in life and how they affect others. Be kind. Don’t break up families.
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videouploads/comment-1559986609.mp4
They do this every day!
This is how they are being treated every day of their lives. Please do something to stop the brutality. Listen to their cries for help!
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videouploads/comment-1559986591.mp4
What happened at Fair Oaks Farm?
The largest undercover dairy investigation of all time. See what they found out at Fair Oaks Farm.
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videouploads/comment-1559988165.mp4
In the past, people were uneducated and they were very ignorant. When something bad happened, they thought it was a punishment from the gods or the local deities. In order to prevent bad things from happening, people made animal sacrifices to appease the gods or local deities.
However, as we are more educated, we should start questioning why things are done in a certain way. How to gauge if a custom is good to follow, we should see if it involves hurting another being or it brings good to others. This custom in Guangxi should not be practiced, it is very cruel to kill an animal. What is more disturbing is that there are visitors going to see how the animal is killed!
We always think we are more superior so we kill animals for entertainment, for their meat. This is a very wrong thinking. Animals are like us, they have emotions, they want to live freely without fear, they don’t want sufferings. We don’t own the planet earth, we are sharing this place with other sentient beings, we don’t have the right to take away their lives. We have to educate our children when they are young so they will respect other sentient beings.
I am sure we can make do with this custom in this modern times. This so called custom should be banned as times and eras have changed and people are more conscious unlike in the past for animals. I cannot imagine how will the people feel after killing and butchering an animal alive this way. Too cruel.
Thank you Rinpoche and Frederick for sharing this article. I totally agree with Rinpoche that we must respect other people’s beliefs and rituals but if it is taking other being’s life, we need to stop and change it. It is very sad to see how the animals are being slaughtered or killed the wrong way.
With folded palms,
Vivian
This custom is way too cruel, these traditions must stop immediately! People in this village most likely are without good education and religious practice, i cant imagine the level of pain the animal has to endure before pass away. I wish Buddhism will spread to them in Guizhou.
I am very sure, there are much better ways to get our nutrition and food other than subjecting an animal to so much pain and misery. We can get our protein from plant based sources. Just check out the Mountain Gorillas of Central Africa and the Elephants across the globe, they can grow to such a size from a plant based diet.
It is very sad and so difficult to watch this video. Why purposely torture the animal for no apparent reason? It is already very bad to kill animals, but it makes it much worse when we torture the animals and prolong the suffering.
What makes it worse is that many people just watch on the side, and some are even just taking videos. What makes it even worse is that there are kids around. When we kill in front of the kids, we are teaching them not to respect animal lives, and teach them to be heartless when we see animals suffering.
Unfortunately, many other cultures also kill animals in front of children. I feel it is very bad because it really teaches our next generation to not respect all lives. It makes children to be cold and that it is OK to hurt and kill animals. 🙁
I let my kids watch this video. I asked them, if I cut your hand, would you feel pain? She said yes, and I asked her, do you want people to cut your hand? I am trying to teach her not to hurt animals…
Throughout history, mankind has taken comfort through the performance of rituals. Essentially whilst we would like to think that mankind has progressed to the point that such cruelty is no longer tolerated, unfortunately such is not the case. Whilst the awareness has definitely increased in recent times, many still have no qualms about continuing to subject defenceless animals to barbaric torture just to selfishly further their interests. In fact, mankind has so skilfully convinced themselves that they have moved beyond barbaric tendencies but yet conveniently ignore the origins of the poultry they consume.
当时代变了，环境变了，我们所谓的祖先留下来的“习俗”，也该跟着时代的步伐；不合时宜的就该留给历史，不必继续下去。然而，这个原本已经被淡忘的习俗，却因为生意人要赚钱，重新“炒热”来吸引游客，增加生意人和村人的收入。我们的社会可以富裕起来，许多人吃的比以前好，住的比以前好，教育受得比以前高，却未必比我们的祖先或以前的人更有文化。更有可能的是，有钱有能力之下，反而误以为钱可以买到大部分东西，变得不可理喻，变得面目可憎。
After reading this article and watching the short video, I feel very upset because they are so cruelty. I will share with my friends about this article and video, so to create awareness on not hurting animals. For certain custom practiced, may be our ancestors do not aware/have knowledge about the custom is wrong and hurting others. However now, with more knowledge we know more, therefore we need to change, especially custom that is supertitous and harming animals.
How is this possible that there is such a custom as this????? What I just saw was horrible. How can people do this just for money? The poor bull must have been so confused.
This was just disgusting. I hope that this video gets more exposure, so people can see this an urge and put pressure on the government to stop this. In this modern age, where people are becoming smarter and more intelligent, one would think that butchery like this would be but memories of the past.
I hope this practice gets stopped very soon.
THIS IS ONE OF THE WORST FORMS OF ABUSIVE I HAVE EVER SEEN.
I have no words to describe how i am feeling right now.. I have seen many videos about animal abuse and what cruel people do to innocent animals and by far this is the worst.
The worst part about this form of cruelty was that it seemed as though everybody in the crowd was enjoying the sight. Some were taking videos and some were even laughing at the animal. The animal is slowly being decapitated alive while it is still trying to save itself. It is in so much pain throughout this long long process. I could not watch the whole video. It was too much to bare…
Just how more cruel can people be? I know that it is impossible now for everyone in the world to be vegetarian or stop killing animals, but you want to kill an animal, at least kill it instantly so that it will not feel pain.
Some people might feel that hurting animals is fun and amusing, but they have never been so wrong. Every sentient being’s life belongs to itself and no one else. So no one should be saying that animals are just tools of satisfaction made by God to serve us. Why? Because animals have feelings just like us humans do, so would you slowly butcher another person’s neck out of joy? Then why would you do that to another being?
How would you feel if you’re an animal and people just randomly started butchering your neck while you are still alive? Wouldn’t it feel painful? If yes, then please stop these people from slaughtering, torturing, mistreating animals by signing this petition.Thank You for reading.
The act shown in the video is cruel and is brutal. But one has to wonder what kind of history brought mankind to create such a culture. We often associate the term uncivilized and barbaric with such act. But have civilization really changed us or it is just replacing our traditional barbaric act with something more subtle but equally cruel and brutal.
I think our forefathers have tougher time dealing with animals. In ancient time, man has most likely needed to prove themselves superior to animals to survive. Many ancient rituals also included animal sacrifice. Civilization has not really stop us from killing animals per say but in fact we killed more to supply for meat demand. We domesticated animals, we breed them and slaughter them “legally” for meat. It’s an industry, it provides jobs, it feeds the world. But inside the slaughterhouses, inside animal farms, the same uncivilized and barbaric act of butchering continues.
The culture may seems cruel and disgusting but it is a reflection of our history. Do not be fooled that this is an old tradition, something of the past. Dare to look behind the scene where the chicken, the meat and the fish is coming from and you may realized civilization has not made us less barbaric.
In this day and age, it is not acceptable to inflicting harm and cruelty on animals, especially not so that the deceased will rest in peace, it doesn’t make sense.
Many jurisdictions around the world have enacted statutes which forbid cruelty to some animals but these vary by country and in some cases by the use or practice. Animal welfare and rights in China is a topic of growing interest and the ideas of animal welfare and animal rights were introduced to China in the 1990s. Animal-rights activists frequently condemn China’s treatment of animals.
Not known to many, traditional Chinese worldviews emphasize caring for animals, including Taoism and Buddhism. However, many in mainland China have become relatively indifferent to animal suffering.
In September 2009, the first comprehensive Animal protection law of the People’s Republic of China was introduced, but it hasn’t made any progress. However, what is encouraging is that a 2011 survey of about 6000 Chinese found that while about 2/3 of respondents had never previously heard of “animal welfare”, 65.8% expressed at least partial support of animal-welfare laws, and more than half said they were fully or partially willing to pay more for humane animal products. Hence, it is our role as global citizens to continue to share on social media how animals are unfairly treated or abuse, so that the awareness and support for animal welfare increase.
It is really sad to see that people still believe in killing in order to get their wishes granted. But what they believe is wrong, how could taking another beings life possibly help you? Taking another beings life would only make the situation worst!
We must certainly make an effort to educate these people about how inhumane and cruel their culture is and that taking another beings life won’t help them and will only worsen the situation.
We need, in a special way, to work twice as hard to help people understand that the animals are fellow creatures, that we must protect them and love them as we love ourselves..So heartbreaking and cruelty this customary practice MUST STOP all around the world.
This is too painful to stomach! How inhumane and uncivilized the ritual is even in mediaeval times! Why would one have to cause so much pain and sufferings on another living being, be it human or animals? Animals have feelings and can DEFINITELY FEEL PAIN too. This has to stop.
Thank you Rinpoche for the sharing with us.
Humbly, bowing down,
Stella Cheang
It is sad to see that things like this still exist in todays modern world, I mean why? Things like these should have been ruled out as a cruel tradition left behind by a duller and darker time. The point I am trying to make is this kind of thing should now exist in todays world with so much awareness and people trying to stop animal cruelty.
Also, what does it bring to brutally kill a restrained animal? What kind of reason is justifying this action? The animal has no chance of escape of survival, and you kill it because of some custom. That is just ridiculous. The poor animal does not deserve such a cruel sending off and the poor animal has no chance against those people. That should not happen. That is so cruel.
Animals, they are lives just like us. Would we like it? I didn’t think so.
This is a very cruel things to do to an animal. Why create more suffering and pain when someone passed away?
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this article. I will sign the petition and also share it in fb so more people will be aware of this disheartening customary.
This customary practice should be stopped and banned immediately. It’s insanely cruel to torture a bull or any being. The amount of suffering and pain endured by the bull is beyond anything I can imagine.
The karma created by these people who participate in this cruel activity is extremely heavy. I do hope that more people will sign the petition to put a stop this immediately.
This is so heartbreaking and very hard to watch. Killing such as this is so unnecessary. I have shared this on my FB and hope that such practices would be put to a stop soon. Thank you with folded hands.
Dear Rinpoche,
Thank you for sharing this article for raising awareness. I had signed the petition in the link provided.
According to the article, this bull hacking tradition will be done whenever there is a death in the village. The purpose of this killing is to prepare a meal. The way they kill the bull is to slowly hack the bull’s neck with a cleaver. It is unimaginable the pain and agony that the bull need to endure before it draw it’s last breath.
This video send chill to my heart when I realise how human can be so cruel and ignorant in treating animals.
Chris