Smoking Turtles In China...

[mwight]

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,2...5005961,00.html

 

[Wun Yuen Gong]

What Da???? So much for the Daoist Turtles imagine for immortality unless this friggin turtle is a Mo Pai or Thunder Path student and can with stand ciggies and what not!?

 

SMOKIN!!!!

[joeblast]

another one for the 'slightly amusing, but totally wrong' category....that's kinda mean...can you really expect the turtle to know its not good for it??

Edited March 28, 2008 by joeblast

[steve]

Why not inject it with some heroin next?

The turtle will probably want more of that as well...

Very sad commentary on the lack of human compassion and common sense.

[Wun Yuen Gong]

Kind of like sucking the energy from bulls to fill peoples dan tians up!!!

[joeblast]

to play devils advocate - while it does fall under the same huge category of having harmed an animal in some respect, at least there was some derived benefit from the bull thing. those who benefited will have to do a lot of good stuff with what they gained for their karma's sake...but this turtle smoking is just ignorance.

[.broken.]

If a heroin addict wants his/her hit and you refuse to give, or allow, it - is this out of ignorance or compassion?

 

If, without the heroin, the user then goes on to commit crimes to fund a habit which, in turn, causes greater pain to many more individuals - would you still consider the same option?

 

Sometimes what may seem like ignorance, may be a blessing.

[joeblast]

sometimes you can theoretically twist any number of circumstances around to support a given point of view

[.broken.]

Well said joe Couldn't agree more.

 

It's simply an observation that we cannot let our own assumptions, preconceptions and prejudices drive us to a conceptual conclusion. Our conceptual minds have a purpose, but our awareness and mindfullness are beyond it. The conceptual mind, however, can come up with a concept of this understanding/wisdom. Constant limits have to be overcome. It is through, as you brilliantly put it:

 

twist[ing] any number of circumstances around to support a given point of view

a "point of view" is a prejudice, a concept. You can challenge your own in this way - bring you closer to a more conscious, aware existence.

 

Thus, by showing that any point of view can be argumented conceptually, I am highlighting that all ignorance should be dropped, and our eyes and hearts opened

[steve]

If a heroin addict wants his/her hit and you refuse to give, or allow, it - is this out of ignorance or compassion?

 

If, without the heroin, the user then goes on to commit crimes to fund a habit which, in turn, causes greater pain to many more individuals - would you still consider the same option?

 

Sometimes what may seem like ignorance, may be a blessing.

 

 

Well said joe Couldn't agree more.

 

It's simply an observation that we cannot let our own assumptions, preconceptions and prejudices drive us to a conceptual conclusion. Our conceptual minds have a purpose, but our awareness and mindfullness are beyond it. The conceptual mind, however, can come up with a concept of this understanding/wisdom. Constant limits have to be overcome. It is through, as you brilliantly put it:

a "point of view" is a prejudice, a concept. You can challenge your own in this way - bring you closer to a more conscious, aware existence.

 

Thus, by showing that any point of view can be argumented conceptually, I am highlighting that all ignorance should be dropped, and our eyes and hearts opened

The turtle is not a heroin addict until a human creates the situation. A turtle does not smoke until a human puts a cigarette in it's mouth. How I would deal with an addicted human is irrelevant to this case and not necessarily equivalent.

 

I am guilty as charged - I am prejudiced to decline humans the opportunity to harm living things for amusement. I don't see how putting a cigarette in an animal's mouth could be a blessing under any circumstances although, if you want to, anything can be rationalized, including murder.

 

I certainly may use metaphysics as an excuse to allow any and all offensive behavior around me, including my own, or I can get involved in life and conceptualize and advocate a position. We all need to choose if and when to get involved and when not to. Wu wei is not uninvolvement, it is to let go of resistance - there is a difference.