Planet Bytes—inspiring stories and articles about animals and nature

Humans and Pigs are Equal -- at Heart

12 Jan 2007 02:41:28 am GMT -7

Avatar Adi Da first planted the seed, and the vision, for Fear-No-More Zoo back in 1974. Fear-No-More Zoo has grown slowly and steadily, gradually becoming more and more a sign and representation of His Spiritual Blessing of non-humans, and humans, everywhere. The three main retreat Sanctuaries of Adidam each maintain a representation of [url=http://www.fearnomorezoo.org/locations/main.php] Fear-No-More Zoo [/url], according to Adi Da's Instructions. Additionally, the Adidam Ashram in Holland maintains a small family of animals, also, as an expression of Fear-No-More in Europe. Adi Da regards these locations of Fear-No-More Zoo not as separate entities, but as a single process of non-humans around Him, an integral part of this newly developing sacred culture. [imgl]http://fearnomorezoo.org/pb/files/Yama&Stryder_2.jpg[/imgl]In other locations around the world, where devotees and friends of Adi Da gather together in small, intimate-scale, groups (or ashrams), the vision and processes of Fear-No-More Zoo are also gradually beginning to emerge. Fear-No-More Zoo is not quite like conventional zoos. It is not an "animal zoo". And the culture of Adidam is intended to be more than just a culture of humans only. The true and fullest expression of Adidam includes the cultures of humans and non-humans, together... including animals, plants, rivers, mountains and places. [url=http://www.fearnomorezoo.org/literature/true_zoo.php] The Vision of Fear-No-More [/url] is about the integration of human and non-human cultures into one broad, expansive, tolerant and intelligent culture of all beings. Adi Da's devotees living in the New Zealand Ashram, on the outskirts of beautiful Auckland, recently sent some photos of [url=http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/swine/kunekune/index.htm] "Yama" the pig [/url], and a horse named "Stryder". Attached are some photos of Yama taken just before Christmas... wearing a bit of decoration! Several years ago Yama lost his close friend, Niyama. Pigs develop powerful and deep bonds in their social lives. After he recovered from the loss, Yama found a new friend in Stryder, and they now roam the hills of the Auckland Ashram together, always in search of new adventure, and always reminding people to feel first, before thinking (or just feel, and don't think at all). [b]Avatar Adi Da: [/b] [quote]It is not that only human beings are full of 'soul' and everything else should be chopped up and eaten for lunch! If you examine beings other than the human, feel them, are sensitive to them, enter directly into relationship with them, you discover that they are the same - and not just the somewhat bigger ones, like my parrots, but the mosquitoes, too, which you swat out as if they were nothing. At heart, human beings are manifesting a potential that is in all and that is inherent in conditional existence itself. Whether this potential is exhibited or not, whether it is made human or not, makes no difference whatsoever to the Divine Self-Condition. All is One. All is the same. All equally require Divine Compassion, Love, and Blessing, the thread of Communion with the Divine made certain and true and directly experienced. All.[/quote] [img]http://fearnomorezoo.org/pb/files/Yama&Stryder_5.jpg[/img]

"Fearing-No-More" world-wide

20 Dec 2006 10:28:28 pm GMT -7

[imgl]http://fearnomorezoo.org/pb/files/Picture%201816.jpg[/imgl]Adi Da's [b]"Vision of Fear-No-More"[/b] broadly describes the spiritually informed family of humans and non-humans the world over, living intelligently, harmoniously, and together as [b]"Earthkind"[/b]. [b]"Fear-No-More"[/b] is an Enlightened utterance from the spiritually awakened realization of existence. [b]"Fear-No-More"[/b] is practical and spiritual instruction from the heart of a Man who loves and lives beyond the always killing limits of fear. [b]"Fear-No-More"[/b] is a profound calling to all humans. Avatar Adi Da Samraj asks humans to not ignore our fear. He recommends that we [b]feel[/b] our fear fully, to not hide it, nor hide from it... face the fear and love beyond it! Many supposed reasons exist for why humans fight and make war, and ruin the earth. But there is only [u]one[/u] reason why humans create war and struggle against one another. [b]Fear, and our unwillingness to acknowledge and face it, is the only reason why humans fight and make war, and ruin the earth.[/b] In part, Avatar Adi Da created the name, "Fear-No-More Zoo", as a message to humans to do like the non-humans do; contemplate spiritually, and regularly enter into Divine Communion, which is the condition of Fearing-No-More. Non-humans contemplate readily because they [u]feel[/u] the fear, they actually feel it, and simultaneously feel beyond it. And into this world, now so filled with human fear, Adi Da WHISPERS to humans everywhere... [b]"FEAR-NO-MORE!"[/b] So, serve and support[imgr]http://fearnomorezoo.org/pb/files/Picture%20237.jpg[/imgr] this Vision of Fear-No-More... and this Zoo of Fear-No-More... Whatever else you're doing, we invite you to Serve [b]Fear-No-More[/b] Promote [b]Fear-No-More[/b] Draw others to [b]Fear-No-More![/b] It's a disposition for all to understand, enjoy and embrace. It is not limited by species, race, culture or religion. It transcends these... The entire planet, and every little, and big, thing on it, are feeling the effects of human fear. So wherever you are, whatever you're doing, whenever you're afraid, we encourage you to practice [b]Fearing-No-More[/b]. www.FearNoMoreZoo.org www.FearNoMoreZoo.org/getinvolved/main.php - stuart...

Mahatma Gandhi Quote On Animals

24 Oct 2006 09:10:26 pm GMT -7

[imgl]http://www.fearnomorezoo.org/pb/files/gandhi1.gif[/imgl]"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated." - Mahatma Gandhi [i]Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi [October 2, 1869 � January 30, 1948] was a major political and spiritual leader of India, particularly during its Independence movement. He was also an advocate of vegetarianism, simplicity, and self-sufficiency....

Vigil of the Cemetery Dog

27 Sep 2006 10:55:41 pm GMT -7

(The following story was sent to us by Diane, in Seattle) Excerpted from the book, [i]"Animals as Teachers & Healers"[/i], by Susan Chernak McElroy. [b]Going Gently chapter: Vigil of the Cemetery Dog[/b] My seventeen-year-old son was killed in a diving accident. Only a parent who has lost a child can understand the personal devastation. The evening before the accident, I happened to drive by our local cemetery. Sitting next to the fence was a stray dog. She sat on a small knoll between two trees, seemingly waiting for someone. She looked like a bedraggled red fox. Little did I know that three days later I would be burying my son on the exact spot where the little dog waited. On the day of my son�s funeral service, I saw the little dog again. She was standing a short distance away from where we gathered at the cemetery. The next morning, just before dawn, I went to visit my son�s grave for the first time. And sitting beside the mound of flowers at his graveside was the little red dog. As I approached, she rose and stepped back a few feet, as if in respect. When I sat on the ground by the grave, she came back and sat beside me, not touching me or asking for attention for herself. She seemed to just �be there� for me. Together we watched the sun rise, and I felt a slight touch of peace. I arose and she walked me back to my car, then returned to my son�s grave and lay down on it. The next morning was a repeat of the first. There she was, nestled beside the flowers. As she sat beside me, I ran my hand down along her back. She was slightly wet, as if from night dew. �You have been here all night?� I asked. She answered with a slight wag of her tail. �What are you? Some kind of a guardian angel?� She turned toward me and looked at me with eyes that seemed to reach my very soul. I began to cry and tell her of my terrible pain, and she sat and listened. The next morning, there she was. Beginning to think of someone besides myself, I had brought a bowl of food and some water for her. Apparently someone else had noticed that little dog was doing twenty-four-hour duty, because there was a bowl of water by the grave. Knowing that my son wasn�t alone, that he had this small dog with him, began to give me comfort. I remembered that several years before, my son and a friend had rescued a small red dog that had been shot with an arrow. My son named her Callie, and she stayed on as a beloved pet until an untimely accident took her life. After about a week, I took the cemetery dog home with me. Strangely enough, she was quiet and subdued. I couldn�t think of a name for her. Then one day, I said, �You know something? You look just like old Callie.� It was as if I�d hit a magic switch. �Callie� stood up and, tail wagging furiously, ran over to me and put her paw up on my knee. It was as if she had finally �come home�. Who is this dog who showed me my son�s cemetery plot, and then did round-the-clock sentry duty when my son was laid to rest there? Who is this dog who was there to help me through the greatest trauma of my life, who now shares my home and helps fill the lonely moments? Is there such a thing as reincarnation, and are dogs reincarnated? I don�t know. I just know that she came into my life in a very mysterious way. My other dogs couldn�t give me the comfort that this little red dog did, and still does. Callie has since become TDI (Therapy Dogs International)-certified. I take her on regular visits to our local nursing home where she has become the �adopted dog�. I am very proud of Callie. During the days following the Oklahoma bombing, TDI-certified dogs�including my Callie�were taken to the rescue center and to the church where victims� families were waiting. Callie, with her gentle way, made many friends. In an especially touching moment, a medical worker sat on the floor with her arms around Callie, petting her and sharing her personal pain. It reminded me of myself as I sat with Callie at my son�s grave only last June. I�d never thought one way or another about angels or guardians but now I know there is such a thing....

Relating With the "Other"

21 Sep 2006 07:12:51 am GMT -7

[img]http://www.fearnomorezoo.org/pb/files/dog_greeting_quite_peculiar.jpg[/img] "We are constantly trying to work out our relation to the other. It's like your dog meeting somebody else's dog. There is a growl, a sniff, a step forward, a potential rejection, or maybe an acceptance. That kind of thing is constantly taking place. Dogs do it very generously. As far as we human beings are concerned, obviously we are more subtle, but we are less generous because we have more 'me.' But still this process goes on constantly�we do that when we confront our world." [i]This quote is from [url=http://www.shambhala.org/teachers/vctr/]Ch�gyam Trungpa Rinpoche[/url], as published in [/i]The Path Is the Goal: A Basic Handbook of Buddhist Meditation[i]. (Photo is by [url=http://flickr.com/photos/quitepeculiar/107456239/]quite_peculiar[/url]; [url=http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/]some rights reserved.[/url]) Ch�gyam Trungpa Rinpoche was one of the most dynamic teachers of Buddhism in the 20th Century. Another metaphorical comparison of dogs and people can be found in [/i][url=http://www.fearnomorezoo.org/literature/walkdog.php]Walking the Dog[/url][i], a Talk by Fear-No-More Zoo Founder Adi Da Samraj.[/i]...