Dharma Message from Rev. Marvin Harada

Gratefully reprinted from Korin, December 2006
The official newsletter of Orange County Buddhist Church

“Reflections on the Pet and All Life Memorial ”

 

  In the fall we annually observe a Pet and All Life Forms Memorial. For this service, we ask Dharma School students and anyone to submit the names of their beloved pets who have passed away. We also acknowledge any life forms that anyone wishes to personally remember, such as all the teriyaki chicken that I eat, or all the steers that became my steak.

For that service I did some rough calculations on what we human beings consume in our life. I figured that if you had chicken three times a week, in various forms, teriyaki chicken, chicken salad, chicken nuggets, etc., that in 20 years time it would add up to over 2,000 chickens. If you eat beef a couple of times a week in 10 years it adds up to over 700 pounds, or the equivalent of one whole steer. In actuality, we consume probably much more than I have calculated.

Some might challenge this all by saying, “Well, I am a vegetarian. I don't eat meat or fish.” Well, just because you are a vegetarian doesn't mean you aren't taking life to live. I am sure that a carrot was perfectly happy growing in the ground when it was jerked out of its home to become our salad.

You could argue this further by saying, “Well, I don't even eat vegetables. I just eat grains, like sunflower seeds, rice, and wheat grains.” This too is also taking life, isn't it? A grain of rice is a potential rice plant. If you eat the grain of rice then it is like eating an egg that never gets to grow to full maturity.

One of my favorite movies is the movie “Saving Private Ryan” starring Tom Hanks. It is about D-Day during World War II, and a group of soldiers, led by Tom Hanks, are sent on a mission to find one particular soldier, Private Ryan. Private Ryan has tragically lost three other brothers in the war but doesn't know it. The Army decides to find Private Ryan and get him home, before he becomes a casualty, which would be too tragic of a loss for a mother to lose all four sons in the war.

Tom Hanks and his soldiers eventually find Private Ryan, although it is like finding a needle in a haystack amidst the chaos of the war. The final scene of the movie is very dramatic. Tom Hanks is wounded and utters his dying words to young Private Ryan. He says to him, “Earn it … Earn it …”

Soldiers have died to find Private Ryan. Tom Hanks is saying, “Live your life in a manner that earns what all the others have done to sacrifice their lives to save you. Earn it!”

I have often wondered, if all the cows, and chickens, and fish, and vegetables that I have consumed could say something to me, they might say the same thing. Earn it. Do something with your life that makes it worthy of what so many have sacrificed for you.

Some of the animals might even be upset. They might say, “Why did I have to give my life for that guy?! Look at him … he plays golf, watches TV, goes to Las Vegas … why did I have to die for him? What a waste!”

When you think about it, I could never repay even one animal for their sacrifice in making my life possible. How could I ever repay thousands of lives?

The only thing I can do, like Private Ryan, is to live in a manner that even in a small way, earns the sacrifices and lives of so many. I must live and do something, that contributes to life, instead of simply take from it. I must earn it.

Namuamidabutsu,

Rev. Marvin Harada

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