Quote

If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man. Mark Twain





Friday, April 12, 2013

Noah's Ark News, April 2013





Animals are not property
or "things" but rather
living organisms,
subjects of a life,
who are worthy of our compassion, respect,
friendship, and support.
 - MARC BEKOFF
Minding Animals
Noah's Ark News - click HERE

Monday, April 1, 2013

The Value Of Life

我們走進寵物店,會被店內的幼貓小狗所吸引,真的很可愛呢!其實牠們這個時候還是很脆弱,極需要在媽媽的懷裏成長。可是,由於商人知道這是寵物最吸引客人購買的階段,也沒有理會牠們的需要,急急地把牠們當成商品推出巿場。要知道如果你在這時購買,便正中下懷了。
The moment we stepped into the pet shops, our attention will always be captured by the kittens and puppies there as they are all adorable! In fact, these little ones are still very fragile at this stage, needing care and cuddle by parents. However, the merchants know that this is the most lovable stage for these pets, they will always launch these "merchandise" onto the market in a rush ignoring their needs. If you were to purchase these little ones at this time, then you are being swindled. 

你有否想過這些幼貓小狗的母親是在怎樣情況下誕下這些寶貝呢?有否想像過為了滿足商人賺取金錢,牠們過著怎樣的生活?有否考慮過你買回來的小傢伙,是否有隱性遺傳病?你願意知道真相嗎?還是認為只是花了數千元,玩厭了便棄掉吧? 如果你真是有這樣的想法,那對生命的認知,真是本末倒置。
Have you ever thought about how the mothers gave birth to these kittens and puppies? Have you ever imagined the kind of living they have gone through in order to satisfy the money-making intention of the merchants? Have you ever considered these little ones you bought may have recessive genetic disease? Are you willing to know the truth? Or do you think you are spending a few thousand dollars for something you can play with and abandon when you get tired of? If you truly have such thoughts, may I urge you to revisit the meaning of life and find out the very fundamental of existence.
  
不過,我仍相信有很多愛護動物的人士,因為不知道寵物店背後的殘酷運作,才會糊里糊塗地成為商人的魚餌,卻又間接地殘害著母狗/貓的生命。
However, I still believe that there are many animal-caring people who may not know the brutal operation of these pet shops and purchase pets from them, and yet indirectly harming the life of the mother dogs and cats.

當然,這是一個商業社會,有買有賣的公平交易實屬平常,但對於被商人利用來賺錢的母狗/貓,牠們堪坷的一生,又有誰來憐憫?
There is no doubt that buy and sell activities in fair trade are common in today's commercial society, but who would give mercy to these poor mother dogs and cats which lives were exploited to make money for the merchants?
    
天父,可以告訴我嗎?....
God, can you please tell me?  ...

 "神賜予每一個小生命來到這世上都是帶著祝福的,他們可以盡情去展現生命,而這個生命並非只有人類,那是包括一切眾生,所以生命的誕生是在最自然的狀態下去孕育出來。"
"God brings every little life into this world with a blessing, they are free to enjoy the best of life, and the right to live well does not only limit to human beings, it shall include all sentient beings, and therefore, the birth of life shall come as natural as the nature calls."

可悲的是,人類為了金錢,竟利用生命去達到其目的。繁殖場是動物在凡間的地獄,牠們終身被困在狹小的籠中,一次又一次地誕下小生命,而最後卻賠上了自己的生命。
Sadly, human beings often exploit life for the purpose of making profits. Breeding farms are like living hells on earth for animals, animals are being locked up in small cages, giving birth to little lives over and over again until eventually losing their own.

母親的角色,不論在人或動物世界中也應被尊重,被愛護。我們不能因一己私慾而踐踏了生命,這是對生命最無情的摧殘。生命的誕生本應是懷著最美麗的祝福,可是對動物來說這是人間煉獄,生產的機器,沒有了尊嚴,埋活了感受,而生命卻一直地延續,更多的痛苦也一直地延續,沒完沒了。
The role of the mother, regardless in the world of human or animal beings, shall deserve all the respects and care. Life shall never be trampled to fulfil selfish desires as this is the most ruthless form of devastation to life. The birth of life shall come with all the warmest blessings, but when animals are brought to these living hells on earth and turned into delivery machines, they lose not only their dignity but also feelings; with their life being extended for continual delivery, their pain gets extended as well, unfortunately and endlessly.
  
動物是因為愛,願意當上人類的天使,來到世上保護人類。人類因為金錢,埋沒了愛,對牠們的一切視若無睹,把牠們推向絕望的邊緣,令更多眾生在這世上受苦,你們知道這是遠離了人性真善美的一面?
It is all because of love, animals come to this world to protect human beings like angels. Yet people, often blinded by monetary gains, ignore the beauty of love from these animals and even send them to the verge of despair, making more and more sentient beings on earth suffer, and the situation has now gone way too far off from the beauty and goodness of human nature.

我們要懂得感受到別人的痛,那才會開始感受到愛,沒有愛的生命是荒涼的。願意對生命有承擔,珍惜每一個生命的到來,你才會懂什麼是生命,和真正活著的意義。
We have to learn to feel the pain of others before we can feel love, and life without love is desolate. We must be willing to commit to life and treasure the arrival of every new life;then we will be able to understand what life is all about and the real meaning of living.

我想,如何活出真善美,正是人類下來要上的一課,而小動物正是幫助我們去完成這生命的課題。所以,當我們懂得把美麗的包裝紙撕下,了解真正內裏發生什麼事,而用心去感受弱小的無助,繼而救助牠們,你便真正地用愛去活出生命。
I always think "living the beauty and goodness of life" is one of the lessons human beings need to learn, and these little animals are god's gift to help us achieve our learning. Therefore, take a moment to unwrap and unveil the truth of what's happening, feel with your heart the helplessness undergone by these little ones, start your rescue effort and you can then fully and truly live your life in love. 

在養寵物之前,不防再想清楚,是否能給牠們一個永久的家?是的話,請勿再光顧寵物店!應向動物組織處領養,牠們正等候與你一同活出真愛的人生!
Before you make the decision to have a pet, think twice about whether you can give them a permanent home. If the answer is yes, please do not buy from pet shops! Consider adopting one from the animal adoption organizations as there are lovely pets out there awaiting your companion to explore the beauty and goodness in life! 

Author: Lolita Yiu 
English Translation: Willa Wong

Learning to Love Like the Animals

愛,從來都是一個永恆的課題,人來到這世上,一生所追求與學習的,不正是愛嗎?LOVE, it is  always a topic for lifelong learning. We come to this world, pursuing for lifelong learning, isn't that is LOVE?

普遍人對愛的定義很表面,可是,我們從動物身上,你不曾看到牠們因為你變老、醜、病、殘疾而嫌棄你,牠們的愛是無條件地奉獻,短暫的一生,就只有愛。
A lot of people understand LOVE on a superficial level. However, you will never see animals withholding their love to you, regardless of your age or looks, whether you are healthy or sick, or with disability, their love is unconditional with dedication. With their short life span, they give you all their love.

作為主人 ,每天上班下班,應酬,回到家只想倒頭大睡,而作為寵物,牠們每天就是送你出門,等你回來,守護你一整晚...牠的一生,便只有你!而你給牠的食物、讚賞、擁抱,便是牠的一切。
Every day you go to work, go out at night and have fun, and then you go home and just fall asleep.   For pets, they walk you out every day, waiting for you to come home, wanting to play with you and safe guarding you while you are asleep.   This is pretty much what they do with their life, everything is about YOU! In return, the food you give them, your appreciation, kisses and hugs are all they have.

人的愛有時很複雜,有很多計算,投放感情時會看是否值得?動物沒有這個機制,牠如何愛你,會毫不掩飾,盡情表達。
LOVE in human sometimes can be very complicated. Before investing in LOVE, there is a lot of calculation to see if it is worthwhile? Animals do not have this mind set. They are direct without any condition, you see their LOVE through their eyes, their joyous expression on their face when looking at you.

不幸地有些寵物會被主人遺棄,使牠們一生都帶著陰影。雖然主人把牠們棄之而後快,但牠們卻依然對主人念念不忘。
Unfortunately, some pets are being abandoned by their owner. It leaves psychological effect to their rest of their life with abandonment.   People discarded them as if they are just a piece of furniture; the owner never knows how much their pet misses them regardless what they did to them.
作為一個動物傳心師,曾接觸不少曾被拋棄的小動物,你可感受到牠們內心那份苦澀,沉重,那份傷害,就算有年月的洗禮,也會是牠一生中的遺憾。
As an animal communicator, I have had a lot of contacts with many abandoned animals. You can feel the bitterness in their heart, broken and lonely. Even after so many years, you can still feel the sorrow in their life.

我不禁地想,為何上天會有這份安排,讓牠們的生命來陪伴人類,而我們在動物身上要學習什麼呢?
I cannot help thinking, why would God make such arrangement of having animals accompany human? What do we need to learn from these animals?
一把慈愛的聲音娓娓道來:
A loving voice gently says:

"小動物的愛是很單純的,這是和人類有很大的不同,其實愛從來都是很簡單,只是人類把它複雜了,人如能從小動物身上學習愛的態度和精神,他們便不會像現在一樣受那麼多苦: 生苦、老苦、病苦、死苦、怨憎會苦、愛別離苦、求不得苦及五取蘊苦。這些都是人類煩惱的根源,在小動物身上,牠們只有忠誠,純真的心去對待主人或伴侶。
"Love in animals is very pure, it is very different from human. In fact, love has always been simple, just the human made it complicated.   If human can learn from animals by looking at their attitude and behaviour, human will not have so much suffering in life.   The eight tribulations for human are: Suffering of birth, old age, sickness, death, being apart from loved ones, being together with the despised one, not getting what one wants, and the flourishing of the Five Skandhas. These are the root cause of human sufferings.   In animals, they only have loyalty and a pure heart for the owner or partner.

在動物世界,牠們都有不同處理自己的感情方式,如雀鳥,牠們大多是終一伴侶的,但在人身上是比較困難,人奉承用法律來綑綁一段感情,其實愛早已拋掉,雀鳥沒有任何律法,可是卻願彼此伴隨一生。狗的世界雖然並非對伴侶專一,可是牠們卻願意把心獻給主人,對其忠誠一生,這是我們應向動物世界學習的地方,一顆單純的心,正是人類與生俱來卻又被世俗所感染而變得複雜,把真愛隱藏,沒有人願意真正打開心扉去愛,怕受傷,怕痛。
In the animal world, they have different ways to handle their feelings, for example, with birds; most of them only have one partner. It is something very different in human world, we tied our marriage by law, in fact, our trust in love has long been gone. There is no law in bird's world, but they can stay with each other for the whole lifetime. In dog's world, although it may not have one single partner, they are willing to give their heart and loyalty to their master. We should learn from the animal world and their purest heart. Human is born with LOVE, however, it has been complicated by the secular infection so we hide our true love; no one is willing to open up their heart to love, with the fear of being hurt and afraid of the pain.

小動物無私的愛正是我們心靈上的一道清泉,能看見感受到的話,自己也能從牠們當中獲益,你們都是大自然的一份子,應是無分彼此,這是一個大同世界,這宇宙是你們的,不是人類獨佔的,能在小動物身上看見愛,也能看見自己身上帶著愛,這都是神所祝福人類的。
Animals' selfless love shows us the clear definition and example of true love. If we could see and feel their LOVE, we will be able to benefit and learn from them. We are all part of the nature and this Universe; there is no differentiation of you and me. The Universe is yours, but it is not human-exclusive. If you see the LOVE in animals, you will be able to see it in you; this is also the blessing of God to humans.

當你懂得欣賞和愛上世上的一草一木,你便懂得什麼是愛,人類終其一生要學習怎樣去愛,從小動物身上去看,去了解,你便會知道你們是何等乏善可陳,放下你們的面具,一起體驗這個充滿愛的世界,這是你們一直擁有,卻一直放棄,記得愛牠們等於愛自己,等於神愛你。"
When you know how to appreciate and love the plants and trees of the world, you will know what love is. We have been searching for LOVE in our lifetime, just take a moment to look at LOVE in animals, try to understand, you will slowly take off your mask, revealing your true-self and experience this world full of love.   Remember, you have LOVE with you at all time, you might just have it hidden somewhere. Remember, loving the animals means loving yourself, it also means the love of God. '

二月,一個表達愛的月份,就向世上的小動物和你所愛的人,說一聲我愛你吧!
February, a month of expressing love.   Let's love all the animals and the people in this world and tell them "I love you!"

Lolita Yiu

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"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion."- Unknown