animal welfare; Tibetan Buddhism; compassion; reverse orientalism; Tsultrim Lodrö; Larung Buddhist Academy
摘要
The compassionate treatment of animals has been the focal point of speeches and writings by one of the most influential Buddhist cleric-scholars on the Tibetan plateau today, Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö of Larung Buddhist Academy. This essay surveys the Khenpo's broad-based advocacy for animal welfare and details his discrete appeals to nomads in eastern Tibet to forgo selling livestock for slaughter, to eat a vegetarian diet on religious holidays, to relinquish wearing animal fur, to protect wildlife habitat, and to liberate the lives of animals. I focus on the modernist “this worldly” dimension of his advocacy, calling attention to how Tsultrim Lodrö goes beyond traditional scare tactics that emphasize the karmic effects of negative deeds in future lives and instead invokes compassion by attending to the lived experience and suffering of animals. In doing so, the Khenpo positions Buddhism as a civilizing force in order to reform certain Tibetan customs and mitigate the influence of Chinese modernity and state marketization policies. I argue that his strategy of “reverse orientalism” appropriates state civilizational discourse and reverses its terms.
目次
Abstract 29 1 Reformist Agenda of Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö 34 2 Not Selling Livestock for Slaughter 36 3 Minimizing Suffering for Animals during Slaughter 39 4 Engaging in Vegetarianism 40 5 Consuming Less Meat 44 6 Relinquishing Animal Fur 46 7 Protecting Wildlife Habitat 48 8 Liberating Lives 49 9 Conclusions 51 References 52
