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Rebirth as an animal
Tavs
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I know traditionally Buddhists see being reborn as an animal as a negative thing. But surely most animals lead much happier lives than human beings?
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Perhaps if you are reborn as a cat in a civilised country. But what if you were reborn as a hedgehog, or a chicken? I mean to say there are many possible outcomes.
Usually life as a human being is seen as an opportunity for enlightenment, liberation. According to most teachers it is vastly more difficult, but not impossible, to become enlightened as an animal.
Happiness as a human is possible, if you can observe the mind, and simpler than enlightenment.
Happiness is indeed possible yes but the chicken that is about to be killed for meat has no thought of death until the moment actually comes. It can't experience existential crisis, it doesn't worry about work, home, relationships, health etc etc.
That’s true, but consider the case of a human without language… we would be much closer to chimpanzees, a social animal with a limited range of interactions. I bring this up to point out that just “being human” is not such a great curse, compared to the animals.
Once you bring in language, there are good effects and bad effects. You can choose to read Søren Kierkegaard or Jean-Paul Sartre, or Thich Nhat Hanh or Ajahn Chah or the translated words of the Buddha in the Pali Canon. Or many other authors who may muddy the waters.
A human life is not a guarantee of a good outcome, and those who come into contact with gifted teachers of the Buddha’s dharma or even an enlightened one are fortunate indeed.
Language is a double-edged sword. People in the west tend to partake indiscriminately of many books, video’s, podcasts, and so on, but I have found that that is not always beneficial. If you can manage to partake mostly of wisdom teachings, you are doing well.
A so-called civilised country practises speciesism: it refuses to kill and eat certain sentient beings it calls ‘pets’, yet continues to butcher and consume others it deems ‘food’. The word civilised is therefore a loaded one, having little to do with genuine moral standards or compassion in a Buddhist sense.
I think I’ll be reborn as a small venomous flying caterpillar with fangs, fuzzy red and black with a loud buzz.
The traditional view in Buddhism is that a human life offers the best conditions for enlightenment.
I basically agree with @Jeroen, the animal world is difficult and filled with suffering. A constant search for food, always on the lookout to not be food yourself. Being a human offers opportunities to change the way your mind operates, it allows for art and science and a relief from the vicissitudes and stress of an animalistic world.
If you're someone who suffers a lot from negative rumination I can see how the sort of ignorance of animals would be a kind of bliss though.
Perhaps ignorance is bliss, for a short while.
Nirvana (being 'born' into or by freedom, wokeyness, dharma manifestion etc) is only possible for fruitflies pussycats wer-lobsters people in the people realm
Seems to me the greater the capacity for abstract thought, the more different ways there are to suffer. With humans, the problem has grown to be so extreme that they have had to invent religion to help counteract the stress.
It has been reported that Chimpanzees, our closest relatives, will sometimes - when the rains go on and on without letup and become very stressful - will conduct a sort of circle dance that resembles a kind of ritual. This is rarely observed, but one is tempted to wonder if this is a nascent form of religion.
The farther down the evolutionary ladder you go, the fewer the potential causes of stress and suffering. Perhaps flies cannot become enlightened because they have no need to do so - they can easily survive and reproduce without it.
But do fewer stressors mean more happiness? It only takes one, in my experience, to toss you off the tracks, but the more of them there are, the harder it is to get back on.
When we talk about animals being happier than human beings, I would say it’s possible they are more content with their lives because they don’t really know anything different. Many live by instinct and immediate needs, fully in the present, and that keeps life simple.
Some animals are self-aware and show emotion, like apes, dolphins, and elephants, but even they seem freer from the constant self-questioning that often troubles human beings.
Perhaps this is why, from a Buddhist perspective, being reborn as an animal is seen as a lesser state, yet in their own way, animals may experience a kind of peace that most humans never know.
Good morning Tavs, NYC time (5:09 AM). Hi! I can say, that, although we do not have evidence, being a language-using creature, with all the depth of being that it affords, is a preferred rebirth (not re-incarnation... that is different). The human body lasts, what, usually well ever 60 years old (here in The West). Cats n' dogs, only have what, less than a third of that time, far less time, to work on awakening with intent. This is all of course, conjecture.
Hi! I don't really understand why a cat or dog needs to awaken! 😄
Inherent in the Buddhist view is rebirth. So for one life an animal may live a more settled life than a human, they have no ability to improve on their circumstances, they're stuck.
I'm not saying you have to believe in multiple lives, I'm just saying its a major part of the justification for placing a human life above an animal. I've heard teachers say that a human life is also superior to the lives of the gods for this reason. Gods live very happy, stress free lives, but become complacent because of it and eventually fall back to a life of greater suffering.
We believe it is a bad thing because it is very difficult for them to keep the Five Precepts and therefore, they are destined to lower realm like hell. They cannot become enlightened being as they do not have awareness and therefore, they cannot choose to free from suffering like humans do. You may think they are happy but when they are hungry, they cannot cook for themselves and choose food for themselves. They are at the mercy of their owners from time to time and so on. Just a few example.