Who is not a member of your family?

The Lakota say ‘Aho Mitakuye Oyasin’ which means I honor the circle of all my relations. This includes the sky and Earth, the birds, the four legged animals, the fish, the reptiles, and all the two legged animals as well. It is about finding connection with the living and realizing that this complex life system is a family of interrelations without which we could not survive. We need the bird to eat the seed and fly a hundred miles to release it. We need the rain and Earth to nurture the seed, we need the growing tree to breathe and to house the animals each of which serves a vital life function like the bird. We all need each other to live.

Like the Lakota people of North America, Kung Fo Tzu is a famous Chinese philosopher saw all of life as a large family. He knew that women were the source of life, but in his view the family needed structure to successfully serve the needs of the life-giving mother. The son had to obey the father to ensure the family business was not undermined, the money from which the wife would create a home and more children. The man had to feel he was in charge to sustain his fertility, and so a role of patriarch was created to stabilize the male in participation within the familial relations that the woman created. This helped to provide protection for the family and income. Many of the things Kung Fo Tzu has written have been wrongly criticized by those who do not understand the true message and historic context of his philosophical treatises. He was alive from 551bc-479bc. He too saw all of life and all of humanity as a singular family through which one’s destiny, role and purpose was founded.

Buddhism redefines family with the six realms. We are not just family members with life, connected to our fellow humans, the plants, and the animals, but with the departed as well. Our relations extend into the heavens and hells, the hungry ghosts, the gods and the goddesses, the Bodhisattvas and the Buddhas. We are part of a larger sphere of inter-dependency that co-creates life. Indeed this cosmic family does not just exist for one life, but reincarnates in a multitude of possibilities that consistently reflects our Karma perfectly life after life. We are so very interdependent that should even one person fall and goes to hell it is a failure we all suffer together. Likewise, every time a Buddha is initiated and comes to fruition, all share the blessings in this life and every life to come.

What does veganism do to the cosmic family of the heart? Vegans protect the animals with their diet. Vegans know that animals are part of this sacred family that weaves life. Vegans grow with a more purified Karma because they eat what is appropriate for humans and do not steal flesh or reproductive fluids from other species to consume. Vegans can interact more successfully with all six realms of life; the Gods and goddesses, the humans, the animals, the hungry ghosts, those that inflict punishment in hell, and the victims in hell who are brought to this most lowly position due to their own choices and behavior. Vegans serve as a shining light to all. Yet for a vegan to be an effective family member, a spiritual practice needs to be in place and actively exercised in one’s vegan dedicated life to develop skills for correct participation in the family of creation. Vegans must purify in mind and heart, not just body, to be the shining example for the six realms and the entire family of creation. Going vegan is the most important contribution one can make to the evolution of this circle of life. By renouncing all but plants and minerals as a method of diet, medicine, housing, transportation and clothing, our entire family group Karma purifies and we can all then reach higher ground together.