Are monkeys kinder than the Dalai Lama
In observance of the 21st annual World Week for Animals in Laboratories (April 22-28), the Primate Freedom Project has sent an open letter to Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, for the third time to reconsider his support of invasive experimentation on living animals' brains. You can read the letter below.
"We have urged His Holiness to reaffirm his vow of compassion for all sentient beings. He seems to have stepped off Buddhism's Nobel Eightfold Path to enlightenment and is now wandering aimlessly, attracted to the glitter of honorary university degrees. He seems to be more attracted to titles and prestige than to kindness; it's a loss to the entire world," says Rick Bogle, spokesperson for the group.
Largely unwritten about has been the Tibetan leader's transformation from an icon of kindness into an admirer of scientists like Richard Davidson and Ned Kalin at the University of Wisconsin who burn monkeys' brains with acid and then frighten them with snakes, scientists, and bigger monkeys.
His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is both the head of state in exile and the spiritual leader of Tibet.
Buddhism is based on a set of profound teachings that urge us to harm no sentient being, to dispel all the misery in the world, and to recognize that all beings are as precious as our mothers.
An Open letter to Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama
April 22, 2007
The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama
Via email: ohhdl@dalailama.com
Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama
Your Holiness,
We contacted your office six years ago, on August 25, 2001, regarding your support for invasive research on living monkeys' brains at the University of Wisconsin. Your assistant Tenzin Geyche Tethong replied on September 6, that:
His Holiness was not aware that Dr. Kalin was involved in conducting tests on animals that were painful and extremely cruel.
His Holiness has always been against such tests on animals. In fact, when His Holiness offered to make a contribution to a research work by Dr. Paul Ekman on the subject of CULTIVATING EMOTIONAL BALANCE. His Holiness specifically pointed out that the research work should not involve experiments on animals.
We wrote to you again on September 9, 2005, regarding your continuing support of invasive research on living monkeys' brains at the University of Wisconsin and elsewhere but received no reply.
Following your inaugural lecture at Neuroscience 2005 (Society for Neuroscience) you were asked about experiments on living animals. You said:
It is a difficult question, [as it] is a difficult [duty]. I will answer, as I do, to the question of many Tibetan Buddhists who are not vegetarians. I encourage the minimum use of experiments on animals, the absolute minimum amount of pain. Only perform highly necessary experiments, and as little pain as possible. If it must be done, [if that is your path, it is compassionate] to kill out of necessity, but only with empathy. Hold in you the sense of the compassionate: "I [acknowledge] that I exploit this animal to bring greater benefit to a great number of sentient beings." You must feel the sacrifice, in your heart. It is never made lightly.
Every scientist experimenting on animals claims that their experiments are necessary and inflict the minimum amount of pain. Your statement amounts to a wholesale endorsement of a lucrative industry with a proven track record of animal abuse and lying to the public.
We urge you to think more critically, to be more empathetic, and once again we beseech you to embrace the Buddhist ideals of kindness and compassion and to renounce your support of cruel experiments.
Are monkeys more compassionate than a Buddhist monk?
Please see: Masserman J, Wechkin S, Terris W. 1964. 'Altruistic' behavior in rhesus monkeys. American Journal of Psychiatry vol. 121: 584-5. http://www.madisonmonkeys.com/masserman.pdf
See too, the details of the research you are supporting:
Kalin NH, Shelton SE, Davidson RJ, Kelley AE. 2001. The primate amygdala mediates acute fear but not the behavioral and physiological components of anxious temperament. J Neurosci. http://www.jneurosci.org/cgi/content/full/21/6/2067
Sincerely,
Rick Bogle
Founder, Primate Freedom Project
P.O. Box 1623
Fayetteville, GA. 30214
rbogle@primatefreedom.com