Starfishes & Pigeons

I finally got back into it and got myself going to the temple again. Today was a "Liberation ceremony". The Avatamsaka temple brought 3 big cages of pigeons, and they are planning to set them free!!! What a great deed..me so happy. I thought I would be actually be helping with moving the crates and freeing the birds but that didn't happen. The assembly and I chanted a liberation sutra or mantra and afterwards, volunteer male helpers escorted the birds to the van for the trip to freedom.

Does it make a difference to do such actions when others are constantly capturing back the birds to be sell again? Well, The master talkes about this story. I have heard of this story before but perhaps you have not. It is along a beach in a city of a country, a girl would pick starfish off the shores of the ocean. In automatic motion, when she saw one on the ground, her hands would pick it up and toss it out back into the ocean. She did this the whole day until a curious by-passer stopped her and ask:

"What are you doing?"

"I am throwing starfish into the ocean".

"Does that make any difference, they are going to come back to shore, dry and die anyhow."

She saw another starfish nearby, gallop towards it, picked it up with her tiny hands in full momentum and said,  "It does to that one."

The master said it was after reading this English story that she understood the meaning behind the actions. Even though it is impossible to save all the starfishes, all the pigeons or  the animals or all beings..the most important is making such great thought or wishes so we can plant in ourselves for the future. When we have such deep seeds of wishes then later when the time is ripe, we will be able to fulfill them. 

I agree with her, even if you doubt an action, it doesn't hurt to do good. The 1 to 2 seconds of our time doesn't make much difference to us but for the starfishes, it means another chance to live and not be sizzle and dry out by the hot hot sun. If you would not wish to die that way, neither does all those starfishes and pigeons. The difference is that we have feet to walk or run away from the situation and a mouth that allows us to communicate to the understanding of the majority. If starfishes have feet that allow them to travel back to the ocean, what do you think they would do?

One way to cultivate is to analyze our dislike or doubt of something. For examples, worms, ants, mice, snakes, insects etc. Why do we fear it? By questioning, we find out more about ourselves, perhaps we see a different picture and problem. If we consider the importance of them in the equation of life, we will eventually realized that it is because of them that we are here. Everything has a purpose. There is a choice for each individual to investigate or choose not to know the working of the kosmos but even if we do not value their purpose or agree with it, we must value the importance of life because we are life itself.