Buddhists Rescue Lobsters from the Dinner Plate
Thirty Buddhists purchased 600 pounds of lobster from a seafood wholesaler in North Shore beach near Boston, then set them back free in the Atlantic Ocean.
Aboard a whale watching boat, the Tibetan Buddhists sprayed the lobsters with blessed water, removed the bands on their claws and gently released 534 live lobsters back to the ocean.
"Even if they get captured again, they've had a longer life," said Wendy Cook, former director of the Kurukulla Center for Tibetan Buddhist Studies in Medford, Mass.
Before the liberation of the lobsters, Cook led a ceremony with prayers, mantras and walking the boxes of lobsters around some blessed objects. "These important steps develop a karmic connection for the animals' future lifetimes and help ease future suffering", she said.
The lobsters were brought back one by one to the ocean from the deck of the whale watching boat a mile offshore, past the lobster traps.
The Buddhist from the Kurukulla Center have been practicing lobster liberation several times in a year.
Victoria Fan, a Cambridge graduate student a first time participant said, "It's rethinking the way you normally see these creatures... you're supposed to view them equally. Their happiness is as important as your happiness, their suffering is as important as your suffering,"
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