Buddhist Ideas & Gardens – Feeding Animals
It is common for gardens at Buddhist holy places to have some sort of organised feeding of birds, fish or animals.
Giving Food to Birds, Fish or Animals
Often there is food on sale which visitors can give to creatures which live there.
At the Lotus Pool at the Mahabodhi Temple, people buy food to give to the many catfish who live there. At some temples in Thailand it is turtles which get fed and at others it is wild monkeys. Feeding water creatures seems quite common but any sort of feeding of birds, fish or animals is in the Buddhist spirit.
Attention is paid both to making sure that birds, fish or animals get fed and to involving visitors in the act of giving. The latter is part of developing Buddhist habits of wishing to benefit others.
Sometimes there are other ways in which Buddhist gardens are used to benefit animals. In the garden at the Roots of Wisdom Institute at Bodhgaya live some goats. They were saved from being killed for meat when Buddhist nuns bought them from a butcher. Now they can live in this garden for the rest of their lives.
Continue reading: Taking trouble not to kill other creatures.