SUMERU » Animals

Toronto Shark Fin Ban

Yönten — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 00:04:59 +0000

Sorry, forgot to post this earlier – Toronto overwhelmingly voted to ban shark fin products on October 25th, 2011.

Here’s the news story from CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2011/10/25/shark-fin-ban-vote.html

Mississauga & Toronto shark fin ban

Yönten — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 00:04:58 +0000

Mississauga is now the largest city in Canada to have banned shark fin products, as of October 13.

Here is a link to the story about it from The Toronto Star: http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1068489

Toronto is set to enact a similar ban at their next Council meeting on October 24, now that Toronto’s licensing commission has unanimously endorsed a ban similar to the one in Mississauga. Here is a link to The Toronto Star article about the Toronto ban: http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1068489

Buddha’s Light Vegetarian Gala: 9.24.11

Yönten — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 12:46:38 +0000

From Fo Guang Shan Temple, Mississauga: http://www.fgs.ca/english/2011_VeggieGala.html

Shark Fin Ban

Yönten — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 16:43:25 +0000

A number of Canadian cities have enacted or are considering bans on the sale of shark fins, joining more than 90 countries around the world who already support this initiative. We wholeheartedly encourage them to stop needlessly and brutally killing tens of millions of sharks each year. Our fragile oceans cannot maintain their balance without a healthy shark population. Traditions which jeopardize life itself are not a good idea!

bansharkfinning.org

The Tiger and the Monk

Yönten — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 19:31:11 +0000

Equator HD is offering a free preview of several programs on Rogers Cable right now, in the On Demand section. One of the shows is an interesting look at Thailand’s famous Tiger Temple, where the monks and caregivers co-exist peacefully with 10 tigers and thousands of other wild animals.

Here is how the Equator HD website describes the 51-minute program, which was originally made in 2007:

The Tiger and the Monk

Wat Pa Luangta Bua is a monastery of meditation about 200km west of Bangkok. Buddhist monks take their ten tigers for a walk on a leash every day. They celebrate them as their most sacred animals and while they cuddle and play with the cubs, they treat the grown-up animals with respect.

Tigers are one of the most endangered species in the world. Each of the few monks living in the monastery, which was declared a tiger reserve by the Thai government, takes care of one tiger, and since 2 tiger cubs took refuge in this isolated temple in 1998 their number has grown to ten.

This documentary portrays the harmonious relationship between humans and predators without disregarding the monks’ maxim that a tiger will always be a tiger. Even if it feeds from the hand- it will always be a wild animal.

Joe Yee Vegetarian Cuisine

Yönten — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 12:22:03 +0000

It’s always delightful when a new Chinese Buddhist vegetarian restaurant opens. The lastest in my neighbourhood is Joe Yee Vegetarian Cuisine at 9688 Leslie Street, Units 17-18, in Richmond Hill. It’s between 16th Avenue and Major Mackenzie, in the small mall on the corner of Greenhill Avenue.

The food is refined, the menu offers lots of large photos of dishes, and they even have a sushi bar (all vegetarian – I checked!). The restaurant is quite a bit smaller than others of its kind, so line-ups are common. They are open 11-9 daily; closed Mondays.

York Region is blessed with several similar eateries such as Lotus Pond and Graceful Vegetarian near Pacific Mall, and Gourmet Vegetarian on West Beaver Creek.

An added bonus to these restaurants is that they often have posters for upcoming temple events and a bookshelf of free dharma materials by the door.

At Joe Yee’s, I picked up two wonderful audio CDs produced in English by Fo Guong Shan Temple in Mississauga. More about those in another post.

Condolences

Yönten — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 17:07:12 +0000

It is with great sadness that we report the imminent death of 500,000+ animals in the Gadhi Mai Mela sacrifice in Nepal later this month. This “festival” which takes place every five years, is the largest animal sacrifice on the planet. Requests by Palden Dorje, a young Tamang yogi from the Bari district of Nepal to hold a protest puja at the event have been rejected.

Further details about the protest atwww.paldendorje.com

First Frost

Yönten — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 22:55:37 +0000

Canadian geese
Among the water lilies
Only just for now

Karma Yönten Gyatso, Richmond Hill 2009

A Sumeru poem

HH Karmapa on Environmental Action

Yönten — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 12:06:13 +0000

HH the Karmapa has released “108 Things You Can Do to Help the Environment” – a PDF document produced at the First Conference on Environmental Protection for Kagyu Monasteries and Centres, which was held in Sarnath, India, in April 2009. It is inspiring, easy to read, and entirely relevant for everyone to read, regardless of beliefs.

Download it from Sumeru here:

VIEW IT HERE.

The black crows, part 2

Yönten — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 11:47:59 +0000

When Panchen Otrul Rinpoche returned to Toronto from Lindsay, he bestowed the Yamantaka initiation. Since the hall at Tengye Ling was too small for the event, a room was rented on the top floor of the Library Sciences tower in Robarts Library on the . . . Read More.