..续本文上一页ely. For mankind, these two wars were the bloodiest catastrophes in our history. However, in the 21st century, although human beings are away from such sufferings, much more horrible disasters are falling onto animals.

　　Actually, the unequal treatments by labeling higher and lower levels also happened to humans. Like the trades of Negro slaves several centuries ago, Negro slaves were treated as commodities instead of human beings. They were sold on docks and in markets, and numerous deals were completed in one day. Such situations continued for more than 400 years. The famous novel, Uncle Tom”s Cabin (or Life Among the Lowly), faithfully described the miserable lives of Negro slaves being badly oppressed by slave owners. This book was the best-selling novel in the 19th century. In the first year of its publication, 300,000 copies were sold in the US, next to the Bible.

　　The way that slave owners treated their slave in those times is just as how people treat animals in this age. Slaver owners thought slaves were inferior race and could be traded or even killed at will. During transportations, huge amounts of slaves were cramped in crowded cabins, with stagnant air, bad food and drink, and rampant contagious diseases. Once becoming sick, slaves were immediately thrown into sea and eaten by fish. Sometimes hundreds, hundreds of slaves were thrown into sea altogether. Such tragedies continued from 15th till 19th century, officially ended at the Brussels conference, where the Act of Abolition of Slavery was passed in 1890.

　　Therefore, in the past four hundred years, many people thought it was fair enough for the superior white people slaving or killing the inferior black people. The American Nobel Prize winner Martin Luther King had appealed in his famous speech, I Have A Dream, that the whites have to realize the racial equality with the blacks. Later on, the previous South African president Mandela was also fighting against racialism, and calling for the equality between the white and black people.

　　Similarly, we should treat animals in the same way. On earth, they have an equal right to live with us. So mankind should not deprive them of their precious lives just to satisfy our desire for food. Unfortunately, every time I mention human”s suffering, such as Wenchuan and Yushu earthquake, many audiences are deeply moved into tears; but when talking about the suffering of animals, especially the terrible massacre in slaughterhouses, many people seems having no such feeling at all.

　　I recently attended World Care & Love Forum, and the committee proposed to name July 17th “the World Care Day”. The Chinese pronunciation of July 17th entails the meaning of giving a kiss. So on this day, every one should kiss the old and the young, friends and relatives around him or her. On the forum I also appealed that, not only the people around us, we should also kiss the animals around us. Even if one can”t be vegetarian, or keep releasing animals into the wild, at least he or she should do this on this particular day. But unfortunately, very little response was received. Few people would like to speak out for the rights of animals. In the West, some scholars such as Peter Singer also advocate liberating animals, but not much people are paying attention and there”s no apparent changes on behaviors.

　　Actually, if we want to save the Earth and mankind, we should start with the cultivation of compassion. Without compassion in one”s heart, all kinds of disasters would happen frequently in the future. As Dr. Toynbee said, “To solve the social problem of the 21st century, we have to rely on the teaching of Confucius, Mencius and Mahayana Buddhism.” The Japanese philosopher and thinker, Daisaku Ikeda, also believe that, the fundamental cause of the exter…

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