Prayers thanking Animals for their Lives

[Madhuri]

I've come across a few religions that make prayers after hunting or before eating meat that are wording something like: 'thank you for giving your life so that I can eat'.

This has never seemed quite right to me. These animals aren't giving you their life, you are taking it. I'm pretty sure the animal wouldn't appreciate the prayer and would much prefer to have their life back.

It seems more appropriate to send a prayer with an apology. Like: 'Sorry I killed you, but I was hungry.' And then maybe a prayer for their soul.

What do you think?

 

[Shuddhasattva]

Consider the wheel of life; life, by its nature originates as a gift and ends as a gift of violence, whether shucked loose this mortal coil by predation or age/disease, very little that lives wants to die.

But the death is the life.

I agree that in a modern society with industrialized meat production it's inappropriate to express thanks for an ungiven gift; but what about hunting for sustenance, as with any other predator?

A deer will give up its life one day, and traditional/sustainable hunting emphasized sustainability and selected for age; for the buck who had the biggest antlers, being the oldest, for instance.

Better to meal-needing men flesh given by the grace of life and dead than worms or even wolves. Aside from mere prey, these creatures are fellow wayfarers leaving their bones on the same map of the magnificent as you in the end, all giving the gift of received wisdom such as it bleeds.

Better still that we learn to live without the need to take life, and manage our natural resources (which require(d?) predation) another way.

 

[Thunderfoot]

I think you're on the right track. (But I also think, on some elemental level, prey animals accept their place as a predator's meal.)

My father taught me over 50 years ago to kill the fish we caught quickly, via a sharp blow to the head. He would not allow a fish to suffer. In that way, he taught me that he valued that fish's life and that I should do the same.

I have followed his example to this day. And each time I kill a fish destined for the table (the ONLY fish I kill) I say a prayer of thanks, accompanied by an apology for interrupting and ending its current existence.

The short form is: "Thank you, my friend. I'm sorry."

 

[Madhuri]

The short form is: "Thank you, my friend. I'm sorry."

That does make more sense to me.

 

[Madhuri]

Consider the wheel of life; life, by its nature originates as a gift and ends as a gift of violence, whether shucked loose this mortal coil by predation or age/disease, very little that lives wants to die.

But the death is the life.

I agree that in a modern society with industrialized meat production it's inappropriate to express thanks for an ungiven gift; but what about hunting for sustenance, as with any other predator?

A deer will give up its life one day, and traditional/sustainable hunting emphasized sustainability and selected for age; for the buck who had the biggest antlers, being the oldest, for instance.

Better to meal-needing men flesh given by the grace of life and dead than worms or even wolves. Aside from mere prey, these creatures are fellow wayfarers leaving their bones on the same map of the magnificent as you in the end, all giving the gift of received wisdom such as it bleeds.

Better still that we learn to live without the need to take life, and manage our natural resources (which require(d?) predation) another way.

I do understand and agree with all of what you have written. My confusion lies more with the idea behind some of he prayers people give, which is to thank an animal for giving their life, as if the animal offered themselves to us, which is clearly not the case.

 

[steeltoes]

I don't pray, I just eat.

 

[Badran]

I've come across a few religions that make prayers after hunting or before eating meat that are wording something like: 'thank you for giving your life so that I can eat'.

Wording it like that lessens the impact of the act, or changes the nature of what just happened (or about to happen) to something much easier to feel alright about. Which might be why it's worded that way, to make the person feel better about what they did.

 

[Halcyon]

I think you're on the right track. (But I also think, on some elemental level, prey animals accept their place as a predator's meal.)

Ha! No.

If a human hunter tried to kill a deer with his bare hands or a knife rather than from a distance with a gun, he'd find that the deer would be more than happy to bite off his fingers, gore out his eyes and kick his brains out of the back of his skull rather than give it's life for his dinner.

Ha! No.
I've come across a few religions that make prayers after hunting or before eating meat that are wording something like: 'thank you for giving your life so that I can eat'.

Yeah it's weird. It doesn't seem any more appropriate to thank an animal you've destroyed to eat it's flesh than it does to steal a person's car and then thank them for the kind gift.
I guess it eases some people's conscience if they believe they've somehow "made peace" with the animal's spirit.

 

[BSM1]

It's dead; you are just trying to justify your supposed guilt over loving steak; like Steeltoes said, screw 'em let's eat.

 

[Musty]

I've come across a few religions that make prayers after hunting or before eating meat that are wording something like: 'thank you for giving your life so that I can eat'.

This has never seemed quite right to me. These animals aren't giving you their life, you are taking it. I'm pretty sure the animal wouldn't appreciate the prayer and would much prefer to have their life back.

It seems more appropriate to send a prayer with an apology. Like: 'Sorry I killed you, but I was hungry.' And then maybe a prayer for their soul.

What do you think?

I agree with you that few creatures would voluntarily become something else meal and so thanking it seems a bit odd given that no permission was given in the first place.

It's possible a way of assuaging guilt over the death of the animal. While most people I know don't appear to feel any guilt about eating animals most of these people are also quite removed from the raising, killing and butchering of the animals they eat.

It's easier not to feel guilty about something if you're not the one actually doing the killing.

 

[Shuddhasattva]

Strange to see the nobility of nature so cavalierly dismissed.

Try imagining yourself as you - or those like you - were, 12,000 years ago. You depended on your fellow animals to provide nourishment, but more than that, they were the companion and living mythologies of your lives. You revered the deer, you revered the boar, the bear, etc.

In life or death the animal is revered, and so to make the death as respectful as possible, one ritualizes it and uses as many parts of the animal as one can steeped in gratitude.

 

[Thunderfoot]

Strange to see the nobility of nature so cavalierly dismissed.

Try imagining yourself as you - or those like you - were, 12,000 years ago. You depended on your fellow animals to provide nourishment, but more than that, they were the companion and living mythologies of your lives. You revered the deer, you revered the boar, the bear, etc.

In life or death the animal is revered, and so to make the death as respectful as possible, one ritualizes it and uses as many parts of the animal as one can steeped in gratitude.

Truth.

 

[Quintessence]

That's not the wording I use in my path. Where I do whisper words if this kind, it is typically something like "I honor the sacrifices made so that I may live" and it is done while I am cooking. I do not limit this acknowledgement of sacrifice to nonhuman animals. As a Witch whose path is strongly animistic, to give nonhuman animals special status and ignoring, say, the sacrifice of plants is wrong. Plants are people too; all things, living and non-living, are treated as persons in an animistic tradition. When I speak these words, I'm honoring all parts of the weave that contributed to my sustenance: the rocks of the soil, the waters of the rain, the organism itself, the human workers who harvested and processed it, and yes, even the underpaid grocery store workers who sold it to me. All of them made a sacrifice so that I can continue to exist.

 

[Gharib]

I've come across a few religions that make prayers after hunting or before eating meat that are wording something like: 'thank you for giving your life so that I can eat'.

This has never seemed quite right to me. These animals aren't giving you their life, you are taking it. I'm pretty sure the animal wouldn't appreciate the prayer and would much prefer to have their life back.

It seems more appropriate to send a prayer with an apology. Like: 'Sorry I killed you, but I was hungry.' And then maybe a prayer for their soul.

What do you think?

Muslims believe that animals, plants etc were created to serve us. We may use them for any purpose which doesn't violate Islamic teachings. We do not thank the animal nor ask it for forgiveness, when we slaughter/kill them we must say 'In the name of Allah, The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful' meaning that we kill the animal in the name of it's creator who has given us permission to kill it and we also don't do anything unless we mention the above in any task (eating, drinking, sleeping, starting work etc).

 

[Jainarayan]

Try imagining yourself as you - or those like you - were, 12,000 years ago. You depended on your fellow animals to provide nourishment, but more than that, they were the companion and living mythologies of your lives. You revered the deer, you revered the boar, the bear, etc.

In life or death the animal is revered, and so to make the death as respectful as possible, one ritualizes it and uses as many parts of the animal as one can steeped in gratitude.

That was the relationships, cycle and circle of life. In my understanding, the Inuit and Plains Indians of North America (that always by default includes the appellation 'First Nations'), always gave thanks to the animal's spirit, and wasted no part of the animal so as not to make its death in vain, or simply discard parts of it like garbage. There was a cognizance of and reverence for what had to be done... kill to eat and survive.

I made a post here http://www.religiousforums.com/forum/3222286-post98.html about prayers over food. In thinking about it after reading this thread, I am less likely to be enamored of the phrase in highlight "I give thanks to all the sentient beings who gave of themselves, some with their lives, so that I may have this food to nourish my body", because they didn't willingly die. Without that line, it could refer to the ox or horse who ploughed a field, the cow who gave milk, or any animal that gave something that didn't cause it harm.

There was a line from an episode of Star Trek The Next Generation in which Cmdr. Rike says to the ambassador of a carnivorous alien race "we no longer enslave animals for food". Enslave.

Edit to add:

I actually prefer this as a before-meal prayer:

May the Lord accept this, our offering,
and bless our food that it may bring us
strength in our body, vigor in our mind,
and selfless devotion in our hearts for His
service.

Bless all of those who have brought this
nourishment to our table, through their
labors and their lives. The joys and pains
of all beings are present in the gift of this
food.

Let us receive it in love and gratitude;
in mindfulness of our sisters and brothers
among living beings of every kind, who are
hungry or homeless, sick or injured, or
suffering in any way.

 

[F0uad]

I don't thank the animal it doesn't understand me, i rather thank Allah(swt) since he provided the creation for us and he does understand me.

 

[Halcyon]

Strange to see the nobility of nature so cavalierly dismissed.

Try imagining yourself as you - or those like you - were, 12,000 years ago. You depended on your fellow animals to provide nourishment, but more than that, they were the companion and living mythologies of your lives. You revered the deer, you revered the boar, the bear, etc.

In life or death the animal is revered, and so to make the death as respectful as possible, one ritualizes it and uses as many parts of the animal as one can steeped in gratitude.

There is a difference, I believe, in revering and respecting an animal and thanking it for it's "sacrifice".

A sacrifice is, by definition the giving of something precious willingly. Whether that's a farmer sacrificing some of his produce or animals to a deity, or a person sacrificing their time, money or possessions to be of assistance to others - it's all about intentional and decisive personal loss.
Being hunted and killed by another is not sacrificial. As I said before, it's no more appropriate to thank your kill for its lost life than it is to thank your murder victim, or the victim of your theft, rape, arson or fraud.

Even an apology is not appropriate, as unless you plan on never killing for meat again the apology is empty and worthless.

Solumn respect for the individual you've killed is the only fitting response. In my opinion of course.

 

[Foxfire]

I've come across a few religions that make prayers after hunting or before eating meat that are wording something like: 'thank you for giving your life so that I can eat'.

This has never seemed quite right to me. These animals aren't giving you their life, you are taking it. I'm pretty sure the animal wouldn't appreciate the prayer and would much prefer to have their life back.

It seems more appropriate to send a prayer with an apology. Like: 'Sorry I killed you, but I was hungry.' And then maybe a prayer for their soul.

What do you think?

Hi Madhuri

I actually think it is a very wise and compassionate and graceful way to be aware of what sustains your body and mind. We too, will be food for creatures some day. It is about the circle of life and to take time to thank the creature for feeding your body helps place importance on why we are really here. It helps to focus us on what is really important in life. Just my humble opinion.

 

[Koldo]

That's not the wording I use in my path. Where I do whisper words if this kind, it is typically something like "I honor the sacrifices made so that I may live" and it is done while I am cooking. I do not limit this acknowledgement of sacrifice to nonhuman animals. As a Witch whose path is strongly animistic, to give nonhuman animals special status and ignoring, say, the sacrifice of plants is wrong. Plants are people too; all things, living and non-living, are treated as persons in an animistic tradition. When I speak these words, I'm honoring all parts of the weave that contributed to my sustenance: the rocks of the soil, the waters of the rain, the organism itself, the human workers who harvested and processed it, and yes, even the underpaid grocery store workers who sold it to me. All of them made a sacrifice so that I can continue to exist.

What sacrifice did the organisms ( those you eat ) do so that you may live?

 

[Koldo]

Hi Madhuri

I actually think it is a very wise and compassionate and graceful way to be aware of what sustains your body and mind. We too, will be food for creatures some day. It is about the circle of life and to take time to thank the creature for feeding your body helps place importance on why we are really here. It helps to focus us on what is really important in life. Just my humble opinion.

Do you call 'thanking an animal for giving its life' wise when that's clearly not the case?
If anything, it is unwise.