by Unless I misunderstood, I learned in a lecture today that Buddhists say animals don’t have consciousness. Oh well. So much for that. Unless I misunderstood, which is so entirely possible. A little bit of googling seems to indicate that I might have. I hope a Buddhist weighs in.
In the meantime, I give you this guy. Please note the endearing tiny leg splayage to body ratio.
Buddhists say animals (and we humans) have the Buddha-nature. In the Vimanavatthu of the Pali canon there is a great little story of a frog winning a deva mansion who was accidently killed while listening to the Buddha. Keep in mind, too, that the Buddha when he was a Bodhisattva became an animal on a number of occasions. I hasten to mention that the Buddha Ratnashikhin will take all animals into his heaven. Chant over the dying animal: Namu Sugata Ratnashikhin.
Best regards
Thank you, Mujaku! I feel so much better now. I cut and pasted that chant. I will save it for the sad, inevitable time.