Most people love animals. They love to keep birds, dogs and so on,
but not everyone can look after animals. If people do not want to keep
animals, it is not because they have no compassion; it is perhaps
because they do not have the time or experience, or possibly the
environment does not permit. For instance, some people's houses are too
small. So we still need to consider whether or not we are suitable to
care for animals. We don't have to own animals to show that we have
compassion. If we cannot house animals, we can still continue to support
animal protection groups, or spread the message of loving the animals.
This is also very helpful.
If we have the chance to adopt an animal, say a bird, for example, then
we should be mentally prepared. We have to find out what kind of bird
has better affinity with us. We have to study books and decide what kind
of bird we like, what conditions are needed for adopting the bird, and
what we need to do. We should check and see whether we can do all of
these. It is not enough to just bring animals home and feed them. Every
day, we have to take care and communicate with them in the same way we
treat our beloved friends or relatives. This is what we should do. Only
when we are able to do this, then the animals can live happily, because
they also have deep feelings. They are very faithful and sentimental,
and they treat their human caretakers like their own family.
Besides that, we have to scrub and clean their cages every day and take
them out to play. If you cannot do that every day, then at least do it
once every one or two days. However, you must communicate with them and
talk to them every day. It is all right if you cannot communicate with
them on the inside; just talk to them in English or Chinese; they can
understand perfectly. Give it a try! (Master and everyone laugh.)
Suppose you have a bird. It is all right if you cannot communicate with
him every day in the way I do. Just treat him with love and he will feel
it. The more loving you are, the more you are able to communicate with
the bird, and naturally you can understand each other very well heart to
heart, as distinct as human conversation. The same applies to all
animals. If we want to communicate with them, sometimes their language
is different from ours, so we really need to have love to understand
them.
So, do not worry that your animal cannot understand you; just worry that
you don't understand them, but slowly you will understand. Actually, we
don't have to use language to understand each other. We all have the
telepathic ability within. After living with animals for a longer time,
this telepathy develop gradually. When you sincerely want to understand
the animals, this dormant spiritual quality will naturally emerge. I
never learnt any technique of communicating with birds; it revealed
itself spontaneously. When you have love, it will transcend all
languages, and you will understand each other more and more.
If you are caring for animals, sit together with them on some quiet
nights, try not to think about anything else, and ask the animal from
your heart: “Can we try to communicate with each other?” Then you will
be surprised to find that he or she can communicate with you, not with
language, but through telepathy, very distinctly. If you really cannot
do it, suppose you are too busy and cannot quiet down, and you cannot
get your telepathic ability to emerge naturally, it is all right. We
don't need a lot of words. Just look after the animal like you are
taking care of yourself, and then you will feel from within that you
understand each other.
Actually birds and dogs do not demand much; you don't need to talk to
them a lot every day. I also do not communicate a lot with my birds
every day; we just treat each other with love, and that is enough.
