In today's Seattle Times there was a front-page article titled, "Dogs have souls, but you already knew that: Animal behaviorists say dogs possess empathy and compassion, the emotions upon which moral sense is built."
Here's a short excerpt:
"Natural historian Jake Page said some scientists are acknowledging what pet owners have told their canines all along: 'Good dog.'
Dogs are full of natural goodness and have rich emotional lives, said animal behaviorist Marc Bekoff, professor emeritus at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
... Page, author of "Do Dogs Smile?," said biology no longer dismisses dogs and other animals as 'furry automatons' driven by instinct and food."
It seems that more and more people are starting to see animals as fellow sentient beings and to treat them better. I imagine this makes Geshe-la happy.
Which reminds me of a conversation I had with a friend who's a longtime Zen practitioner. Many people have heard that koans like "what is the sound of one hand clapping?" are part of Zen practice. This friend told me that her teacher gave her the koan "Do dogs have Buddhanature?" and that the answer is "Woof!" : )
In Eight Steps to Happiness Geshe-la says "'Self' and 'other' are relative terms, rather like 'this mountain' and 'that mountain ... 'This' and 'that' therefore depend upon our point of reference. This is also true of self and other. By climbing down the mountain of self, it is possible to ascend the mountain of other, and thereby cherish others as much as we presently cherish ourself."
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