Suffering is most people's only Teacher (video)

"I don't need it anymore. Suffering is a wonderful teacher. Suffering is most people's only spiritual teacher. And suffering deepens you. It gradually erodes the mind-made sense of self, the ego. And for some people the point arrives when they realize, 'I have suffered enough.' And that, for example, is the case with almost all the people who come to a retreat." - Eckhart Tolle

Why go in search of a solution?

Wisdom Quarterly

What brings us to the Dharma? It's nice to think we pursue the Quest out of some noble motivation, some unquenchable thirst for ultimate truth, or the altruistic desire to save all living beings. But it is often suffering that spurs the search. Siddhartha would not have left his three luxurious palaces if it were not for suffering and the realization that all existence for everyone is beset by this wide ranging problem ancient India called dukkha. So one needn't let the initial motive deter one. Make as much progress as possible while the motivation is present, learning and meditating, being kind to others and spreading the message that there really exists a "complete end of suffering" (nirvana). Wisdom Quarterly could always use help. For soon someone or something (workaholism, busyness, illness) will come along and distract us all over again. Or we'll resort to drinking and drug use. (What do you think that prescription is?) Or we'll sink into a misery unutterable and make everyone around us miserable. The downward spiral is tricky. It has been this way for countless lives.

Protesting Torture at Ringling Brothers' Circus

Wisdom Quarterly

(OfficialPETA) People for the Ethical Treatment of Animal's 2009 investigation of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus found that workers were beating, electro-shocking, whipping, tying, and hooking elephants and striking tigers. Shocking footage shows the torment behind animal circuses that exploit animals. (The same or worse holds true for rodeos). What can compassionate people do? It's easy. Avoid circuses. There is no need to demonstrate on the streets as activists are doing today July 20, 2011 in downtown Los Angeles as Ringling Brothers attempts to begin a stint of animal-exploitation shows. There is no need to write letters or boycott a company. Simply stay home if a visit to a circus was planned.

• RinglingBeatsAnimals.com

LA Protesters Stand Up to Circus

(Repenney)

Last year nearly 300 anti-cruelty advocates and activists came together at the Staples Center to protest the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus.

This circus has frequently come under attack from activists and authorities alike for its pattern of abuse and cruelty towards captive animals forced to perform demeaning entertainments, suffer in cages, lacking sufficient exercise, nutrition, and care. The elephants are showing signs of arthritis as a result.

Ringling Bros. has been cited and fined numerous times for animal cruelty. In a moment of bitter irony the LA police attempted to arrest an LCA activist for displaying a "bullhook," a device frequently used to torment elephants by Ringling Bros.

"We don't want to shut down the circus," one activist was heard to say. "We just want them to eliminate the use of animals." Note: Cirque du Soleil, Bindlestiff Family Circus, and The Little Russian Circus are all animal-free.

Annual Protests Until Reform
In spite of being cited and fined by the USDA for animal cruelty, Ringling Bros continues to profit from its abuses. Members of groups participating in the protest included ISSAC, OCPA, IDA, LCA, PETA Los Angeles, Animal Defenders International, and ASPCA among many others. For much of the time, the protesters outnumbered the circus-goers waiting in line at the venue.

Trainers cruelly wrestle baby elephants using ropes, sharp
hooks, and electric shocks to force them to do tricks. More

• Project Nim: Tormenting animals for "science"