Life Liberation @ Ulu Tiram, Johor Bahru

life liberation, santi forest monastery, sutera, ulu tiram, vegetarian, 五福城, 原味素食苑, 宁心寺, 放生仪轨, 香满居素食馆, travels,malaysia,johor bahru

A week after returning from my Malacca trip, my folks and I were once again heading to Johor Bahru with Dad's friend (yes, that same uncle we went to Malacca with).

We are going there to take part in this "Life Liberation" (fangsheng/放生) event where we will be releasing animals into the wild. It is my first time attending such an event and as a Buddhist, while I applaud the cause, I am at the same time thrown into a dilemma.

I believe the purpose of liberation is to rescue animals from a live and death situation (eg, live animals saved from being slaughtered for food) but, what if the animals (eg. birds/fish) are intentionally captured/trapped from the wild for the sole purpose of selling to us to free them, then what is the point?

UPDATE: This is exactly what I meant but unable to summarize in a few words!

life liberation, santi forest monastery, sutera, ulu tiram, vegetarian, 五福城, 原味素食苑, 宁心寺, 放生仪轨, 香满居素食馆, travels,malaysia,johor bahru

Do you see the vicious demand and supply cycle? Because there are people like us who want to free birds and fishes, then there will be people who want to supply us with what we want.

And in the process of capturing them, how many of these animals were injured, undergo trauma or even died while in captivity?

Yes, I have seen with my own eyes during this event a couple of birds laying at the bottom of their cages, one even had its leg caught by the cage door.

We wanted to save lives but instead, we maimed or even caused the death of the animals. Aren't we doing more harm than good then?

I am all for liberation but I hope those we release are really the ones in need i.e rescued from the markets instead of from a supplier who captures animals for this purpose.

Anyway, I digress.

That morning, we met up at Kranji MRT Station. After taking attendance, we boarded one of the three hired coaches and headed for the customs. Once cleared, we came to this vegetarian restaurant 原味素食苑 for breakfast.

 vegetarian, 五福城, 原味素食苑, travels,malaysia,johor bahrujalan titiwangsa,taman tampoi indah

There were already some locals having breakfast when we reached there around 8am.

Food was served buffet-styled. The menu include the usual breakfast options like fried noodles/kway teow, curry, various mock meat and vegetable dishes. I find the food here rather oily while the noodles were too soggy for my liking.

The coffee, though nice, is not properly filtered for coffee dregs.

原味素食苑
2, Jalan Titiwangsa 3/2
Taman Tampoi Indah
81200 Johor Bahru
Johor

Finishing breakfast, we troop up the coach again and we reached somewhere near Sutera Mall (五福城). The coach stopped right in front of a building and we went up the unit on the highest floor. From there, we were ushered inside a smaller room with Tibetan Buddhism influences.

Imagine three bus loads of people squeezing inside one small room is no joke.

We quickly settled down and began praying for the animals that we will be freeing in a while.

life liberation, santi forest monastery, sutera, ulu tiram, vegetarian, 五福城, 宁心寺, 放生仪轨, travels,malaysia,johor bahru
The booklet containing all the mantras

life liberation, santi forest monastery, sutera, ulu tiram, vegetarian, 五福城, 宁心寺, 放生仪轨, travels,malaysia,johor bahru
Just some of the mantras we chant

life liberation, santi forest monastery, sutera, ulu tiram, vegetarian, 五福城, 宁心寺, 放生仪轨, travels,malaysia,johor bahru
How the room look like

I think we spent at least 30 minutes chanting before we leave for lunch.

jalan gaya,taman gaya,ulu tiram, vegetarian, 五福城, 香满居素食馆, travels,malaysia,johor bahru
Lunch was here

Similar to the vegetarian restaurant where we had our breakfast earlier, the food here were also served buffet-styled. I find that the food here suits my palate more.

There is soup and at least three beverages (luo han guo, coffee and something else which I cannot remember).

香满居素食馆
No 27 & 29 Jalan Gaya 25
Taman Gaya
81800 Ulu Tiram
Facebook

After lunch, it is time to head to our destination - Santi Forest Monastery at Ulu Tiram. So what do I do during the long, boring ride?

ulu tiram, 五福城, travels, malaysia,johor bahru
My personal in-flight entertainment

I watched Shin Chan on my Samsung Tab 2!

life liberation, santi forest monastery, sutera, ulu tiram, 宁心寺, 放生仪轨, travels,malaysia,johor bahru
Santi Forest Monastery 宁心寺

The monastery is at quite a ulu place with lots of turns here and there off the beaten tracks.

In fact, it is located next to a palm oil plantation with cages of live birds, tortoises and fishes in packets already on the ground waiting for us.

life liberation, santi forest monastery, sutera, ulu tiram, 宁心寺, 放生仪轨, travels,malaysia,johor bahru
The fishes

life liberation, santi forest monastery, sutera, ulu tiram, 宁心寺, 放生仪轨, travels,malaysia,johor bahru
Cages of birds

life liberation, santi forest monastery, sutera, ulu tiram, 宁心寺, 放生仪轨, travels,malaysia,johor bahru

life liberation, santi forest monastery, sutera, ulu tiram, 宁心寺, 放生仪轨, travels,malaysia,johor bahru
Tortoises

life liberation, santi forest monastery, sutera, ulu tiram, 宁心寺, 放生仪轨, travels,malaysia,johor bahru,palm oil,palm tree
This tranquil palm oil plantation is where we free the birds

life liberation, santi forest monastery, sutera, ulu tiram, 宁心寺, 放生仪轨, travels,malaysia,johor bahru
But first, one last prayer before we release them

life liberation, santi forest monastery, sutera, ulu tiram, 宁心寺, 放生仪轨, travels,malaysia,johor bahru
These are the birds I freed



After we were done releasing the birds, we carried the containers of fishes and tortoises and walked through the plantation via a small path to the river bank.

life liberation, santi forest monastery, sutera, ulu tiram, 宁心寺, 放生仪轨, travels,malaysia,johor bahru

Little huts like these flanked both sides of the small path leading all the way to the river. The organizer said these huts are where the Monks coop up to study Dhamma and practice meditation. The women folks in our group are reminded not to wander about in case the Monk's efforts came to naught.

life liberation, santi forest monastery, sutera, ulu tiram, 宁心寺, 放生仪轨, travels,malaysia,johor bahru,catfish release,tongsat,catfish
The fishes I released - I think they were called "Tong Sat", a kind of cat fish

life liberation, santi forest monastery, sutera, ulu tiram, 宁心寺, 放生仪轨, travels,malaysia,johor bahru,tortoise release,tortoise
One of the largest tortoise we released that day


Swim free! And don't get caught again!

Here we are, liberating life but further down the river, there are two men casting fishing nets. Isn't it an irony?

But I guess that is life and it is all part and parcel of the cycle. I only wish the best for the fishes to avoid the nets.
 

Follow/Like
twitter: dead_cockroach
instagram: thedeadcockroach