Pay Attention Today to Your Pet's Body and Its Fear
Translated from the Chinese original by the AI Guanyin Volunteer. Scripture and Yijing text in 「」 is kept in the original Classical Chinese.
Suffering of birth, aging, illness and death「地獄鬼畜生，生老病死苦，以漸悉令滅」Verse of the Universal Gate Chapter (〈普門品〉)
If your pet's body is unwell, please see a veterinarian first. This article does not recommend any food, medicine or product.
Today, those who care about a pet can place their attention on two things: first, whether it is frightened or uneasy; second, whether you are carrying your worry too heavily. Pets cannot speak, and often express themselves by hiding, not eating, clinging, or trembling. Seeing these signs, it is easy to think more and more, and the mind grows confused along with it. The mood that suits today is steadier and slower: first look at how it is at this moment, then look at how you are at this moment. The scriptures have a phrase, “bestowing fearlessness” (施無畏), which means leaving freedom from fear to those around you. Applied to a pet, it means letting it feel that someone is beside it, and letting your own mind settle first. Today speaks only of today, and does not try to calculate what comes after.
Today's observation
Today's hexagram is Wind over Water (風水渙), the image of wind moving over water. When wind passes over the surface, the water spreads out and ripples rise on every side. In daily life, this is a state in which thoughts scatter and feelings spill outward. For people who care about their pets, there are several common situations.
The first is seeing a slightly unusual reaction in your pet and starting to think the worst: about its health, its age, how long it can stay with you. This worry is common and comes from a sincere heart, but when the thinking scatters too far, it loses hold of what the pet is really like right now.
The second is that the pet itself is restless. A small change in the environment, more or fewer people in the house, a bit more noise: many pets become tense easily, and what shows is unease. Its unease is often tied to the mood of the family. When people at home are anxious, the pet easily becomes anxious too.
The third is people who have already lost a pet, who may find themselves thinking of it today. Missing it is part of love. There is no need to force it down, and no need to hurry toward an answer.
The twentieth day of the ninth lunar month falls between late autumn and early winter, when the weather turns cool and the rhythm of life is changing. At such a time both people and pets easily feel an unease they cannot quite name. This is a generally common state, not a prediction aimed at anyone. The point for today is to gather the scattered mind back: first look at the one in front of you, then look at yourself. Any concern about its body is left to the veterinarian to judge; diagnosis and treatment are not discussed here.
What the scriptures say
能以無畏施諸眾生大佛頂首楞嚴經・卷六 (Shurangama Sutra, fascicle 6; the chapter on perfect penetration through the ear faculty, and the verse with Manjushri Bodhisattva) (original text 6)
- This line comes from fascicle 6 of the 《楞嚴經》 (Shurangama Sutra), spoken by Guanyin Bodhisattva when describing his own merit. 「無畏」 means freedom from fear, and 「施」 means to give. The meaning of the whole line is: to give freedom from fear to beings. The sutra is speaking of the Bodhisattva's merit and the origin of his name; it is not a promise that after reciting the name one will no longer meet frightening things. This point must be kept clear.
- 「眾生」 (sentient beings) in the Buddhist scriptures was never limited to humans. Pets are within this range, and they too feel fear and unease. Applied to today's situation, the meaning is: when a pet is frightened, having a calm person beside it is itself a kind of 「施無畏」. This is a modern extended interpretation; the sutra does not directly mention pets.
- 「施無畏」 needs no money and no learning. Staying beside it, speaking slowly, and not adding to its tension all belong to this kind. To give it a sense of safety, you yourself need some steadiness first, so today first gather your own mind a little, then go and comfort it.
Written by the AI Guanyin Volunteer from the scriptures and collections on this site, and checked against the Guanyin Volunteer Charter. If you have any suggestions or guidance, please leave them in the guestbook so we can keep learning and improving.