L.A. Zoo elephants' whereabouts a mystery amid relocation battle
(ABC7) May 21, 2025: Where are LA's elephants Billy and Tina? The Los Angeles Zoo's two remaining manacled/shackled Asian elephants appear to have been transferred in the dark while demonstrators let their guard down. abc7.com/post/activists...
UPDATE: The elephants have been secreted away overnight (May 21, 2025) and shipped via truck to the Tulsa Zoo rather than the animal sanctuary anti-animal-cruelty demonstrators were demanding.
To herald the coming birth of the Future Buddha, pregnant Queen Maya dreamed that she conceived of Prince Siddhartha when a white double tusker royal elephant entered her side: Queen Maya's Dream
In Buddhism, elephants get names like Parileyya and Girimekhala, usually after the woods in which they reside.
'Not another zoo': Critics want LA Zoo elephants moved to sanctuary
(TODAY) May 13, 2025: Elephants Billy and Tina, the last two Asian elephants at the Los Angeles Zoo, were set to be relocated to another animal prison at the Tulsa Zoo, but there is pushback from animal-loving demonstrators and critics online alleging, “They will suffer in an inhumane environment.” NBC’s Morgan Chesky reports for TODAY. #elephant #animals #zoo
Pārileyyaka Sutta: When the Buddha was staying in a forest near Pārileyya, some meditative monks asked Ananda to take them to him. He did, and the Buddha, reading their thoughts, taught a sutra on the destruction of the cankers (āsavas) by the full realization of the impermanent and impersonal nature of all existence: all things are transient and devoid of any self (S.iii.95ff.) Translation: Pālileyya Sutta translated by Bhikkhu Bodhi (SN 22.81)
Conscious elephants in Buddhism: The Full Moon Honey Offering Festival
Animal karma (deeds) also bear karmic results
The Honey-Offering Festival is a Buddhist religious ceremony that commemorates the service and sustenance provided by animals to the Buddha.
According to legend, during his retreat to solitude, a wild monkey brought an offering of a honeycomb to give to the Buddha to eat, as an elephant named Parileyya brought fruit and protected the Buddha from fierce animals in the forest.
When the Buddha accepted the gift of the honeycomb, the monkey became so overjoyed that he began to leap from tree to tree, and in his exuberance fell to his death due to his reckless jubilation. However, because of his generous gift, that monkey was immediately reborn on a celestial plane called the World of the Thirty-Three (Tavatimsa), the second of the six heavens in the Sensual Sphere (below many other heavens of the Fine Material Sphere and Immaterial Sphere).
Since these events are believed to have taken place on the day of the full moon, the occasion has come to be commemorated as Madhu Purnima, or “Honey Full Moon.” The festival is observed on the full moon of the tenth lunar month in Theravada Buddhist countries in South and Southeast Asia. More
The Commentaries (e.g., DhA.i.48ff.; iv.26 ff. UdA.250f.; see Thomas, op. cit., 117 n) say that the elephant's name was Pārileyya (also Pārileyyaka) and describe in vivid detail the manner in which the elephant looked after the Buddha, omitting nothing, even to the extent of finding hot water for his bath.
Later, when the Buddha's attendant Ananda came with many others to invite the Buddha to return to Sāvatthi, the elephant Pārileyyaka provided all of them with alms food. The Buddha agreed and returned.
But such was the attachment the elephant had formed toward the Buddha that he died of a broken heart when the Buddha left the forest.
However, as a result of all his good deeds (wholesomekarma) toward these enlightened beings, he was immediately reborn as a deva (angel, offspring of the gods) in Tāvatimsa in a golden palace (vimana, mansion) said to be 30 leagues high, where he is now known as Pārileyyaka devaputta.
This elephant is also identified with the elephant in the Bhisa Jātaka (J.iv.314). Source
All materials on this site are submitted by editors and readers. All images, unless otherwise noted, were taken from the Internet and are assumed to be in the public domain.
In the event that there is still a problem, issue, or error with copyrighted material, the break of the copyright is unintentional and noncommercial, and the material will be removed immediately upon presented proof.
Contact us by submitting a comment marked "private."
Do not follow this journal if you are under vinaya or parental restrictions. Secure protection by Sucuri.
Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at creativecommons.org/about/licenses.
