Happy Birthday

Buddhists believe in freeing animals into the wold, or returned to nature. So there's a whole industry where entrepreneurs capture birds, eels, etc. and you buy them only to release them again. This gives you good Karma and permits you to petition Buddha for a favour. On birthdays, it's not uncommon for the birthday person to visit a slaughterhouse and buy a cow, which he/she will release to a farmer to work in his fields.

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