Everywhere in the world, we can observe and be touched by acts of kindness. People from all walks of life, faiths, and cultures extend themselves beyond the call of duty to help others unconditionally. Through their noble deeds, humanity as a whole is elevated.

To commend virtuous actions and encourage more people to be inspired by their examples, Supreme Master Ching Hai has lovingly created a series of awards, including the Shining World Leadership Award, Shining World Compassion Award, Shining World Hero and Heroine Awards, Shining World Honesty Award, Shining World Protection Award, Shining World Intelligence Award, and Shining World Inventor Award, to recognize some of the most exemplary, generous, caring, and courageous people who walk amongst us.

Animals can’t speak up for themselves so they need us, those in power, to do the work for them. And that sometimes does mean that when someone is committing an atrocity to an animal, that you should put yourself between the animal and that person.

Ms. Ingrid Newkirk is the founder and president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Founded in 1980, PETA is a non-profit organization that works to animal suffering on factory farms, in the entertainment industry and in research laboratories.

The caring group also endeavors to halt the use of animals in the fashion industry. The methods used by PETA to protect our animal friends include animal cruelty investigations, public outreach efforts, the sponsoring of animal welfare legislation, animal rescue and pro-animal ad campaigns featuring prominent celebrities.

PETA has become the world’s largest animal rights organization, with more than two-million members and supporters. PETA believes that both human and non-human beings should always be allowed to live in peace.

In 2007, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals achieved a number of wonderful victories for our animal co-inhabitants, such as convincing a Christian monastery in South Carolina, USA to close its inhumane egg factory farm, and getting the organizer of a dog weight-pulling contest, where canines are made to pull huge amounts of weight, to cancel the cruel event.

PETA also provided a generous grant of US$120,000 to the non-profit International QSAR Foundation. The Foundation’s caring researchers develop computer tools that provide alternatives to the horrendous practice of animal testing.

That same year, in recognition of PETA’s courageous, glorious, and inspiring work for the world’s animals, Supreme Master Ching Hai honored the group and Ms. Newkirk with the Shining World Compassion Award. The following is an excerpt from Supreme Master Ching Hai’s letter that accompanied the Award:

Dear Ms. Newkirk, It is with great pleasure and admiration that we present to PETA the “Shining World Compassion Award.” This Award is presented in recognition of your organizations outstanding and compassionate animal welfare efforts worldwide, your excellent example of serving all beings, and enlightened leadership creating a more humane and caring world and a brighter future for all.

We wholeheartedly thank you for your kind and unyielding dedication to the protection and improvement of animal lives. Our society is enriched and uplifted immeasurably by your noble endeavors. May heaven bless your inspirational and noble work. Your efforts are truly a loving gift to our world, and to all who enjoy the warmth and companionship of our animal friends and the beauty of our world enhanced by their gentle, graceful and peaceful presence.

For passionately protecting our treasured and vulnerable co-inhabitants, for nurturing and safeguarding all precious lives and for inspiring others to share these values, we hereby applaud and celebrate the compassionate deeds of PETA with special thanks to its esteemed co-founder and President, Ms. Ingrid Newkirk.
With Great Honor, Love and Blessings,
The Supreme Master Ching Hai

In 2010, a PETA undercover investigator worked for nine months at an animal-testing laboratory in North Carolina, USA, documenting the exploitation of 200 dogs and 50 cats imprisoned in cages, who were gravely abused and never allowed to see sunlight. In September of that year PETA filed a complaint with the United States Department of Agriculture and the animals ultimately gained their freedom.

Can you tell us a little more about the North Carolina laboratories that you just recently shut down?

The company was called “Professional Laboratory Research Services (PLRS)” and it was a laboratory that was hired by huge pharmaceutical companies to test flea and tick products on dogs and cats. They were infested with parasites and then chemicals were smeared onto their bodies or force-fed to them. The treatment of the dogs and cats was so appalling. They were denied any sort of treatment for any ailment that they had. It was astonishing even to us and we have seen some pretty ugly things inside laboratories.

And so what happened to the animals afterwards?

Once we went public with our investigation of PLRS and there was a huge public outcry; I think the company saw the writing on the wall and they declared that they were closing forever and they would release all of the dogs and cats. So it was an amazing thing. We enlisted the help of local animal shelters and rescue groups and all of the dogs and cats were taken out, given good veterinary care and then were placed in homes.

Upon hearing the news of PETA’s splendid accomplishment, Supreme Master Ching Hai shed tears of gladness and gratitude and made a US$15,000 contribution to the group for this rescue project, along with a letter of thanks to Ingrid Newkirk and her organization. Ms. Newkirk was deeply touched by Supreme Master Ching Hai’s letter and gift.

I’m very grateful because this will help a lot of animals. A lot of animals will be spared suffering because we will put these funds to good use. So we are very grateful to Master Ching Hai, as always.

Also during 2010 Ingrid Newkirk traveled to India with the goal of bettering the lives of animals in South Asia, and in early December took time from her busy schedule to send Supreme Master Ching Hai a message about her trip. The following is a brief excerpt from her note:

Dear Lovely, Inspiring Woman, I do hope you are well. Thank you for the recent award and for caring so deeply about our work. We couldn’t do it without you. Here is a little report on my trip to Animal Rahat and PETA India a few weeks ago that I hope you will find interesting. It is wonderful to be able to provide tangible assistance to so many dear souls. There is much more to write, so if there’s anything you would like me to elaborate on, please just say, as we are grateful that you care about all the animals.

Retiring animals or giving them a peaceful release: Below are our joyously happy rescued brick kiln donkeys, enjoying life for the first time, in the pretty Nilgiri Hills, total heaven, nothing they could have thought existed, given their lousy lives. We have rescued street dogs, as you can see, dogs who were starving and are now fabulously happy and can run and jump and be loved!

And please see our lovely dog, Rosie, whose best pal in the world is Rani Jane, a donkey. I can honestly say that these poor animals would be lost without PETA and Animal Rahat, and we would be lost without your support. Thank you so very much for caring about them. With kind regards and gratitude, Ingrid

Under Ingrid Newkirk’s loving and careful guidance, PETA is ever vigilant in safeguarding the well-being of animals in all areas of life.

Well, we're always working on undercover investigations inside laboratories. We're working also with a number of schools to replace use of animals in dissection and live animals in the classroom. And we're working a lot with medical training programs to replace the use of animals with sophisticated simulators.

We're doing the research, we're testifying in front of government committees. We are presenting documentation on why animal testing isn't effective for protecting people, let alone the fact that it's incredibly cruel. So we're always going to international scientific conferences; we deal with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) a lot to get them to incorporate non-animal testing methods into their guidelines.

And are a lot of companies incorporating these non-animal testing methods?

They are. They're doing it because it's faster to use non-animal methods. It's a lot cheaper and with animal tests you can manipulate the results any way you want. If you want to show that something is harmful, you can show that it's harmful. If you want to show that it's safe, you can show that it's safe. The non-animal methods are much more sophisticated. You use human cells and you don't have all the issues that you have when you're subjecting an animal in a laboratory to fear and stress and pain and terror.

In early 2011 Ms. Newkirk graciously invited Supreme Master Ching Hai to attend a special fund-raising event in California, USA to support PETA’s efforts to halt animal testing.

However, due to her busy schedule, Supreme Master Ching Hai was unable to attend, but asked our local Association members to go on her behalf, sending with them a further contribution of US$50,000 to PETA. Gift bags containing Supreme Master Ching Hai’s DVDs, her book “From Crisis to Peace: The Organic Vegan Way is the Answer,” an organic vegan diet recipe pamphlet, and other items were distributed at the event. Supreme Master Ching Hai also sent this lovely message to Ingrid Newkirk and the PETA staff:

With all my best wishes, gratitude, admiration, and love. I’m with you in spirit and prayers. My thanks to you, Ms. Ingrid and Amanda. You are angels manifested on Earth to protect defenseless beings and I pray God bless you all the time.
♥ ♥ Ching Hai

Upon receiving the donation, gifts and lovely note, Ms. Newkirk and the PETA staff were truly grateful for Supreme Master Ching Hai’s continued support of their benevolent work.

I want to thank Supreme Master Ching Hai from the bottom of my heart. I think that she is one of the most wonderful, kind people because her message is one of compassion. And there is no greater virtue in life than being kind.

So the fact that everyone who listens to her thinks twice about ever eating an animal, wearing an animal or using an animal frivolously, and may indeed go out and rescue animals and teach others to rescue animals in their own personal lives at the table, on their backs, in every way, it's a wonderful blessing to have Supreme Master's benevolence for animals. Thank you so much on behalf of everybody at PETA who works hard with the same message: Compassion, compassion, compassion.

May Heaven bless Ms. Ingrid Newkirk and all the other angels at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. We are sincerely thankful for their determination, their many victories for animal rights, and the countless, innocent, animals they have saved over the years. They truly are a guiding light of compassion in our world.

For more details on the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, please visit www.PETA.org

Kind viewers, thank you for joining us on our program. Coming up next is Enlightening Entertainment, after Noteworthy News, here on Supreme Master Television. May all beings on Earth enjoy everlasting freedom, dignity, and peace.