Tsesok Jamkyong Ling:

Sanctuary of Loving Kindness for Saving & Protecting Lives

Tsesok Jamkyong Ling:

Sanctuary of Loving Kindness for Saving & Protecting Lives

Life-release, or the saving of animals destined for slaughter, is practiced throughout the Buddhist world. All schools of Buddhism encourage individuals to not only refrain from harming beings, but also to actively save lives. Tibetan Buddhists practice “tsethar,” which translates as “life liberation.”

H.E. Lingtrul Rinpoche established Tsesok Jamkyong Ling, Sanctuary of Loving Kindness for Saving & Protecting Lives, in 2016, partnering with Goats R Us to care for and ensure the safety of the herds.

The owners and founders of Goats R Us, Terri and Aegon, have spent their lives saving and taking care of animals. Their family owns multiple ranches and over 10,000 goats that clear vegetation to prevent wildfires around the Bay Area. They provide our goats with a good home, experienced care, medical help, and the love they deserve — ensuring that they will live out happy and fulfilling lives in the picturesque hills of California.

Once a year, Rinpoche goes to a livestock auction to save goats and sheep destined for slaughter. These beings are often terrified, perhaps aware they are destined for the butcher’s blade. After Rinpoche ransom’s their lives, he blesses them and Goats R Us provides transportation back to one of their ranches. They live out the rest of their lives protecting the West Coast from wild fires. How wonderful!

Save a Goat!

Each goat we save costs approximately $200 to $300 USD, depending on auction rates. Donations go towards one large life release each year. Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, we’ve been able to save 4,599 lives (and counting) since 2016! Any amount, matched with the vast aspiration to save all beings, goes toward saving a precious life. Please visit our donate page for more information on sponsoring a life.

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The Benefits of Saving Lives

“…freeing the lives of sentient beings who are certain to be killed is supreme among all types of longevity practices. For this reason and because freeing lives brings immeasurable benefits, all sensible people should increase their efforts to free lives.”

— Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo

Read the full text of Jamyang Khentse Wangpo’s terma, Increasing Life and Prosperity.

“Together with a growing appreciation of the importance of human rights there is a greater awareness worldwide of the need for the protection not only of the environment, but also of animals and their rights. Where there is a mind, there are feelings such as pain, pleasure and joy. No sentient being wants pain, instead all want happiness. Since we all share these feelings at some basic level, we as rational human beings have an obligation to contribute in whatever way we can to the happiness of other species and try our best to relieve their fears and sufferings.”

— His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

“Nothing is as dear to someone as his or her own life, so there is no greater crime than taking life away, and no conditioned virtue brings greater merit than the act of saving beings and ransoming their lives.

The benefit of doing so is beyond imagining.
This is the best practice for your own longevity,
And the greatest ritual for the living or deceased. It is my main practice of benefitting others.”