To the Government of Bhutan and Law Makers of Bhutan,

We, the concerned citizens and devotees of the Dharma, write today with heavy hearts and revived urgency. Our government’s recent passage of a bill to establish and fully support a mega animal slaughterhouse has compelled us to raise our voices once more. This act betrays the very spiritual foundation upon which our nation is built.

Our Constitution declares: “Buddhism is the spiritual heritage of Bhutan, which promotes the principles and values of peace, non-violence, compassion and tolerance.” This new law stands in direct and violent contradiction to that sacred declaration.

Our Core Concerns and Plea:

This is Against Our Dharma and a Desecration of Sacred Land: An industrial slaughterhouse systematises the violation of the First Precept. It is a state-sanctioned machine for generating immense suffering and catastrophic collective karma. As a Buddhist nation, we must remember that trading in flesh was explicitly condemned by the Buddha as wrong livelihood.

Moreover, we must recognise a profound truth: Bhutan itself is an altar. There is not a mountain, forest, or river that has not been blessed by Guru Rinpoche and countless enlightened beings. Our entire landscape is a sacred realm, a shrine room of the nation. To install a machine for mass killing upon this consecrated land is not merely unwise; it is a spiritual desecration. It would be like building a slaughterhouse inside a temple. We cannot allow our blessed soil, our very field of merit, to be polluted in this way.

We Are Inviting Pandemics Into Our Home: We cannot ignore the clear lessons of recent global suffering. Avian flu, swine flu, COVID-19—these pandemics were born in the hellish conditions of mass animal farms. By establishing this facility, we are not achieving self-sufficiency; we are constructing a breeding ground for the next global disease. We are willingly endangering the health of every Bhutanese family for the sake of meat.

We Are Disregarding Our Own Spiritual Authority: This move dismisses the heartfelt petition of our own Zhung Dratshang and the whispers of conscience in our communities. It signals that our government values temporary commerce over eternal spiritual law.

We Are Poisoning Our Own Land: This project will degrade our pristine environment, pollute our waters, and contribute to the climate crisis that threatens our mountains and valleys. It sacrifices our environmental heritage for a fleeting economic gain.

We Are Sabotaging Our Future and Our Global Standing: At the very moment we host global peace prayers and embark on our largest-ever investment in a Mindfulness Project, we pass a law funding mass killing. This is a devastating contradiction.

How can we, in good conscience, invite revered Buddhist masters to invest in a nation that invests in slaughter? This hypocrisy will smother the Gelephu Mindfulness Project before it can breathe. It tells the world our prayers for peace are empty and our commitment to Gross National Happiness is a hollow slogan.

We, the undersigned, implore our leaders to see the profound danger of this path. True national happiness and security cannot be forged in blood and disease.

Our Respectful Demands to Our Government:
We petition our leaders to:

Immediately and permanently revoke the recently passed slaughterhouse bill.
Terminate all plans for industrialized animal slaughter and processing.
Redirect our nation’s ingenuity and resources toward compassionate, sustainable, and healthy food security that aligns with our Buddhist values.
Protect the integrity of the sacred reputation of our Buddhist kingdom.

We believe in a Bhutan that leads the world in compassion, not in killing. We choose the path of the Buddha over the path of the slaughterhouse. We pray our government will join us in that choice.

With hope and unwavering faith in our Dharma,