Cattle and poultry in Amit’a’s paradise?

Since the turn of the twenty-first century, South Korean Buddhist temples have been holding rituals for deceased animals. This movement was spurred on by the mass culling conducted to contain epidemics in the 2010s. These animals’ bad death facilitated their integration into a ritual intended for humans and helped legitimize ceremonies for animals in general. The article examines the links between human and animal destinies in Buddhism and describes a new practice that breaks with the orthodoxy: prayers for the rebirth of animals in Amit’a’s Paradise. In death, do animals remain animals?