If I ever felt compelled to “choose” a religion or spiritual path–to “call myself something”–I would choose Buddhism, with aspirations (actually, I already have the aspirations) to become a bodhisattva. It seems to me (and I’ve said this here before, no doubt) that no one follows the teachings of Jesus more closely than a Buddhist who sees compassion as the ultimate good.
But I have two no-doubt very basic and oft-asked questions for people who understand Buddhism better than I do, and I thought that I might get some useful answers if I just posted them here. Here they are:
(1) I guess I have a natural tendency toward ahimsa; I literally will not swat a mosquito or a flea, even if it’s in the process of biting me. It’s not even really a decision I make–I just can’t do it.
However, I have run into problems with this. The last place I lived in had mice–LOTS of mice, as we lived on the ground floor and it was an old building built like a sieve. At one point we also had mosquitoes in the house–a lot of mosquitoes, which somehow survived and thrived inside through a New Jersey winter. It was truly bizarre, but I still had a huge problem with bringing in an exterminator, or spraying pesticides. Still, it obviously wasn’t healthy.
So my question would be this: what would a truly committed Buddhist have done? Where does one draw the line? Is there really a point at which my own comfort comes before the right of another creature to exist? It’s a very serious question, although I suppose there will be those who laugh at it.
(2) Buddhist teaching (like Jesus’ teaching) suggests that we have unconditional compassion for all, without judgement, and with the sense that the most difficult people in our lives should be appreciated as our greatest teachers.
Elsewhere, though, it’s suggested that we avoid the company of those who might not be “good influences” on us. How is this reconciled? If I know someone who may possibly benefit from my help, or may simply be lonely or in need, but that person disturbs me to the point where it makes it difficult for me to meditate and live in a way that will benefit my own spiritual development, what do I do? My guess is that it has something to do with figuring out what it is in ME that’s causing the problem and allowing the person to have what seems to be an ill effect on me, but I’d like to hear others’ responses.
Both questions have been bothering me for quite some time, so any guidance will be greatly appreciated (of course, you don’t have to be a Buddhist to answer!).
Thanks.
Not a Buddhist, of course–but you don’t mind. Let me expand your question. Where do we draw the line? If we spare the mosquito, why don’t we spare the cabbage? Buddhists draw the line above the vegetable kingdom presumably because they don’t believe that vegetables have souls that needs time to develop in this dimension and therefore, kicking them back to be reborn, we obstruct their natural development. But the life process is essentiall the same at all levels; the most innocent level is the vegetative: it uses only sunlight. Everything above that level destroys something living to live. The Buddhist logic, therefore, has to be that we shouldn’t eat things that have souls. The only difference, presumably, between an e-coli and me, is that I know that I’m killing to eat but the e-coli doesn’t yet. But we don’t know that for sure.
What you (or anyone) is up against here is a problem of explaining what we’re doing here and why? What purpose does this dimension serve? If one of its purposes is soul-development–but that soul-development requires that we eat other living things–it might make sense to spare (thus to prolong the development) of those already close to achieving something, like humans, and eating those living things that appear (to us, anyway) quite low in the the soul department. The Buddhist are more inclusive than westerners, exempting animal and insect life. We are most permissive, excluding only the human.
The only approach that might yield reasonable answers is to inquire into the purposes of this dimension (using your special gifts) and see what you get in response. The rock is that we must maintain ourselves somehow, the hard place is that we’ve got to consume the living. The Buddhist answer is a nice compromise…
I don’t mind at all, Arsen! It’s wonderful to hear from you.
I have come to see (or perhaps I always have) all creatures on the earth as equally engaged in “soul-development” (at various stages, of course), and also to see the concept of “hierarchy” of species in a different light. It’s occurred to me at times lately that many non-human creatures are in fact CLOSER to being in the state in which we all should ideally be than we are; their motives in everything they do are clear, and they exist in the natural state they were, it seems, meant to live in–free of malice, greed, etc. (of course, the natural state can be disrupted by outside factors…often human factors involving the aforementioned greed, malice, etc.). I “hear” a lot these days about the “Garden” (not an actual “place”, of course!), and, recently, something about “primordial order.”
As a vegetarian, I’m not so concerned about killing and eating other creatures in order to survive–clearly that’s not necessary except under extreme circumstances. But I do wonder about killing a creature (a mosquito is a great example) who can cause harm to me, or–more importantly–to my son.
And I also wonder about whether it’s a good thing when I try to “save” a creature. I live on the beach now, and when I take my walks I often see, for example, jellyfish and horseshoe crabs stranded at low tide. Often I’ll stop and put them back in the water, but sometimes there are so many that I wonder if I’m just upsetting the natural order of things by doing so. I’ve come to a kind of compromise where, if it seems that an unnatural circumstance has put the creature in danger (for example, I once found a butterfly whose wings had just gotten stuck in wet sand–that was an easy call!), I will try to help it. Other times it just bothers me too much to do nothing either way, so I do what I can.
And then I wonder in situations where it’s almost impossible for me NOT to kill something (as when I’m driving and I can’t swerve to avoid every bug!), if I might actually be acting as an agent that is pushing along the soul-development thing–perhaps for some creatures it’s just time for that release from the prison of the body and the opportunity to move on to something better (going kind of gnostic here, but everything that’s happened to me over the past 5 or so years has pointed to that idea of the body as a temporary and in many ways unwholesome temporary dwelling for the spirit-in-progress).
Whoa–I didn’t mean to go on for so long, but your response was very thought-provoking and relevant to much of what I’ve been thinking about!
Thank you so much for writing–
Nancy
Answer for question 1) I believe I’d choose humane traps for the mice and let them go in a place far from your building. As for the mosquitoes I would have to say hang tied sandwich bags of water in the doorways ( I know this works for flies so perhaps mosquitoes as well?) As for me I am not at that stage of compassion yet for the mosquitoes and would likely end up slapping at the ones who bit me.
Answer for question 2) I believe what is meant is that we should help all who we can and have compassion for all, but it would be wise to avoid those who can have negative influence if we are susceptible to be drawn in by it. If we have a strong concept of who we are and our beliefs then it is more difficult to become prey to negative influences. But should we find ourselves in doubt or unsure it is prudent to retreat until we have solid conclusions.
Thank you! Your answer to the second question is especially helpful–that it’s “prudent to retreat” until we’re strong enough in our own convictions and sense of ourselves and what we feel is “right” to withstand “difficult” influences, and let it all go without allowing our egos to get too involved, either. I will definitely keep that in mind when those situations come up (and they come up fairly frequently…).
Thanks again!
Nancy