My Bad Karma for squashing bugs

bookworm

I'll tell you a true story about my bad karma as a result of squashing insects as a child and even continuing to squash insects as a teenager. Now that i am a young adult in my early 20's about less then a year ago i found Buddhism and have been studying and meditating, i bave been following the precepts and so I stopped squashing insects. Now as a result of my bad karma i live in an apartment that is completely infested with roaches that constantly bite me every night and swarm me while in meditation and bite really hard which makes meditation very difficult and i also have trouble sleeping at night because of it and now i no longer squash insects i let them bite me even in meditation it makes me i would say i got exactly what i deserve and i except that

I asked the landlord if there are any roaches in the other apartments and there are none i am the only tenant that has the infestation out of over a hundred people that live in the building, and that made me realize that karma is real it made me feel an almost religious awe when i realized this is happening to me because of my hatred of insects and i'm still living with them at least until i decide find a new apartment.

robot

It's unlikely if not impossible that yours is the only unit in the building with roaches. They don't work that way. If it's true, then it has more to do with your level of cleanliness than karma.

vinlyn

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

bookworm

No i don't think so i lived in many apartments before and i always kept my apartment clean but never had this issue before

robot

Roaches will move to the food source. If your apartment is spotless, they might come exploring but they won't infest. They will go to the next unit where there is stuff to eat laying around.

vinlyn

bookworm said:

No i don't think so i lived in many apartments before and i always kept my apartment clean but never had this issue before

Having lived in the D.C. area where we had small cockroaches, and Thailand where we had huge cockroaches, any idea that one single living unit will have roaches while the adjoining ones will be free of them is nonsense.

bookworm

You can rationalize it as much as you want but i think otherwise and i just might be right but ok if thats what you think then thats what you think

robot

It's not magic. What you might find is that there is a neigbour whose place is a pigstye and is breeding them there. They are simply spreading to your place. Make sure there is no food out and zero crumbs anywhere.

vinlyn

Rationalizing is in the eye of the beholder.

But if you want to hang there hopelessly and let the roaches eat you...so be it.

robot

Also, when you move, you are going to have to be super diligent about making sure they don't come with you. Throw your couch away. Probably your box spring too.

bookworm

Its not nearly as bad now the landlord called pest control and most of the insects are gone but my belief stands i believe Karma played a role here maybe i'm right or maybe i'm wrong either way i'll never know

bookworm

robot said:

Also, when you move, you are going to have to be super diligent about making sure they don't come with you. Throw your couch away. Probably your box spring too.

Thanks for the advice @robot

robot

That was fast.

bookworm

I'm not really superstitious but i do believe in the super natural

robot

bookworm said:

I'm not really superstitious but i do believe in the super natural

That's cool, but the roaches don't. They are tenacious, uncaring little bastards. Not spiritual at all.
I had them when I was young. The landlady thought they were coming from our place. Later she got into the guy down the hall's unit. It was absolutely full of them. When we moved, guess what? The bugs came too.
It didn't really matter that much. By the time our lease was up on the new place, there wasn't much left of it anyway. Why would anyone rent to teenagers?

bookworm

i actually been living with it for a while the landlord took care of the bugs a few weeks ago i didn't do anything about it he just found out Anyway i read that when you sit on a chair comfortably it is because of you cultivated enough good Karma in your previous life or present one that you are able to enjoy sitting on a chair I take the belief of Karma quite literally in every comfort or displeasure that i feel in life is the result of Karma

misterCope

I'm not totally sure that karma works like that.

Good luck, though!

vinlyn

bookworm said:

Its not nearly as bad now the landlord called pest control and most of the insects are gone but my belief stands i believe Karma played a role here maybe i'm right or maybe i'm wrong either way i'll never know

You know, you can't have it both ways. In another simultaneous thread you just said, "Its not its nowhere near as bad, the bad karma you get for killing a bug is like dropping a cube of salt in the ganges river."

bookworm

vinlyn said:

bookworm said:

Its not nearly as bad now the landlord called pest control and most of the insects are gone but my belief stands i believe Karma played a role here maybe i'm right or maybe i'm wrong either way i'll never know

You know, you can't have it both ways. In another simultaneous thread you just said, "Its not its nowhere near as bad, the bad karma you get for killing a bug is like dropping a cube of salt in the ganges river."

I squashed a lot of bugs in my life and eaten a lot of seafood, who knows maybe my ganges river is starting to taste salty metaphorically speaking

lobster

bookworm said:

I'm not really superstitious but i do believe in the super natural

I am super natural and don't believe in superstition (. . . also all the insects you killed say 'hi, thanks for the opportunity to move on' . . . well not in those words . . .)

Why not be pro-active and do something nice for insects?
http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/curiosity/topics/10-most-important-insects.htm

bookworm

You are right lobster i actually feed them on occasion when i see some every now and then (=

bookworm

vinlyn said:

bookworm said:

Its not nearly as bad now the landlord called pest control and most of the insects are gone but my belief stands i believe Karma played a role here maybe i'm right or maybe i'm wrong either way i'll never know

You know, you can't have it both ways. In another simultaneous thread you just said, "Its not its nowhere near as bad, the bad karma you get for killing a bug is like dropping a cube of salt in the ganges river."

this is great info and it elaborates it in better detail if you are interested @vinlyn

http://sdhammika.blogspot.com/2010/03/kamma-and-dhamma-of-killing-bed-bugs.html

lobster

bookworm said:

You are right lobster i actually feed them on occasion when i see some every now and then

Excellent some of my relatives will be well pleased . . .
http://uk.ask.com/question/are-lobsters-related-to-cockroaches

I will ask Khepri about taking you off the 'bugged list' . . .
:crazy:

OM YA HA HUMMMMMMMMM

Cinorjer

bookworm said:

I'll tell you a true story about my bad karma as a result of squashing insects as a child and even continuing to squash insects as a teenager. Now that i am a young adult in my early 20's about less then a year ago i found Buddhism and have been studying and meditating, i bave been following the precepts and so I stopped squashing insects. Now as a result of my bad karma i live in an apartment that is completely infested with roaches that constantly bite me every night and swarm me while in meditation and bite really hard which makes meditation very difficult and i also have trouble sleeping at night because of it and now i no longer squash insects i let them bite me even in meditation it makes me i would say i got exactly what i deserve and i except that

I asked the landlord if there are any roaches in the other apartments and there are none i am the only tenant that has the infestation out of over a hundred people that live in the building, and that made me realize that karma is real it made me feel an almost religious awe when i realized this is happening to me because of my hatred of insects and i'm still living with them at least until i decide find a new apartment.

Please have the landlord come over to verify and treat your insect problem, if it really exists. First, cockroaches very rarely bite. Second, no these bugs do not focus on one apartment but spread out through the walls and it's impossible to be infested like you say and not have the entire building under siege, even if you deliberately brought them in and fed them. Third, karma does not work that way. Period. Karma is not some cosmic revenge script from a bad horror movie. The fact that you accept this as real and deserved is most troubling. If you have any family or friends, please talk to them about this.

riverflow

@bookworm :

I wouldn't speculate much at all on killing insects = now I'm living in a cockroach-infested place as "karmic payback." Karma in Buddhism is less an explanation for how things currently are and more as a method to recognize that one's actions right NOW matter, and so it can help one take more response-ability for one's own life. The real question is not what you did in the past, but what are you going to do right now?

The precepts are not commandments but a way of raising your awareness of suffering caused by certain harmful actions. But they are not absolutes-- because life has a way of being a far messier than our lofty abstract ideals. This does not mean that the precepts are relative either.

I had a plague-- literally a plague of flies descend upon my loft apartment. Normally, I would live and let live and try to let a fly or two out if I could. But one summer it got so bad and they started to reproduce! I finally decided to get flypaper-- I regretted it, but I had to do it (and I would do it all over again if I were in a similar situation). Was I following the precepts? No. But I was very well aware of the suffering-- mine as well as the poor flies-- the suffering in which we were BOTH participating. Whatever consequences are mine to bear if there are any.

But karma shouldn't be reduced to a debilitating fatalism or any "woulda-coulda-shoulda" or any guilt for past actions. I think karma and the precepts can be understood in a more skillful way in connection to daily practice-- as something empowering instead.

federica

Moderator note:
Several off-topic, argumentative and provocative posts removed.
Members are reminded to refrain from being rude to the OP - whatever the topic - by peppering their thread with pointless tit-for-tat arguments.

As normal, this does not require a response, and is not up for discussion.

David

I don't really want to be the one to state the obvious here, but it sounds more like bedbugs than cockroaches... Roaches want your food and land, not your blood.

vinlyn

From Orkin: "Cockroaches are not likely to bite living humans, except perhaps in cases of extreme infestations where cockroach population are large, especially when food becomes limited. In most situations, cockroaches would not bite humans if there are other food sources such as in garbage cans or exposed food. When cockroach numbers are left unchecked, the population may outgrow the normal food sources. Once the food becomes limited, the cockroaches will be forced to forage more and on things they would not normally consume. Ordinarily, pest control would be contacted before the populations reach these levels.

The most serious cases of cockroaches biting humans have been on ships. It has been documented that some cockroaches on seafaring vessels have become so numerous that they gnawed the skin and nails of those on board. Some sailors even reported wearing gloves so that the cockroaches would not be able to bite their fingers."

however, @Ourself, I was thinking what you were thinking. I suggest the OP Google for photos of bedbug bites.

bookworm

I know what roaches look like they are black or a dark brownish red i'm not dumb and @vinlyn i read the article where you got that from

vinlyn

We're not saying you're dumb. You could have cockroaches PLUS bedbugs, and bedbugs are often much more difficult to spot as they often only come out in the dark.

Chrysalid

I can think of a couple of flaws with your reasoning. Firstly, letting cockroaches breed in your apartment is going to mean them spreading to the rest of the building and in doing so spreading disease and suffering to your neighbours, not a good source of positive karma there.
Secondly, karma is action/inaction and it's consequences. You're not going to negate your negative karma by enduring cockroach bites, if anything your action is unwise and founded on feelings of guilt, so in cultivating these negative attitudes/unwise actions you're just accruing more negative karma.

Chaz

A "safe" bug remover ....

http://www.tibetantreasures.com/Gift_Ideas-Safe_Bug_Remover.html

footiam

bookworm said:

I'll tell you a true story about my bad karma as a result of squashing insects as a child and even continuing to squash insects as a teenager. Now that i am a young adult in my early 20's about less then a year ago i found Buddhism and have been studying and meditating, i bave been following the precepts and so I stopped squashing insects. Now as a result of my bad karma i live in an apartment that is completely infested with roaches that constantly bite me every night and swarm me while in meditation and bite really hard which makes meditation very difficult and i also have trouble sleeping at night because of it and now i no longer squash insects i let them bite me even in meditation it makes me i would say i got exactly what i deserve and i except that

I asked the landlord if there are any roaches in the other apartments and there are none i am the only tenant that has the infestation out of over a hundred people that live in the building, and that made me realize that karma is real it made me feel an almost religious awe when i realized this is happening to me because of my hatred of insects and i'm still living with them at least until i decide find a new apartment.

Sometimes, this kind of karma can be overcome by keeping the place clean.

JoyfulGirl

I seriously think that you must be very enlightened to have a karmic reaction that fast. I don't think you should get too attached and pay too much attention to this situation. You can make a decision to get rid of the bugs or move to another place. I have killed many insects in my life, I try not to do it anymore. I mostly kill moscitos because I get very bad rash from them.

bookworm

JoyfulGirl said:

I seriously think that you must be very enlightened to have a karmic reaction that fast. I don't think you should get too attached and pay too much attention to this situation. You can make a decision to get rid of the bugs or move to another place. I have killed many insects in my life, I try not to do it anymore. I mostly kill moscitos because I get very bad rash from them.

Hey thanks @joyfulGirl I still think i have a long way to go before i am enlightened but but the strange thing is ever since i first got into buddhism and have been meditating the insects have started to appear and acted really aggressive towards me for a while, now i feel as though i have exhausted my negative karma with the insects

and now i have been able sleep a lot better and i can comfortably meditate and i have stopped worrying about it they finally stopped biting me they are mostly gone now so i feel a lot better

lobster

and now i have been able sleep a lot better and i can comfortably meditate and i have stopped worrying about it they finally stopped biting me they are mostly gone now so i feel a lot better

Good news. You have made your peace.

bookworm

lobster said:

and now i have been able sleep a lot better and i can comfortably meditate and i have stopped worrying about it they finally stopped biting me they are mostly gone now so i feel a lot better

Good news. You have made your peace.

Its hard to put into words on how i got though this, but all that matters is everything is good now. I created my own hell from the start by constantly fighting it and feeling like i deserved this, after i made my peace and all my mental anguish and my resentment towards my situation finally disappeared, and thank you lobster (=