Best Of
Re: Bugs bug me
I usually am successful with just keeping my place clean, not giving them thing to eat. Leaving the spiders alone in the corners outsources the killing to a degree too.
An honest infestation is difficult though. I've heard stories of the lengths monastics will go to when they have bug problems in their monasteries. At some point though it does become necessary to take more severe action. In those situations you can mitigate the karma through keeping as positive of an intention as possible and doing some purifying practices afterwards.
person
Re: New? Introduce Yourself to NB Members!
I think I might be one of the newest people on this site, why is everybody from 2012 😭
I joined because I wanted answers to my questions about Buddhism from real people in this age of ai and computers, I live in Washington and I'm in highschool (and I get concerned about telling people on the Internet my age so that's the best you're getting) I hope other people still use this bc I don't want to be alone 
Ning
Re: Bugs bug me
I've had hornets nests and I had them killed because they were a danger. Farming vegetables lots of insects are killed. I think you just prevent them coming in the future after you get rid of the infestation. And yes it's possible I'll return to birth as a hornet, but samsara is imperfect by definition
Jeffrey
Re: Good news
Ratus ratus to the rescue? But he was a giant rat. So not sure the designation....
lobster
Re: Bodhisattvas?
@Tavs said:
Are Bodhisattvas important to you or do you think the opposite and consider them irrelevant to your practice? Or somewhere in the middle?
Thank you for the question. Just some musings...
I am not well-acquainted with the 'requirements' for being considered an 'official' Bodhisattva, either in Theravada or Mahayana.
Maybe my personal definition would be someone that a) provokes in me and others a deeply wholesome sense of 'gimme some of that!' and b) provides tools that actually move me and others in that direction.
Since in offline life, with only a couple of exceptions, I am rather isolated in my spiritual meanderings (something to remedy), since I am mostly surrounded by decent but 'ordinary' people, and since the Buddha rightly said that good spiritual friends and mentors are the whole of the path, I consider such influences (whether from books or modern forms or people I meet and associate with) tremendously important in my development.
Finally, personally, I'd say that 'Bodhisattvahood' lies not in a binary distinction but on a continuum. Each one of us sometimes manifests 'Bodhisattva-action'. Some rarely, some often, and some (maybe) always. Each one of these 'Bodhisattva-actions' helps to lower aggregate suffering in the world and, maybe to some paradoxicaly, in self too. Great success!
I don't think that musing too much about the details of Bodhisattvahood is very helpful. One zen monk came to an elementary school and, in silence, wrote on the blackboard: 'Everyone wants to save the world, but no one wants to help mom with the dishes'. Let us 'help mom with the dishes' with cheer, this is Bodhisattva-action. It's a training, like in the gym. We practice over and over and over again, keeping failing but slowly hitting the mark closer and more often, and slowly 'move up'.
marcitko
Re: Space - the final frontier
Some fantastic images of the moon and Earth from the Artemis 2 mission.
person
