Careless Harm?

minimayhen88

Does careless harm towards oneself (harm as a result of carelessness), go against the first precept of harmlessness/non-violence?

with kindness x

person

The severity of the results of our actions depends on various factors:

-Our intention or motivation - the intention is the most important aspect by far, as karma is mainly connected to the intention of the action, be it positive or negative.
-The nature of the action: obviously, gossiping is less severe than killing.
-The actual deed: whether we kill in self-defence or sadistically torture someone to death does make a difference, usually this directly related to intention.
-The basis or object: it does make a difference whether we kill our mother or an ant.
-Repetition; how often do we repeat the action, which reinforces the habit, and makes even killing feel less negative.
-Doing the reverse: if we always behave negatively to others and never try to do any good, consequences will be severe.

How we experience the result of an actions does depend on our other actions in life. For example, if we experience the result of being hungry for a day, there is a huge difference whether we experience this as a malnourished person in a hopeless situation, or as a healthy fast for an obese person.

http://viewonbuddhism.org/karma.html

So what this is saying is that since intention is the most important factor a careless act does have some karmic effect but that its not very severe compared to an intentional act.

If you're talking about unknowingly stepping on an ant I think this applies. If you're talking about accidentally cutting yourself while cooking I'm not so sure.

minimayhen88

^Thank you for your loveley informative answer .... I was wondering a similar thing:

"If you're talking about accidentally cutting yourself while cooking I'm not so sure."

This was kind of what I was pondering about? If anyone has a response, I would be most greatful.

ThailandTom

How can accidently cutting yourself whilst making food be in any way in violation of a precept? Firstly, even if it was there will be no god to smite you off of the face of the earth, and secondly there is absolutley so intention of violence here. If you are cooking a meal which has no meat products to feed yourself or others and your cut yourself by mistake, well that is just a mistake...

minimayhen88

I guess I'm thinking more in terms of repetition of a careless act of harm, such as if you were nursing an injury for example, and .... you repeatedly put strain upon that injury .... in a careless, self-inconsiderate manner .... would that be a violation of the first precept?

Sorry I had little time to elaborate upon my question the other day ... it was just something I was pondering about....and was wondering what your opinions might be

*The basis of my question was what do buddhists define as 'violational harm'
x

federica

'violational', or 'volitional'.....? :scratch:

person

'violational', or 'volitional'.....? :scratch:

Important point. The Buddhist thing is volitional harm, meaning intent. Violational harm is a totatlly different meaning and not what is meant.

minimayhen88

Sorry, okay ignore what I said before! Just to clarify I meant...

'What (in the context of Buddhism) would be defined as an action - that violates (goes against) the First Precept of Harmlessness to oneself and others?'

For instance .... Would the repetition, of a careless act of harm (e.g. Such as if you were nursing an injury...and you repeatedly put strain upon that injury .... in a careless, self-inconsiderate manner) - go against the spririt of the First Precept??

Would be greatful of your opinions / any references you can find, in relation to this question. Hopefully this makes sense, it was something I have been pondering over this week while sat on the bus to work!!

x

person

I've heard it taught that karma can be generated out of ignorance. Maybe carelessness in this context?

For example walking down the street or digging in a ground one can unknowingly kill insects. Supposedly there is some level of karma that is generated by these actions. Though as per my first post such karma would be very light.

So if that's true maybe it would be true of an accidental injury to yourself, idk.

Such a thing would be very minor and if true we are always generating such karma just by being alive. So I wouldn't worry much about it, just try your best to be more mindful.

Dakini

Hey, it's mini! Mini's back!

"If you're talking about accidentally cutting yourself while cooking I'm not so sure."

This was kind of what I was pondering about? If anyone has a response, I would be most greatful.

Accidents are accidents--there's no volition involved (you mean: volitional harm, not "violational"). But accidents occur due to lack of mindfulness, so it's a reminder to be more mindful.

I suppose you could analyze deeper, and ask if there's a subconscious neurotic need to do harm to self, if someone's accident prone, or something, and interpret that as some kind of volition, but I think that's stretching it.