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Killing, false speech, sex misconduct
Buddhism phobits killing. But I found out that sometimes if we don't kill, that animal or insect will kill us. Take Aedes mosquitos or cockroaches for example, these insects can cause dengue, malaria....or stuff like that. Sometimes its just unavoidable.
Take fishermans for example. They live near the sea. There is NO OTHER jobs for them, and they still need to take care of their family. So they can only go and catch fishes. About the butchers, I don't think they REALLY wanted that job, rather because they have no other talents or jobs. But the Buddha pointed that butchers and people like this will fall into the Avici Hell after death. I feel bad, and at the same time compassionate to these fishermen and butchers. Isnt there any explanation to this?
About the " Do not indulge in false speech" precept in the 5 Precepts, sometimes its also hard and unaviodable. Sometimes you need to lie to protect yourself, or not to make people feel bad about you.
About the sexual misconduct, same as the point up there, if there is a woman who is forced to be a prostitude, which means ( *ahem), sex misconduct is created. But I don't think that is WHAT she wanted.
Sometimes its not hard to follow these precepts, but the circumstances does not allows one to do so. Thoughts?
Take fishermans for example. They live near the sea. There is NO OTHER jobs for them, and they still need to take care of their family. So they can only go and catch fishes. About the butchers, I don't think they REALLY wanted that job, rather because they have no other talents or jobs. But the Buddha pointed that butchers and people like this will fall into the Avici Hell after death. I feel bad, and at the same time compassionate to these fishermen and butchers. Isnt there any explanation to this?
About the " Do not indulge in false speech" precept in the 5 Precepts, sometimes its also hard and unaviodable. Sometimes you need to lie to protect yourself, or not to make people feel bad about you.
About the sexual misconduct, same as the point up there, if there is a woman who is forced to be a prostitude, which means ( *ahem), sex misconduct is created. But I don't think that is WHAT she wanted.
Sometimes its not hard to follow these precepts, but the circumstances does not allows one to do so. Thoughts?
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"Mindfulness trainings are practices, not prohibitions. They do not restrict our freedom. They protect us, guarantee our liberty, and prevent us from getting entangled in difficulties and confusion. When we fail, we lift ourselves up and try again to do our best. In fact, we can never succeed one hundred percent. The mindfulness trainings are like the North Star. If we want to travel north, we can use the North Star to guide us, but we never expect to arrive at the North Star."
"In every country in the world, killing human beings is condemned. The Buddhist training to practice non-killing extends even further, to include all living beings. However, no one, not even a Buddha or a bodhisattva, can practice this mindfulness training to perfection. When we take a small step or boil a cup of water, we kill many tiny living beings. The essence of this training is to make every effort to respect and protect life, to continuously move in the direction of peace and reconciliation. We can try our best, even if we cannot succeed one hundred percent."
By the way, welcome to the Sangha, Prajna-Satori.
Just another thought, isn't Buddha the Perfected, Awakened One?
Tantrikas realise that to refrain from killing the efflorescence of their enlightened nature is simultaneously possible and impossible. It is possible, because they are enlightened from beginninglessness; but it is impossible because they may lack confidence in the non-dual state. Because of this ambivalence, they develop confidence in the non-dual state through sustaining awareness of the pain and suffering caused by killing in all its manifestations. Their understanding of this is always present. Tantrikas understand that it is impossible to disconnect from killing. They understand that it is so, simply because they have human bodies. They recognise that to have a body, and to exist, is to cause death. From this knowledge they establish compassionate connections with everyone and everything everywhere. Tantrikas recognise that to walk across fields is to kill insects. They recognise that to light a fire to keep warm is to kill beings, and that eating bread makes them responsible, in part, for the death of field mice. They understand that to use medicines is to kill organisms and bacteria. They recognise that plant life has sentience, and that sentience may exist within phenomena in which sentience cannot be perceived. Through this knowledge they know that is impossible to be 'pure' or disconnected from killing. They realise that it is impossible to ‘transcend’ their situation as a potential killers, merely by enacting purist physical regimes or purist dietary policies. They understand that to live is to cause death, and that this fact cannot be avoided. They recognise that there is no external method for disconnecting themselves from the causes of death; and that the only possibility of practise is to generate compassion when awareness arises of any cause of death. They know that because it is impossible to be pure, that it is also impossible to judge others from the standpoint of purity. They know that if they cannot judge others according to purity and impurity then all trace of religious bigotry is abandoned. They delight in the knowledge that the avoidance of bigotry restores the joy of practice. Knowing they cannot be ‘pure’ according to the ‘relative purist rationale’ dissolves all boundaries with regard to compassion. The knowledge that one’s physical existence is in itself the act of killing imbues tantrikas with the pervasive motivation to avoid harming other beings wherever possible. This knowledge also encourages the dynamic of alleviating suffering wherever it is found according to capacity, circumstances, and appropriate juncture. Tantrikas extend themselves to other to the extent of their ability, and without abuse to the continuity of their own worthwhile existence. Tantrikas attempt to commit themselves to experiencing bodhicitta at every opportunity, in order to create connections with whatever they eat, drink, or wear. They commit themselves to a non-aggressive way of life. Whether their style of taking sustenance is carnivorous, vegetarian, vegan, or fruitarian; they commit themselves to refraining from aggression by way of act, word, or attitude to those who derive sustenance according to contrasting considerations. Each style of deriving nourishment is linked with a form of expressing chang-chub sem (byang chub sems – bodhicitta) active-compassion according to the different vehicles, and so they commit themselves to adopting whatever style accords with the integrity of their perception as tantrikas.
Palzang
our own internal bodies generate antibodies against germs and our white blood cells kill microbes and other invaders, so yes it is actually impossible to not "kill" unless we are dead. Although, perhaps the battle rages inside for some time while we rot down.
cheers
But for the butchers, they have their own words to say too! I mean, if they are given the choice, of course they dont will to kill and see blood everyday! Some Buddhist point to butchers and say," you are sure to go to hell when you die because all of your killings" I dont think its that wise, Amitabha.
I hope I make myself clear. I'm still a rookie. My explanation actually rolls down the hill.
I believe that it is a misconception to say that these things are completely unavoidable. In the present, there is always a choice of what we can do with what our past actions and random occurrences present to us—and our intentions play an important part in this decision-making process. For example, if we view our lives as being more important than that of any animal or insect, then we might make the choice to end their lives because they can possibly end ours, they cause us some amount of irritation, or in order to feed our families—although we can always choose to abstain from killing. The same holds true for all of the other precepts.
What we often feel is unavoidable is just our way of saying to ourselves, "I don't like the thought of doing the opposite." Quite often, we may feel forced to make a particular decision, however, when we are completely honest with ourselves and look closely, we will see that even though we are conditioned to lean towards making certain choices, we can always go against the stream and make choices that are free from greed, hatred, and delusion. The Buddha's instructions to his son Rahula (MN 61) express how one should train themselves in order to purify their intentions—and consequentially, to purify their actions of body, speech, and mind as well.
While we are asked by the Buddha to cultivate loving-kindness, compassion, and sympathetic joy, we are also asked to practice equanimity—the even-mindedness that remains neutral in the face of experiences that we cannot change. The fact of the matter is, bad things can and will happen in this world. The world, by its very nature, cannot be perfect; therefore, we must understand the complex process of conditionality as well as the limitations of living beings. As dharmaguy mentioned, the precepts are more like guidelines than commandments, however, they are guidelines that we are strongly encouraged to follow for an important reason.
It is not by killing, stealing, lying, committing sexual misconduct, or taking intoxicants that we can put an to end suffering; it is by abstaining from these actions that we are able to develop the path of practice that will. The idea is not that we can become perfect human beings in the sense that we will never do anything harmful, but that our intentions will be freed from the influences of greed, hatred, and delusion. Our bodies will still continue to fight off diseases and infections even if we are fully enlightened; however, this is not because we are actively trying to harm these microscopic creatures, but because the immune system is doing its job.
Jason
It is mentioned in various teachings that if you have a profession which involves the hurt, repression or death of other beings - you might want to find another profession.
I guess it just depends on how serious you want to be about it. Just saying, "Oh dear me!, I'm a butcher than that's that!" and never thinking about it again - really doesn't seem to reflect any sort of remorse or desire to truly change.
-bf
Few books are more calculated to put you off meat than The Jungle!
What is so heartbreaking about the book, and moved Teddy Roosevelt to action, is the description of the life of the immigrants who worked in the yards. The only alternative was to starve. That is the truth about the lives of the vast majority of people in the world: they do they work that they do, with all the degrading, disgusting, health-destroying conditions that obtain, with no real alternative.
And this was the society which the Aryan invaders of India imposed: the caste system with a large volume of 'untouchables' who provided infrastructure labour. The doctrine of karma which promises better in another life and a view of the current life as payment for previous ones supports such a system with divine decree, particularly in the later, 'Hindu' system.
Society needs a workforce which is so poor that they can be tied to the jobs that, richer, they would refuse to do. An omnivorous society needs butchers. If there is 'karmic debt' or consequences, they must, surely, be societal rather than individual at that point.
Palzang