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Killing mosquitoes
I would like to hear what you -- any and all of you -- think about killing mosquitoes.
EM
EM
0
Comments
I must admit - I don't think I have that much patience... No bloodlust - just not that much patience to be Nature's Blood Bank.
Michael
I let him/her do their thing and go on their merry little way.
In the end I am happy to sustain their lives.
If you want to prevent them from biting you then maybe, instead of killing them, you could just wear insect repellent...
I must shyly admit that I often kill mosquitoes when I'm bitten. I swat away at first, but if they keep coming, my mind becomes clouded with anger and irritation and I react violently instead of compassionately. If you do kill them, at least watch what you're doing and try to learn from it. Learn what you're thinking when you do it, what your body feels like (symptoms of anger, etc.) when you do it, realize that this is their nature when you do it, etc. Make it a part of your practice.
Many times, when you realize the control emotions like anger have over you, you feel a sort of shame and a sense of wrongdoing (Pali, hiri and ottappa). These two mental qualities the Buddha calls the Guardians of the World. When killing these mosquitoes, be mindful and see what you learn, or conversely, when not killing these mosquitoes be mindful and see what you learn.
It was a 'she'; male mosquitoes don't bite. Females need the blood for their eggs. Now you know
Considering that malaria/west nile and other nasty things are carried by mosquitoes, you might actually be saving lifes by whacking them. I saw on Animal Planet the other night where mosquitoes are the #1 extreme killer, as the diseases they carry kill tens of thousands every year. So here is a case of the 'needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few...or the one." (had to throw that Star Trek reference in there!).
That being said, I got some cool pictures of mosquitoes I can show you. I work in an entomology department! (although I, myself, am not an entomologist).
Hello ECM
Funny you bring this up. Two things I was sitting in the zendo the other day and a cunning and deviant mosquito viciously attacked me!! I was about 20 minutes into a 1-hour zazen session and he bit me on the bottom of my foot. Ugh! I sat in complete agony for the rest of the time trying not to disturb the others but with murderous vengeance on my mind :rarr:
Later when I talked with my Zen teacher she said she would have swatted that _____ and paid the karmic price later (she is quite a gruff one :smilec: ).
Next on my vacation I was privileged (?) to witness a spectacle I would not have believed if I had not been there. On the way to the campsite we stopped to take pictures of a moose. In a hurry to get the shot we left the doors open to the jeep and when we returned there were (I am not kidding!) at least 500 mosquitoes inside. I guess they were attracted to the carbon dioxide we were breathing out still trapped in the jeep. Lets just say I a war of karma ensued and swats and bites abounded. Karma karma karma where will you take me now?
So I realize that I didn’t answer your question but I thought I would share that even when you are aware you cannot avoid all situations. Hmm maybe it was THEM who were bad in a former life and deserved the swat???!!??
^gassho^
I have to be honest here---I will smack the pesky things instead of brushing them aside. I have been bitten too many times to be compassionate to them. So, I guess I will have to just deal with the negative karma! LOL!
Adiana :smilec: :smilec:
That is the funniest thing I've read in a while. 'Specially what your teacher said!
Great story!! And I like to think that mosquitos were bad in a former life and that is why they are mosquitos now in this life. So it's ok to swat them. Teasing.......that is just my justification for swatting them! Actually, I really don't like killing any bugs, but I also don't want one of the many diseases that mosquitos carry, so I do swat them. Especially if they land on my daughter. Luckily, we don't have mosquito issues here, so I have not had to kill one yet this year.
Sounds funny to put it that way..but thats all they know. They are minding their own business and then "Smack!" Their dead.
Knowing they carry diseases and could very well kill you..makes me feel better about swating them. And It can save lives.
The sad part, they don't have any idea that they are such a pain and deadly. They must have had a baaaadd past life...
Which is disturbing because there are SOO many mosquitos in the world...
Where are you living that you don't have any mosquitoes?
ECM
Still, I do sometimes just swat the darn things! Other times I wave them off me ... over and over again. Once, a waved mosquito drifted over to my daughter and landed on her. She swatted it magnificently, then looked at me with a big smile and say's "I'M a Lutheran!!!!".
So maybe the moral of the story is to hang out with Christians!
No only joking i live in the City any way only thing i have to worry about is filed mice and a hawk that seem to come and eat the young birds out the back once in a while
One time I was in a wonderful practice center, and we had heard some great dharma talks, and we were slowly sitting down to prepare for another one, and I saw an older woman come in and almost step on a big bug on the floor. She didn't notice it. It was not that she wanted to step on it - she just didn't see it. And one of the monks went a bit crazy - really angry at the lady - and made a big deal about it in the way he responded- not using words, but exaggerated gestures and lots of angry energy. Thank goodness the lady never noticed. I t was almost like a comic strip. What do we see and what do we miss? If we don't see it, does it matter? How hard do we hold onto doctrine? What is more important, doctrine of no-killing bugs or the lady's feelings? Random musings...
E.
Nice to meet you!
E.
When it comes to critters like mosquitoes and ants, I prefer to avoid killing them and will go somewhat out of my way to do so. But if a mosquito lands on me with the intention of feeding, I will tend to defend myself against the potential deadly diseases carried by it. Similarly, I will if necessary have such pests removed from my home in as lethal a manner as necessary.
As a local monk recently said, "You can't not kill, and have to sort through these decisions as you go. If you remove a tick from a dog, it's good for the dog, but not so good for the tick."
I once took a 6-month set of vows that included not killing anything with intent, and made it the entire time without so much as swatting a mosquito. But I had a few very close moments in which a swatting hand or squishing foot had to be stopped at the screeching last moment.
And, of course, no snakes since Saint Patrick banished them! A wonderful myth for the victory of Christianity over 'paganism'.
Palzang
It could be karma, or it could be that you live in a place that has many mosquitoes, which in turn could be your karma yet not related to the mosquito you killed recently.
As for killing/not killing mosquitoes I have a mosquito-net window frame thingy. Though on occasion when one does get through I do usually kill or attempt to kill it. For context I'm a vegeterian. However I don't usually kill flies- there are few of those in my area and the ones that do get into my room I usually let out. The only exception is the blood-sucking fly.
If we see a tick approaching a dog what would/should we do to stop it? or should we?
I'm reading this thread and I'm thinking about nature's balance. We humans can sure screw things up.
I'm also thinking about whether or not I'm obligated to sacrifice myself and my child by allowing a mosquito to dwell in my home. We do have West Nile where I live. What if nature's balance got tilted in an unfavorable direction because of something we overthought?
I'm just wondering if this issue needs to be reacted to with such scrutiny... I doubt if any of us go out of our way to go mosquito hunting.
Hope my comments aren't controversial. Just curious.
Some first post, eh? :buck:
I think sometimes we can overthink things and get anal about stuff.
If we're going to consider the mosquitoes we dispatch, then how much more severe the consequences of eliminating cockroaches from a hotel kitchen, rats in a sewer, or termites from a house.
It's weighing up the consequences, making a decision and accepting that sometimes, life is not the easy, 'black-and-white' process we'd so dearly love it to be.....
The overall good of those close to us is what counts.
Killing - anything, anyone - is a last resort.
But remember, the Buddha never denounced self-defence.....
There is the answer! Well said !!!
In these modern times our responsibilities have changed. Buddha was living the life of an ascetic when he made these realizations. In today's world I would be facing child abuse and neglect charges and my daughter would be taken away from me if I lived the same lifestyle. Allowing pests to feed on our bodies, especially when they can be carrying deadly diseases would just be unreasonable.
I have 3 dogs and I try my best to keep fleas off of them. The only way to do that is by killing the fleas when they attack. My responsibility is to my dogs.
Harmless bugs are a different story. Ladybugs, dragonflies... but we wouldn't want the inside of our homes overrun by such creatures. We do our best to keep our homes clear.
We live right next to a very large and very natural park. We have bugs galore coming around our yard. Some are disturbingly large. We take measures to keep them out of our yard. We hang these silly looking fake wasps nests up as preventative measure. But the yellow jackets will come and nest. The only way to protect ourselves from those aggressive creatures is to get rid of the nest and whatever is inside. My hubby is very sympathetic to bugs but he will stop at nothing to rid our patio of a yellowjacket nest. It's never out of anger, just self preservation and the protection of our young daughter.
Things are never black and white, IMO. If they were, we'd be all going insane.
I have circumstances in my life that bring me a great deal of uneasiness. One of the only things that calms me is to read and consider Buddhist thought. I discovered this forum on a Google search for dealing with a relationship where the other person is irrational.
I ended up in a thread about rage and violence. I read some very lovely replies. Thank you Frederica for that as well.
Even HH the Dalai Lama states he would give them opportunity to abstain before finally dispatching them. He stated this in a video....
I would require evidence that this makes them happy.
Only females suck blood, to feed their young. Happiness has little to do with an instinctive action.
We all do this.
It's a survival instinct. (Emphasis on 'instinct'....)
Exactly.
defensiveness.
self-defence.
something the Buddha never condemned.
Dislike: snails: how hard we try to keep them off our brassicas but the story is that they gathered on Gotama's head to shelter him from the sun.
Fear: cobra: a giant king cobra opened his hood to keep the rain off the Awakened One while he was teaching.
Perhaps, were we fully awakened, we would be helped rather than harmed by all other sentient beings.
*runs off to check*
I didn't know till yesterday when I first read this thread that only female mosquitoes drew blood —and that only when they're bearing eggs. I'd like to know what the ratio of females to males was in most species. I think it's fascinating that it's our carbon dioxide emissions that attract them (I hitherto thought it was sugar in our blood.).
I don't really mean this question, but when (and where) does the life of a mosquito begin? When we kill one are we killing many? I mean, if the female only drinks blood to nourish eggs, she is carrying life when she sucks blood. Otherwise, she'd be sucking nectar.
My folks call some beings low-life. Is that bad?
Palzang
Yep, if the Sun had/has mind and thinks about us getting skin cancer, it can think of us as low lives in very much the same way.
The difference is, you wont suffer from being worm food. Mosquitoes do what they have to do to survive.
That is a very good question. Good stuff.
No I just honestly try not to kill anything thats doing exactly the same things I am for the same reasons I am.
It doesnt keep me up though.
Sentience doesn't mean the ability to feel happiness, or any other emotional thoughts/feelings. The fact that it's doing what it does to sustain its life and the life of its erm... mosquito baby, would sooner make me try to leave it alone than if it were doing it merely for pleasure (in that case, it can find another past time). Sentient means "responsive to or conscious of sense impressions."
If mosquitos aren't sentient then neither are people in comas or people with severe brain damage and the like.
I've personally been bit my hundreds of mosquitos over the years and have never had any issues. So I try not to swat them but occassionally find my hand smiting one out of instinct. :rolleyes: We have West Nile here and if it were common then I'd definitely do what I had to to keep them away.
Check rather than hurt.
Hurt rather than maim.
Maim rather than kill.
For all life is precious,
nor can any be replaced.
i honestly cant believe this thread is so long.
we dont kill period.