The First Precept (Harmlessness/Not Killing)

[Michael Rodgers]

Very inspiring Blake. I do try to rescue creepy crawlies from my house (my family are not so sympathetic) and would not kill them on purpose but I must say they still give me the "creeps"! I think it might be a few lifetimes before I develop enough metta to willingly have a funnel web share my sleeping bag!

[Bhante Nandiya]

Yes, gentleness towards tiny beings is a very beautiful quality.

A good example of this is one of the girls at Santi. One night she went to bed and felt something crawling on her leg, for a moment she thought she might just ignore it and go to sleep, then she thought she might roll over in her sleep and crush it. So she got up and shook the sleeping bag, and a big spider fell out, she thought "no, surely not a funnelweb spider". She caught the spider in a bucket and took it to the main dwelling to identify it, and it looked just like the spider on the front cover of the "venomous snakes and spiders" book. She identified it as a sydney funnelweb spider (a relatively dangerous spider), took it outside, and released it in a safe place.

Now while to some, it seemed like a close call - having a dangerously venomous spider in your sleeping bag with you - I think there was no chance at all that spider would have bitten her, no chance at all, because as a person she's so full of concern and sympathy for little creeping-crawly creatures and vigorously defends their lives. At a very mundane level, her concern that she might squash it in her sleep, turned out to protect her. But also I think, that at a deeper level, if you have that kind of very sincere heart of good-will towards a class of beings, those beings just can't hurt you. Call it the power of good-kamma or metta, but they know they don't need to be afraid around you.

If you look into it, you'll see that people who don't have an issue with bugs, don't have any problems with them. Again at a very mundane level, if you don't have a problem with a bug crawling up your leg - then you don't have a problem. If you do kick up a big fuss, then it is a big problem, Waa! Panic!
At Wat Pa Nanachat, one time a novice said "hold still, there's a big ant on you" and I just said "it's not a problem" and he said "they can sting" and I just said I wasn't worried, because I knew it had no reason at all to sting me. After a while this attitude can become very natural, and it's very peaceful.

But I also think animals and bugs, just plain leave you alone if you have good-will towards them, but if you have bad-will they'll happily reciprocate. Again at Nanachat, there's a particularly viscous stinging ant, which forms big trials and large scale "war parties" over the paths - many meters swarming with ants, if you stepped on or near their trials they'd react and sting you and it hurt like bloody hell. During my four months at nanachat, I gradually made peace with these ants. In the end I stepped so softly and gently through their trials that they didn't react at all to my presence. Again part of it was just being soft and gentle so there was less impact/vibration for them to sense - but I couldn't step THAT gently, more importantly I'd developed sympathy for them, so they didn't have any hostility towards me.

I remember when I was staying at Vimutti Monastery in New Zealand - there are a LOT of possums there. Possums are playful and mischievous creatures, they loved to play on Kuti's - for them the deck and railings was like a jungle gym and they'd make lots of noise and keep people awake at night and disturb meditation.
But I saw how people had different levels of problems with the possums, and it seemed to be proportional to their level of ill-will and animosity towards the possums. One lay-man in particular was waging bloody war on the possums. He said one night a big possum peed on his tent. I'd believe that! Because he just had so much bad-will towards the possums.

I on the other hand, would walk around the night and talk to the possums. There was one big tree in particular which was crawling with possums eating the berries. I'd go up to the tree and chat friendlily to a possum and it's be like "dude wtf I'm trying to eat here" and eventually retreat deeper into the tree.

I never had a single problem with the possums. Even though they would certainly be around my Kuti, not a single one came and played on my kuti, not even once. I reckon I was so annoyingly friendly they wouldn't go near me!

In one place, the Buddha describes the five precepts in terms of being a "great immeasurable gift to all beings of freedom from fear and danger", and I think this is the right attitude to take with the first precept. Don't just refrain from taking their lives, refrain from any kind of ill-will or cruelty and cultivate a heart of sympathy for their lives, and then the practice of harmlessness will really be fruitful.

[Ming Cassim]

Not Killing small beings ...

I find that when I radiate loving kindness (metta), towards whatever insects like cockcroaches, mosquitoes, flies that I encounter ... I tend to let go my pre-conditioned intentions & reactions.
Thus, with metta in my heart, I invite them to partake in whatever they have come for. Remembering Ajahn Brahm's wise words, of offering a miniscule drop of blood to a mozzy, I offered mine and you will be amazed by how the mozzy responds!!!
No kidding, the polite mozzy pricks its probosis most gently into my skin, without giving me the itchy antidote, then sucks in my "dana" blood in the most delicate manner, then with perfect etiquitte the mozzy flies off with just enough "food" leaving my skin without any marks or itch!!!
As for cockcroaches, (whom I detested before), I would tell them that they will find food in the public bin across the road. As they are nocturnal insects, it is easy to catch them gently then drop them off.
I presume when one is mindful with metta in the heart, one will never harm any beings at all.

"May all beings find love in their hearts and peace in their minds"

[Rachel Green]

Ants get into everything don't they Trish. We find they adore honey jars, fruit remains, and anything sticky and they surround them and cover them. We end up keeping all sorts of things in the fridge as they don't seem to get in there. The other thing we have done (as we have lots of ants too but probably not as many as you!) is to follow their ant lines to find out where they are coming in. My husband has spent ages on his hands and knees watching them, and then he seals up any crack or weeny tiny hole where they are coming in. It has reduced them.

Its a bit hard when you live on an ants nest though!

What would happen if you left some food for them outside the house - would this mean you got even more ants or that they would be less likely to come in?

Much metta to you.

[Trish Smith]

Hi Rachel;
I was having a bad day that day. I had just had to through away more than half the food in my pantry that day due to the little ants and it was a long time till payday.
This time of year there is not much that will work, you just learn to brush most of them off and try not to look to hard. It is hot and dry and they come in out of the heat. All you have to do is know that everyone in the district is suffering from the same problem and we all sympathize together. The town is apparently built on a huge ants nest and they will disappear once the weather cools down and don't come back until mid summer next year. That's how you tell when it's about to get really hot - the ants turn up.
I have also tried all the aromatherpay and essential oil's and I agree that they work well for cockroaches, and bugs wants more they make your home smell so much nicer.

[Rachel Green]

It sounds like you live in very difficult surroundings Trish, much love to you in coping with them. It is probably easier for an urban dweller in the city and who works in a smart tower block to deal with such issues than it is for someone in rural Australia to cope, because they do not have anywhere near the amount of "invasions" or dangerous creatures. We also have "dangerously venomous" snakes, mozzies that spread Ross river, ticks, big sergeant ants through to tiny brown sugar ants, termites which eat our homes, and the like and they certainly provide challenges in keeping the precepts especially when they are in our homes, and we don't like them.

May I make a couple of suggestions please?

Is there anything you can do to help reduce the ants and other creatures from coming into your home? (There have been several ideas on this forum if you read the earlier posts about ways to do this.) This seems the best place to start rather than trying lots of ways to harmlessly remove them.

If you practice sending loving kindness to these creatures it may help lessen the irritation in your mind towards them. Then even if they invade you won't feel so disturbed by them.

Much metta
Rachel.

[Trish Smith]

I live in rural NSW and there are many creepy crawlies that are a threat. Venomous spiders, angry "dangerously venomous" snakes, paralysis ticks, mozzies that spread Ross river, dangy fever etc.
Then of course you have your just 'bloody' annoying critters - sandflies, ants (green ants, black and tiny brown ants) its the brown ants that are the most annoying. The get every where in the thousands they are after moisture and food. They will eat a whole into a new loaf of bread over night and make their home in it, they will drown by the hundreds in the honey jar because the lid was cross threaded and not on properly. At the beginning of summer you try all the safe- do no harm ways to live with them, after 3 -4 months of summer you are tired of having to throw out large amounts of food because the ants have moved into it (did I mention they really love butter), every surface crawling, table tops, chairs floors where some speck may have been dropped and gone un-noticed for a few minutes. By the way talc works well, ants don't like to walk through it.
So I end up using the surface spray, the mouse traps and yes even kill the King Brown snake that took up residents in my yard and objected to me walking out the front gate.
Sorry about the rant but I find it very hard to adhere to the precept of do-no harm, but I am aware that it is wrong and do not kill things mindlessly and hope that their next life is a happier and safer one.

[Anne Raeburn]

Thank you so much Blake for your concern and suggestions. I have to say that the thought of a previous life as a creepy-crawly and being eaten by a large spider sends shivers down my back, and would certainly not have thought of that as a reason for my fear. I am doing my best to put this fear behind me and trying to take your advice re attempting to make peace with it. I am also using the tapping, which I find useful, but cannot as yet congratulate myself!

[Bhante Nandiya]

Rachel, it's certainly not easy to deal with situations when we have to do things which go against our moral code. This is part of the reason why people become Monks and Nuns, so they can live blamelessly and at ease, without many of these moral dilemmas.

Bhante Sujato says that in Thailand the Thai Buddhists proved extremely resistant to Christian teachings, because the Christians taught that killing animals was okay. The Thais killed animals but they knew it was against the precepts, and they knew it was wrong, and they just couldn't accept a teaching that it wasn't morally wrong to kill animals - however comforting it may have been for them to accept such a teaching.

Perhaps this is one possible approach to take, do it if you're forced to, but know it's wrong - rather than trying to rationalize or justify it. Feel the sting of your actions. This can provide additional incentive to keep working towards a better long term solution.

[Ciprian Salagean]

My conclusion that makes it all simple is that the essential part is the quality of intention. Some times, in practice, things are not well cut in white ones, and black ones. Like the Buddha said. There is white kamma with white results, black with black results, mixed with mixed results and neither white nor black with neither white nor black - the later being the kamma of an arahat. Since we don't fall in the later category, but we try to be good Buddhists we try our best to avoid black kamma. Although most of it is a mixed kamma. My humble opinion.
Best wishes

[Rachel Green]

The theory is wonderful - the practical realities of living with neighbours and local laws makes the precept complicated in real life.
For example, here are some questions to ponder about "vermin".
1. Let's say we have mice, not local native mice but ones introduced from overseas and considered vermin. Do we have to take a social responsibility not to be allowing vermin?
2. What if the local laws stipulate you must not allow vermin and you find a rat on your property? Are we not legally obliged to kill the rat?
3. If we caught mice and released them and they go to the neighbour's house is this not morally wrong and unfair on the neighbours?
4. If mice are killed and put outside so birds such as magpies have them as food - is it any better that we helped other creatures in the process?
5. If the mice are killed but without poisons so there is no danger to other creatures - is this better than using poisons?
So many possible aspects to consider if you find mice in your house.

[Rachel Green]

I would say not to worry about why you're afraid. It's often a big waste of time to try to find the cause of fear.

Yes i agree (although many psychologists and psychotherapists would disagree and base their work around why). That is why the tapping and meditation have helped me because there is no need to know why just to let go.

It can be worthwhile saying to your fear "Thank you so much for caring for me and trying to protect me, but now I'd like to try something new". If you can really make peace with fear like this, mentally giving it a big hug and saying so sorry for not understanding it, then that can be very powerful.

Beautiful words thanks so much Blake. I use Ajahn Brahm's words "The door of my heart is open to you just as you are" and find this really helpful along with metta practice. However, your words add another dimension. Thank you.

PS Say hello to my friend Annie / Anālayā Samaneri please out at Santi!

[Bhante Nandiya]

Well, I got that wrong Rachel - not being mindful, or having one of those dreaded senior moments! Unfortunately I did not mean to say "I would not rate myself on much less than a 4" re the tapping and trying to rid myself of the fear of large hairy spiders. I actually meant to say 6, 4 less than 10, so not quite so wonderful! I don't seem to have progressed much beyond that either. Will keep up the good work and hopefully improve.

I cannot actually pinpoint any actual incident that first produced my fear, but I do know that my mother was the same, and we did get quite a lot of what were referred to by my parents as tarantulas in the house. I have never had one on me, but one of my biggest fears was always, and still is, that one day one might jump off the wall on to me. I don't think I can focus on that side of things. The silly part is, my father had absolutely no fear, and would come to the rescue and pick these creatures up in his bare hands and take them outside to dispose of, until one bit him and after that he used his hankerchief! You would think that I would be OK, having watched my father all those years, not at all phased by any creepy crawly, whatever the size.

These fears can have extremely deep roots (when you think about it from the perspective of kamma/rebirth, it's actually very natural that we'd have "irrational" fears. For example a strong fear of spiders could easily come from being paralyzed and eaten by one in a recent existence as a creepy-crawly. In that case there's nothing at all irrational about the fear, except it's time and place has long since passed.
I would say not to worry about why you're afraid. It's often a big waste of time to try to find the cause of fear. It's enough to know you developed that fear for a reason - but you don't need it anymore. Fear and anger is actually trying to help us stay safe, help protect us from harm. It can be worthwhile saying to your fear "Thank you so much for caring for me and trying to protect me, but now I'd like to try something new". If you can really make peace with fear like this, mentally giving it a big hug and saying so sorry for not understanding it, then that can be very powerful.

[Anne Raeburn]

It is a tough one Melissa. I think a lot of like-minded people find it hard to come to terms with our throw-away society, me being one of many. The excesses of the more affluent, developed nations like Australia have become pretty obcene, and I'm sure we would all be a lot happier living much simpler lives than we live today. Thank goodness for our wonderful, wise monks, meditation, the dharma and all our dharma friends. Thank goodness for Buddhism. We have a lot to be thankful for.

[Anne Raeburn]

Well, I got that wrong Rachel - not being mindful, or having one of those dreaded senior moments! Unfortunately I did not mean to say "I would not rate myself on much less than a 4" re the tapping and trying to rid myself of the fear of large hairy spiders. I actually meant to say 6, 4 less than 10, so not quite so wonderful! I don't seem to have progressed much beyond that either. Will keep up the good work and hopefully improve.

I cannot actually pinpoint any actual incident that first produced my fear, but I do know that my mother was the same, and we did get quite a lot of what were referred to by my parents as tarantulas in the house. I have never had one on me, but one of my biggest fears was always, and still is, that one day one might jump off the wall on to me. I don't think I can focus on that side of things. The silly part is, my father had absolutely no fear, and would come to the rescue and pick these creatures up in his bare hands and take them outside to dispose of, until one bit him and after that he used his hankerchief! You would think that I would be OK, having watched my father all those years, not at all phased by any creepy crawly, whatever the size.

Thank you Rachel, I will perhaps ask you about the guy on the video some time. I am not sure about seeing anyone and will, for the moment, probably keep giving it a go on my own and see what occurs over time. I certainly don't expect anything to happen over night.