Killing Insects and Mice

Killing Insects and Mice

Date Posted:
October 2009

A student wrote explaining how her husband had killed some mice and insects in their house, and asked for advice regarding practices to purify the action of killing.

Student: For seven years my husband, six cats, and our old dog have lived in an old farmhouse. As you probably know, these kinds of houses attract mice and other small animals. We always take care of all the little animals, especially the large amount of spiders, who live everywhere. If it is summer, sometimes I put them outside, or if I find a really big one I also put him/her outside. Furthermore, we hope that they are happy in our house and we try to keep the cats from eating them. Our cats are indoors cats, so they cannot try to catch mice or birds like other cats.

If we hear mice, I set a trap where they are not killed, and put them outside. Sometimes I think they get back into the house faster than I do, ha, ha. So, you can see we try to do our best to keep every living being alive.

Now, our problem, or maybe more my problem, because I am the Buddhist in this household, is that last year my husband found that there were too many mice and killed some of them and also, one time, our chickens had blood lice and he killed those.

I recently started to make tsa-tsas and asked my teacher for advice on how to do this. After I started making them I thought that I could dedicate the merit also to the killed mice and blood lice. I hope this is a good idea.

Then this summer and the summer before, we found wasps making a nest in our house. Both times they came in through a little hole in the wall. Both times the situation became serious and dangerous for us and our pets. We tried to catch them and put them outside but it was still a dangerous situation. The second time there was a thin wall between the wasps and the room where our cats sleep, and the buzzing made them anxious. We were afraid they would come inside again. Both times we had to ask someone to come and kill them, even though we were very sorry to do this.

My questions are: How can I purify letting the wasps be killed and how can I do something to allow my non-Buddhist husband to purify this? Also, is there anything I can do to prevent the wasps coming back to the house again? Of course, we repair holes and so on, but still I am afraid next year there will be wasps who want to live with us again.

Rinpoche's Response:

My very dear Wendy,
I checked regarding your questions. If you read the Arya Sanghata Sutra so your husband can hear it, even if he hears only one word or a few words, this purifies the five uninterrupted negative karmas, that is, the negative karma that would cause one to be reborn in the hell realms, where there is inexhaustible suffering. The five uninterrupted negative karmas are killing one’s mother and father, drawing blood from a Buddha, and so forth, so this means it also purifies the negative karma of killing.

You could recite it out loud so not only your husband hears it, but also all the animals. Also, you could play it (there is a Tibetan and English recording) so that everyone can hear it, including all the animals, insects, and even the wasps. This way everyone gets purified. This is an excellent thing to do.

If you can, recite Mitukpa mantra out loud, so your husband can hear it and also the insects. If you are making tsa-tsas, then Mitukpa tsa-tsa is the best one to make, dedicating it on your husband’s behalf. Also, if you recite the long Namgyalma mantra, this can purify your husband’s negative karma of killing, as well as all sentient beings’.

If you can get a recording of this mantra and also play it so that he can hear it, as well as any animals, this would be very good, unbelievably powerful. This directs one’s life towards enlightenment and to always have a pure life.

If you can get recordings of these mantras so that you can play them often, that would be great, as well as you reciting them. I will also make prayers.

With much love and prayers...