Lama Zopa Rinpoche's Online Advice Book
Non-harming :
Spare the Insects
| Mosquitoes | |
| Rinpoche made the following comment on not killing mosquitoes. | |
You should not kill mosquitoes at all. Your body is so big and they are so tiny. If their body was big and yours was tiny, you came to bite them and drink some blood, because you are so hungry, and all you needed was a small amount of blood to eat and drink, but they killed you, how would you feel?
It is exactly the same situation.
| Cockroaches in the House | |
| This conversation with Rinpoche came up in relationship to a Dharma center having many cockroaches. | |
If you have cockroaches, you can do Sur offering for them. There is a reason why they have come to the center. It’s because you have a karmic debt with them. They didn’t come intentionally; it’s not like all the cockroaches had a meeting and decided to move into the center, it happened by the force of karma. So, you need to do Sur offering to repay your karmic debts with them. If you didn’t have a karmic debt with them, they wouldn’t come. It’s the same with mice or insects that eat crops and flowers, or woodworm in a house. It’s because there are some karmic debts. So, one thing you can do is to offer them what they want, offer charity to them, because we never get the opportunity to offer things to sentient beings. The other thing is to do Sur practice and the 100 torma offering. I can also give you mantras to recite.
One of my students spoke to a mouse and asked it to move outside the house and it went. She also spoke to some insects and told them to leave and they went. There are some other stories like that. So, it seems that if you talk sincerely to these creatures, with some it works.
You can put the cockroaches in a small part of the house. Otherwise, make a house out of a paper box, find out what they eat and put that in the box, and then after they have gone in the box, put the box outside. Then, sometimes, go and give them food. By putting them in the box they are protected. If food is given regularly, it becomes charity.
Ants in the House
Rinpoche gave this general advice for when there are ants in your house.
If you have many ants in your house, and you’re careless, you will kill them. With a soft tissue paper, soft piece of cotton, broom, or feather, pick them up and put them in a plastic bag with some food in it. Use some food that they like, something they’re excited about or fascinated by, and then close the bag and take it around a stupa or holy objects as many times as you can. This will liberate them from a lower rebirth and help them achieve liberation and enlightenment. The holy objects can be set up on a table, and then you can walk around the table with the ants. Then, put the ants outside, opening the plastic bag to release them, or shaking them onto the ground with the food.
The only way you can help ants and other insects in this way is if they come into your house. This is an excellent opportunity to benefit them. You are also being charitable by giving them food.
If you take them around a stupa or holy objects, you are offering them the charity of Dharma. By purifying their minds, you are saving them from suffering.
Killing Mosquitoes
A Malaysian nun was living on the border between Singapore and Malaysia. She wrote to say that she was being bitten by many mosquitoes, and was having to kill them.
My dear Nena,
You should not kill mosquitoes at all. Your body is so big, and they are so tiny. What if their bodies were big and yours was tiny, and you came to bite them and drink a little of their blood, because you were hungry, and then they killed you? Even though all you need is a small amount of blood to eat and drink, instead they kill you. How does this look to you? This is exactly the same situation.
If you don’t purify yourself of these actions, you will have to suffer the result in future lives, and also in this life, especially because you are a nun. One of your vows is to abstain from killing. This is very basic. Even for lay people, it is a very basic practice, so it would be very, very sad if you killed, especially as a nun. Therefore, you need to perform these practices that I am sending you. (A list of practices was attached.)
You should do these practices gradually, to purify and to collect merit. You should also read the lam-rim, the gradual path to enlightenment, not only for your own happiness, but also for the peace and happiness of all sentient beings, especially the mosquitoes.
I am requesting you on behalf of all mosquitoes, please don’t kill. I will be the voice for all the mosquitoes.
With much love and prayer...
Killing Ants
A student killed 50 small ants on her balcony, and regretted the act immediately afterward. She wrote to Rinpoche to confess what she had done, and to say she planned to take the Eight Mahayana Precepts* one day for each ant she had killed. Rinpoche wrote her back.
My very dear Marion,
Thank you very much for your kind letter. It is amazing what you want to offer back to those ants. It is incredible! The thought to take precepts for each ant would not have come into my head. I am sure all the ants will jump up and down and clap their hands and have a party for you when you finish, wishing for you to receive all happiness…ha ha ha. I put my hands together at my heart thanking you very, very much on behalf of all the ants.
In addition, read the Diamond Cutter Sutra four times, and then recite the long Namgyalma mantra 21 times, if possible, or else seven times, and dedicate the merit to the ants’ quick enlightenment. They might become your disciples and do everything you say.
Big love and prayers...
*See Lama Zopa Rinpoche's book Direct and Unmistaken Method for more information on the Eight Mahayana Precepts.
More Ants in the House
Rinpoche gave the following advice if you have a lot of ants in your house.
Having ants in your house gives you your only opportunity to let them create the causes for enlightenment. If there are many ants, put them in a plastic bag or container and then carry them around holy objects, keeping the bag at the same level as the holy objects.
If you carry them around 20 holy objects (statues, stupas, or scriptures of the Buddha), then it means you are giving them 20 causes of enlightenment and 20 causes of liberation and a higher rebirth. This is from taking the ant or any sentient being around the objects one time.
