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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.
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