Expert: Bodhicitta - 4/22/2008

Question
I have my backyard taken over by large ant hills and they are getting larger every year. I have been resisting killing them, because I believe that I have no right to take any life away. I would like to have a Buddhist point of view and/or advice on this.  
Thank you.

Answer
Hi Lilith,
The first question is what is your position? What vows and rules of training have you taken?

For example if you were a Buddhist, then is you would have taken the refuge vows and probably taken the five rules of training. That is NOT killing, Not 'stealing', not abusing others sexually, Not lieing, and not destroying the awareness of the mind through taking excess alcohol.
There are also more rigorous vows that might be taken. But let us propose this as the probable minimum that you were take and be considered a Buddhist.

Someone who has taken these rules of training and become Buddhist has
done so for a reason. The   boundaries create a world in which
you could usefully practice meditation. The boundaries are fluid and are
really defined by mindfulness of your own relationship to the world,
and whether your behavior comes from greed, hate and delusion or whether
it comes from wisdom and compassion. It is possible to transgress these
boundaries as a Buddhist. However it might be necessary to repair the vows and boundaries.

In the case of killing - it is generally accepted that there is a sliding  scale of transgression. Starting with killing humans which
is extremely serious and would normally destroy your vows completely.
Maybe killing small insects and bacteria with good reason would not,
but would trigger awareness and mindfulness.Reparation or retaking of
the vows will sometimes then be necessary.

If you are NOT a Buddhist and have therefore not taken the refuge
and precepts - then none of what I have said so far applies to your
case. In Buddhism there are no absolute rules - but you can
adopt a set of rules to train with. If you do not take these
vows formally they simply do not apply to you. The keeping of the
rules is part of the training.

So the other factor put forward by Buddhism if Karma. Everything you
do has an effect. Karma is action and result. These consequences
are extremely wide reaching and extremely difficult to guess at.
The dumbed down version of Karma in the West is that you do
something bad and something bad happens to you sometime , somewhere
maybe not in this life. You do something good and you get something good. What goes around comes around. It must be emphasized that
this dumbed down version is not how Karma works but is a starting point. In Buddhism it is believed you have lived for countless lives
already and you have done an infinite number of actions in the past,
of every sort, good and bad. The people you meet have also done
infinite actions. The net result is a set of complex waves from
these actions which create your world.One image used in Buddhism
is that you are like a small object a float in a vast ocean.
Buddhism then is put forward as a vessel to traverse such an ocean.

Generally how Karma is thought to work in simple cases is that
the intention you have determines the result. So your mind is
all important.

So in the case of the ants. I would say examine the situation.
Think about it all. Think about what options you have. Think about
compassionate ways of taking action in the situation. Once your
mind has contemplated the situation and meditated on it then
act. Do not act in anger and haste.

My own opinion if that if your home is being destroyed by pests.
Or if people are being harmed by disease or dangerous insects or
animals then you must act. I would generally take a set of progressive
steps. To explaining to the ants what you are doing, and asking them to move! This way
it will mean you will work through it yourself. Maybe you could
then think if there is a good time of the year to remove them when
there is the smallest number, is their population cyclic? etc
Maybe once you have removed them in the kindest way possible
you could say a prayer - that through your connection
that all these ants will be reborn as humans and will have
good lives and hear the Buddhist dharma so that they can
too act with great compassion!

I would encourage you to use the situation to contemplate
and meditate on your relationship with difficult and ambigious
situations in the world. That way the situation becomes a path
to sanity not a path to anger.

Best wishes
Bodhicitta