Expert: Judy - 4/14/2010

Question
Hi Judy,

I am trying to refrain from killing lives.  Sometimes I happen to accidentally hurt an ant or other insects but it's not entirely dead.  It's struggling.  I don't know if I should just leave it to struggle and hope it will healed itself or should I just say a prayer and end it's life so that it will not suffer anymore?

Thank you for your guidance,
clarice

Answer
Hi, Clarice,

The Five Precepts, which include "no killing," are NOT absolute and have to be conditional.  Because all elements have to meet at a certain time and space to make something happen, we can never control everything as we wish.  Everything is interdependent on one another.  INTENTION is the key.  You are not trying or thinking of killing or hurting an ant, and that's the key here.

When you happen to hurt an ant, the action was done.  That's when all of the element, time, and space came together to make the accident.  Leave the way it is.  I know that you have a kind heart that you don't want to see the ant suffer through struggling, but no one's life or destiny has to be determined by any of us, be it big or small.  It's NOT our job to choose how someone's or an insect's path should be.  Don't get me wrong, but I did not mean that we should not care about others.  What I meant is that others have to be their own saviors or path choosers.  We can help but we don't want to interfere with their paths.  In addition, I am not saying that we should be heartless to just walk away, BUT we CAN PREVENT something similar from happening.  Instead of fixing things up later, why don't we prevent them from happening in advance?

Be very mindful on everything you do, Clarice.  Every gesture you create, every step your foot lay on the floor, and everything you do in daily routine needs to be paid attention.  You are the observer of yourself and the environment around you.  We live in a way like swallowing food without chewing it or noticing the flavor of it.  We walk, but we never FEEL how our feet touch the ground, how our arms swing, what we are looking at, or what we are thinking of.  Have you seen people in the supermarket walking forwards while turning their heads side ways looking something on the side, and they don't even know that they are about to bump into someone else.  They are walking forward but they are not paying attention to what they are doing.  They are concentrating on one specific item/thing, without paying attention to their OWN BODY MOVEMENTS.

It is just an example of a million things in our daily life that we don't pay attention to our own body gestures, movements, or actions.  As a result, we end up hurting someone or ourselves by accidents.  All these accidents can be prevented through MINDFULNESS.  MINDFULNESS is not only an essential way for us to practice spiritually, it is also a basic need to live without causing us or others trouble.  

Let's try to be mindful each day and each moment.  You will find that you hurt yourself or others much less.  If for some reason, you hurt an ant or any insect in the future, please just say a prayer for it from your heart.  Intention makes things happen like miracles.  Whether the little critter ends its life or not, with a sincere prayer, it is helped.

Hope this helps.