Expert: Justin Choo - 1/25/2005

Question
a fisherman catch fishes all his life. is it a bad karma to catch fish for a living?

Answer
Hi Viven,

Thank you for asking me.

There are certain occupations that are considered unwholesome.  They are those dealing in flesh, poison, weapons of destruction, and human trafficking (including slavery).  The rationale for this is that all these activities cause great suffering for the victims, if not loss of lives.  

A fisherman catches fish.  It is considered dealing in flesh.  However there are some mitigating circumstances which we must consider.  First, the fisherman is earning an honest living.  Second, the lives involve fish and not human lives.  Third, as for most fishermen, it may be the only traditional livelihood that he is brought up to do.  It may not be easy for him to change occupation especially where he is living in a fishing village.  

It is up to the fisherman whether he is able to uproot his lifestyle in order to change profession.  It is not easy.  But it is not a good excuse or good defence that he can continue with this occupation and not being guilty of it.  It is certainly bad kamma.

It is up to us to realize that this existence is not perfect and sometimes it is very difficult for us to avoid certain unwholesome activities.  It is more pertinent at this point in time that we should continue to live skilfully so that less problems will come our way because of our persistent wholesome actions that we are now undertaking.

Hope I have answered your question.  Please come back if you need further clarification.

Smile from Justinchoo  :-)