Dhamma Wheel Buddhist Forum

marc108 wrote:Ive been giving vegetable gardening a serious crack this year and have realize just how difficult pest control is while adhering to the first precept. Large pests like slugs, snails and worms can easily be picked off but microscopic bugs & eggs that can easily decimate an entire garden seems to be impossible to control without killing? Id be interested to hear from any gardeners that maintain the 1st precept and how they have dealt with pests?

marc108 wrote:Citta,

I havent brought any in on purpose, but 2 small toads came into the garden & got too big to leave... they wiped out the entire population of slugs and snails. before the toads, my gf and i would collect snails and slugs every single night and then drop them on the other side of my condo complex.

Id be interested to hear from any gardeners that maintain the 1st precept and how they have dealt with pests?

daverupa wrote:The Jain practice of sustained examination of one's own prolonged starvation-suicide is one attempt to deal with the fact that a human being exists at a cost to life. That the Buddhist practice is so different from the Jain one seems due to the fact that the ideal food structure is one of grains & other grown foods, and with the elimination of animal foodstuffs the problem would revolve around insects; animals (as opposed to insects) as a group come to be prioritized differently under this ethic.

One does what one can, but at a certain level we ought to say that sustained ahimsa makes unintended death-of-insect a wholly minor affair; getting hung up on it (upadana) seems to assuredly miss the forest for the trees.

"Whenever you want to do a bodily action, you should reflect on it: 'This bodily action I want to do — would it lead to self-affliction, to the affliction of others, or to both? Would it be an unskillful bodily action, with painful consequences, painful results?' If, on reflection, you know that it would lead to self-affliction, to the affliction of others, or to both; it would be an unskillful bodily action with painful consequences, painful results, then any bodily action of that sort is absolutely unfit for you to do. But if on reflection you know that it would not cause affliction... it would be a skillful bodily action with pleasant consequences, pleasant results, then any bodily action of that sort is fit for you to do.

"While you are doing a bodily action, you should reflect on it: 'This bodily action I am doing — is it leading to self-affliction, to the affliction of others, or to both? Is it an unskillful bodily action, with painful consequences, painful results?' If, on reflection, you know that it is leading to self-affliction, to the affliction of others, or to both... you should give it up. But if on reflection you know that it is not... you may continue with it.

"Having done a bodily action, you should reflect on it: 'This bodily action I have done — did it lead to self-affliction, to the affliction of others, or to both? Was it an unskillful bodily action, with painful consequences, painful results?' If, on reflection, you know that it led to self-affliction, to the affliction of others, or to both; it was an unskillful bodily action with painful consequences, painful results, then you should confess it, reveal it, lay it open to the Teacher or to a knowledgeable companion in the holy life. Having confessed it... you should exercise restraint in the future. But if on reflection you know that it did not lead to affliction... it was a skillful bodily action with pleasant consequences, pleasant results, then you should stay mentally refreshed & joyful, training day & night in skillful mental qualities.

MN 61