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Can you see the mites, though? The monks had a kind of sieve to filter out small animals from drinking water. There is a famous story when some of them develop
by hdjjhhvvhga 5y ago
Can you see the mites, though?
The monks had a kind of sieve to filter out small animals from drinking water. There is a famous story when some of them developed extrasensory perception and realized the water they had been drinking contains millions of tiny beings invisible to the naked eye. They went to the Buddha and asked what they should do. The Buddha answered, if you cannot see them, that is fine.
I like this story because it shows there are some limits to how much we can avoid taking life, otherwise we couldn't live at all.
- _wolfie_ 5y agoWhat did the monks who could see them do though? Died from thirst?
- hdjjhhvvhga 5y agoSorry I wasn't clear. If you can see them with your physical eyes, you should take reasonable care not to kill them. If you can't see them with your physical eyes but with extrasensory perception, it does not matter in the context of this particular precept (of taking life).
- emptysongglass 5y agoOn the rats, no. Thank you for this story. I wasn't able to find it myself. Do you have a link? I did find the story of Thera Cakkhupala, a blind monk who was observed treading on insects [1] but because he was blind and could not see them was blameless. Could this be the story you were thinking of? [1] http://www.tipitaka.net/tipitaka/dhp/verseload.php?verse=001 http://www.tipitaka.net/tipitaka/dhp/verseload.php?verse=001
- hdjjhhvvhga 5y agoNo, it was definitely another one, and it mentioned Arhats. I heard it from a Tibetan teacher in the context of clarification of the origin of some Vinaya rules all monks should obey, so I assume the story comes from a sutra from the Kanjur, but I was unable to locate it in any of the sutras I've read so far (very few, actually).