Did you save a life in your life?..At least the Life of an Ant! No? I thought so...

OP, you assume too much, not everyone is the same.
I have saved countless lives, from pigeons to scorpions, etc... Human lives, i can't recall ever saving a human life, mainly because the opportunity never presented itself to me, at least, as far as i know. I may have saved someone without knowing i was doing it at the time. Yes, i also caused the death of so many others (mosquitos, etc...). But this is life, it is always full of life and death. We care enough to catch and release a spider, but we wont have a problem killing a mosquito that is biting you. We destroy lives every day, from microbes (yes they are alive) to ants that we step on without noticing, etc... We are constantly killing stuff that is alive, we are constantly ending lives, regardless of what it is. But we have a gentler side that makes us save many many other lives as well. It's human nature and it is a condition of life.

reply to post by sarra1833

Because i'd exterminate all of them if I could

I think we should let a few ,as the balance of the Nature need all the creatures.Just a thought.

reply to post by Andromerius

It's human nature and it is a condition of life.

But we can weight that and reduce...some things.

reply to post by ugahm

I wonder why as children we have a tendency to kill things.

To appease us as adults.

reply to post by biggmoneyme

After all they are just hunting for their food like every other animal on this planet does

Again,that is normal and is called natural instinct.It applies to all creatures except humans.Because humans can be selective.

Yup, and I also saved a couple puppies.

We are not evil or brainwashed. We are hear because we know the truth.

Wrong population if thats what your asking.

I actually save 2 young brothers around the age of 6 and 8 while I was out for a walk one hot summer afternoon. I could hear muffled cries for help and screaming and wondered where they were coming from. I walked into the driveway and noticed they were coming from the trunk of a car. The car was a black Lada and the trunk opened by the push of a button. The boys had accidentally locked themselves in the trunk while playing. They had blood on their hands from ripping wires apart trying to get out. When I opened the trunk the youngest brother said "Oh thank you so much!" Their faces were red, their eyes were bloodshot and they gasped for cooler air as I helped them to the ground.

It was by chance that I happened to be walking that day as I rarely did. I felt privileged in my own heart to have the chance to push the button of a trunk to save 2 lives. To me it was an easy thing to push the button... to them it was the difference between life and death.

I've never told anyone this before.

I don't think we have the right to take any life, no matter what species it is. I'm vegan, so i save lives everyday.

I've saved a friends life when he was about to get washed over/under a weir.
Funny thing is I remember doing it and not thinking about his life but instead of what a hero I'd be and how he'd owe me in the future LOL .

I was only a kid at the time and I'd hope I'm a better person now but altruism doesnt exist..
Apparently its not our fault as Humans though...by their very nature gene's are the most selfish pieces of organic matter in the known universe.

reply to post by Pepeluacho

We are not evil or brainwashed.

We are hear because we know the truth.

Wrong population if thats what your asking.

No ,we are the same population.

The truth could be disappointing sometimes.

Putting a question does not involve taking that someone IS "evil or brainwashed".Not we are not.

reply to post by Jukiodone

I was only a kid at the time and I'd hope I'm a better person now but altruism doesnt exist..

Sometimes altruism does exist very,very rare but it does.

Originally posted by AxcidnKC
I don't think we have the right to take any life, no matter what species it is. I'm vegan, so i save lives everyday.

That is question of choice is not bad either ways,as all are here for us,but not to abuse them.

reply to post by diamondsmith


I've saved a human life.

Dying is part of living, however. We can do what we can, the rest is in the hands of nature....

Originally posted by diamondsmith

Did you save a life in your life?

No?I thought so!

If I cripple a life that would have otherwise taken lives, have I saved lives?

In my previous job we had an area out the back where all the bins were and it as cut off from the rest of the public

I found a pigeon flapping around clearly in distress. I went to the shop and bought a fat ball and some bird seed and fed and watered it every day for a couple of weeks until one day it was gone. I know I saved that birds life and it felt great a proper acheivement :-)

Beware of your limitations in what you consider to be conscious life. Plants also feel pain and react to external stimulus, do you go out of your way to avoid killing or injuring them?
All life is precious on that I agree but the vexing fact is life feeds on life and therefore not all killing is wrong but is a sacred act. We must kill to live as all living things must do. Even eating seeds is to destroy a life not yet brought to fruition,

It is the wanton taking of life for no reason that is wrong.
We have the right to kill to ensure that we eat and to protect our selves and family from harm. And if it needs to be done it should be done in a manner of reverence and respect, giving honor to the life which has now become a part of our own.

Modern society and factory farming have produced a generation removed from the cycle of life, who don't know where our food comes from or how it ends up on our plates. Having the blood on someone else's hands does not alleviate us of the responsibility for the taking of that life.

Just some related thoughts I feel bear consideration.

I'm glad that you've broached the subject as this is something every caring person should give thought to.

ETA; I've gone out of my way to get turtles out of the road, pull up illegal traps, raised orphaned birds but I have also watched a black rat snake eat the young of a pair of finches we had nesting over our door. I had no right to interfere with the snake or it's meal. It was a female snake and hopefully laid eggs that year.

I saved lives too
i saved Common loon that hit telephone pole
i saved otters from traps, smashed the traps,
i saved snapping turtles from traps, smashed the traps, free the turtles,
i saved boreal owl
i saved vulture, canada goose, squirrels, a cat my neighbour was killing, squirrel my neighbour was killing, a ground hog my nieghbour was killing, a dog,
frogs, snakes, turtles, salamanders from the road,
Missisauga rattle snakes, from the road,
Starling bird, Sparrow, Ring billed gulls, Cormorant with garbage around its neck,
Beet my cousin up for hitting frogs with baseball bat,
Lost my job because i wouldnt dump toxic waist crap from barrels into the sewer,
I saved fishes,
Lots of preying mantis, moths, butterflies, beetles, spiders,
I once set free a junkyard dog,
saved these giant snails, from the road,
Spiked old growth trees,
Got arrested not charges for chaining myself to oldgrouth trees,
Got a shot gun, loaded, put rite to my nose form a drunk logger for simply protesting the logging, he was arrested and charged and lost all his weapons and went to jail, only because there was a hippy in the tree with video camera, lol.
And probably more i cant remember rite now, the way i see it, nature is innoscent we are suposed to b inteligent which makes us care takers not gods to kill aimlessly for no reason, lol, which is not the case. So if everyone is goona murder everything, ill do the opposite and save, but in my reality, i usually just save animals as i come across them trouble and help.

Originally posted by AxcidnKC
I don't think we have the right to take any life, no matter what species it is. I'm vegan, so i save lives everyday.

You've traded animal life for plant life.
If you never took a life you would not be alive.

Originally posted by diamondsmith
reply to post by Avalessa

 

Nature is fascinating sometimes.

Yes it is,I think Nature respect us as much as we respect Her.

It is essential Buddhism to respect all life, even the common roach. However, many insects and other pests do spread pestilence. While people here are yammering about saving the lives of rats, rats carrying fleas caused the Black Death(Bubonic Plague) in England in 1348.

The Black Death was caused by fleas carried by rats that were very common in towns and cities. The fleas bit into their victims literally injecting them with the disease. Death could be very quick for the weaker victims.

The Black Death had a huge impact on society. Fields went unploughed as the men who usually did this were victims of the disease. Harvests would not have been brought in as the manpower did not exist. Animals would have been lost as the people in a village would not have been around to tend them

Therefore whole villages would have faced starvation. Towns and cities would have faced food shortages as the villages that surrounded them could not provide them with enough food.

www.historylearningsite.co.uk...


Since Buddhism predates the Birth of Christ by several hundred years, it is likely that they did not know that certain pests can cause or carry disease. Lyme disease is another one known to be caused by pests, ticks in particular. My sister happened to know someone who got Lyme disease and it's not pretty. Would you trade the person for a tick?
Should the wolves around the campfire eat the people?
Such is life and most people prefer to stay alive.
If it's between me and a scorpion, the scorpion goes. By the way, in the book "The Bodhisattva Warriors", it is said that even the Shaolin monks fought for their life, as they knew that their own life is valuable.
I believe that those who say that Gaia rules the earth and that humans are parasites are misguided, and are causing or enabling the misguided idea of "sustainability" a la UN Agenda 21, and the Rockefellers de-population agenda which so many people have latched on to, believing that ants lives are more valuable than humans.
I have nothing against ants, but they invaded my kitchen for a whole year.

One more thing. This is all a useless exercise if one does not give homage to the creator of all life. Secularists think it all just happened in some primordial soup and it's all a big interesting accident. Reverence for all life should include reverence for the Creator of all Life.

reply to post by Unity_99


It is said that Jesus, Mary, and Joseph were all actually part of the Essene Community. This community was said to have practiced an austere diet. In documentary films and in the Russian explorer Notovich's records, it is suggested that Jesus traveled to the East, not that he was from the East. Yes, easily he could have learned from the Buddhist monks there. It is also believed he learned some of his miracles in the East too.