lice

Buddhist ethical conduct including the Five Precepts (Pañcasikkhāpada), and Eightfold Ethical Conduct (Aṭṭhasīla).
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retrofuturist
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Re: lice

Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings Dylan,
dylanj wrote: Thu Nov 29, 2018 9:27 pm what do you do if you get lice?
If you mean me, I kill them. Well, rather, I shave my head every 3 weeks or so, so there's not much risk of me getting lice personally, but if a family member gets lice, then it's straight to the professional, chemical head-lice treatments.

Further to posts above, I recommend getting onto the infestation as soon as possible. Nip it in the bud. Otherwise, it will simply proliferate and spread to other people, and get worse - I see no merit in allowing and enabling that additional generation of dukkha.

Metta,
Paul. :)
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
chownah
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Re: lice

Post by chownah »

I've never had lice and I've never heard anyone ever in my life mention having them (I mean real people, not internet entities)......I feel like I have so far missed out on one of the fundamental experiences of humanity.
chownah
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retrofuturist
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Re: lice

Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings chownah,

Having just tediously run the lice brush through two family members' hair over the past week, I can assure you it's a thing. But then, I may just be an Internet entity.

Metta,
Paul. :)
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
chownah
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Re: lice

Post by chownah »

retrofuturist wrote: Thu Jan 03, 2019 3:24 am Greetings chownah,

Having just tediously run the lice brush through two family members' hair over the past week, I can assure you it's a thing. But then, I may just be an Internet entity.

Metta,
Paul. :)
I am so often misunderstood. I have not expressed doubt as to it being a "thing" at all. What my post is about is that I feel like I can not fully understand the full scope of human experience without ever having exposure to lice. It is a dreadful, empty sort of feeling. Can someone help me with this? I can't help but believe that I would become a more compassionate person if I could experience a lice infestation. Also it would provide many opportunities to engage in polite conversation (something I have little experience with) instead of just making my usual lousy (pun) attempts.
Help...someone?
chownah
denise
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Re: lice

Post by denise »

hello all...anyone remember the story of the old master standing in the hot sun perfectly still? his prospective student asked the old master finally...why are you standing in the hot sun? the old master said it was lunch time.... for the creatures/beings on his body....the old master was fine with that....could we be? :thinking:
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AgarikaJ
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Re: lice

Post by AgarikaJ »

chownah wrote: Thu Jan 03, 2019 3:03 am I've never had lice and I've never heard anyone ever in my life mention having them (I mean real people, not internet entities)......I feel like I have so far missed out on one of the fundamental experiences of humanity.
chownah
@chownah, from your user name I would have guessed you to live in Northeastern Thailand. If you wish to get acquainted with lice infestations, simply make contact with your local village school. As lice are quite common, it will not take long for the phone to ring so that you can be invited to see first-hand how such a situation is handled. Actually, at any time, somebody in your village should have lice; if you know how to look, it is actually not difficult to spot, especially along the hairline.

As I mentioned before, lice are vectors for dangerous human disease. If any infestation is quelled quickly, the risk goes down exponentially (as @retrofuturist has added as well).

@denise: The issue is not with lice feeding on old skin and hair particles. What makes them liable for countermeasures is their ability to carry diseases that will kill their host (children, old people and ones with weak immune systems right at the front of that line). If they would be harmless, in the way face mites (Demodex) are -- every single human on this planet carries them around the nose! -- being a carrier would not be a problem.

Carrying them in the full knowledge that they might endanger your whole community makes this a morally difficult issue, as you now need to decide if the children of your neighbours, the monks in the temple, your parents, etc are more important to you than these animals on your body.

I do not know if you or @dylanj have ever lived in a place with compromised healthcare, as both of you give your location as the USA. But in many countries in Southeast Asia, especially in far out rural communities, even easy to cure diseases can become problematic or even life-threatening quickly (healthcare got alot better in the last 20 years though).

As soon as you talk to people who have lived in times where it was normal to loose half of your children to sickness (eg my age group), there will be a growing appreciation that risk of infection is to be minimized -- even at a Kammic cost to oneself.
The teaching is a lake with shores of ethics, unclouded, praised by the fine to the good.
There the knowledgeable go to bathe, and cross to the far shore without getting wet.
[SN 7.21]
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salayatananirodha
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Re: lice

Post by salayatananirodha »

i dont get the brazen disregard for the first precept
just say it's hard to let yourself be uncomfortable or have your life threatened and that these are training rules, but don't apologize for heedlessness
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beanyan
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Re: lice

Post by beanyan »

Sam Vara wrote: Fri Nov 30, 2018 1:45 pm
DarrenM wrote: Fri Nov 30, 2018 10:41 am Phwoar, I hope nobody is accusing me recommending killing. I follow the 5 precepts. If you read what I say then you will see that I’ve said not to use conditioner as this would harm them, so it would hardly be likely I’d then recommend killing them.

I read that they stay still in water, the article said they were resilient, so I presumed that water would not kill them. If I am wrong then do not use water.

Edit: maybe I read wrong, and Dylan was taking to Sam
Yes, my point is that once they are established, I think it would be impossible in practical terms to remove them without killing them.
But they're going to die anyway unless they find a new host. And releasing them in the wild is releasing them to torture someone else, even if its an animal they latch onto. Its kind of like finding a king cobra in your house and throwing it out the window into your neighbor's window. You didn't kill it, but if it bites them its your fault. So better to kill the cobra and the lice. (I am convinced the first precept originally only applied to humans and the king's game, and was later misinterpretted, so don't waste your breath being shocked.)
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salayatananirodha
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Re: lice

Post by salayatananirodha »

why are you convinced of that?
if the buddha had meant humans he would have said humans
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