Cittasanto wrote:.......once you have finished, do some form of memorial specifically for them?
I have tried posting this several times now
Well, you finally made it....
Kahil, Lama Surya Das recounts in one of his 'Awakening Trilogy' books that a USA-based monastery, which i believe had actually simply been established in an old and disused school, was over-run with cockroaches...
At first, the monks tried to welcome their 'little brothers' and make allowances for their being there.... but after a while, visitor numbers began falling off, retreats were badly attended, and people simply stopped visiting in adequate numbers - the little critters became pests, and soon after that, became a menace.
in spite of every different effort made by all the monks, to clean the place from top to bottom, and (indeed, as cittasanto suggests) talking to them, entreating them to reduce their numbers or leave), the problem reached critical point.....
the monks sent word back to the 'mother monastery' (in Nepal, if memory serves me well) and eventually, they reluctantly decided that the 'roaches had to go, and the exterminators were brought in.
the monks offered many mantras and "prayers" wishing the cockroaches a better, more auspicious and more fortunate re-birth - but that still meant killing them.
It had to be done.
Your bedbugs?
Ditto.
It has to be done.
Living according to the Precepts and The 8fold path is one of the hardest things we can ask of ourselves.
I maintain it's far more difficult to do the right thing, and adhere to such guidance, than it is to follow the 'rules' of any other religion I know, simply because *The Buck Stops Here*.
But it does not entail bearing guilt, or whupping ourselves over the head with a metaphorical Buddhist frying pan (or skillet, as some call it....).
It means understanding that Stress is caused, and can be transcended, through correct practice and application.
And correct practice and application, is often unsavoury, unpleasant and challenging.
but it's still 'Right'.
With much metta,
Fede.
but if nothing else it is considerate, and showing some form of respect. I will PM you with something in a moment.
,so that the usual way of getting rid of them to be insufficient.
