By Susan Suntree
Here are some excerpts from my recent talk on the Precept of Not Killing.
Long ago I vowed to follow my root teacher, Robert Aitken's model of carrying out the cockroach, which I attempt to emulate even as I falter. And if I do not "carry it out," I consciously make a decision to kill. And to express appreciation for the life I've taken.
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Not Killing is a vow taken by we humans who, with every heartbeat, every cell division, every act of digestion, are in constant motion and evolution as is the very nature of our cosmos. Not killing is impossible. Breathing, walking, drinking water all kill some life form. Even so, that fact does not alter my responsibility to avoid dishing out suffering. And killing causes suffering. Old Man cockroach runs like crazy to find safety from me. The plants send chemical signals to warn of invading insects or other blights. Life is hell bent on Living!
This precept is appropriately placed at the top of the list because it cautions against inflicting suffering by my taking what is not offered, my giving or withholding my words, treasure, ideas, my body to others in ways that generate suffering. Yet suffering is the First Noble Truth. There is no escaping being implicated in receiving or offering suffering. Suffering is not personal. And so we turn toward the Precepts for guidance, though how to enact them is not defined.
What is a killing: Is abortion killing? Yes, no, maybe. Is self-defense killing acceptable? Yes, no, maybe. Is there a "Good" War? Are forms of agriculture like intense use of pesticides and monoculture, clear cutting, mining especially open pit mining, fossil fuel extraction, factory fishing and farming -- killing? Does my pension's portfolio in these kinds of actions make me a killer?
Should I be vegan or vegetarian? In my research, the question of what to eat came up more than any other. Not killing human beings seems to be widely accepted (though what about the fact that over 50% of my Federal taxes go toward war, not to speak of the billions in fossil fuel subsidies Thus we are all implicated in killing ourselves and every other being!). In my research of the First Precept, I found many approaches to eating or not eating animals. For example: One should eat whatever is placed in your alms bowl, whatever is served, whatever is killed though not specifically killed for you. Don't eat exotic species, organ meat etc.
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There is no life without death and no death without life. We are all food. Eating is a sacrament; we eat and are eaten as part of the great web of life. Perhaps the point of the vow Not To Kill is to urge me to intimately understand this.
It seems to me that the foundational teaching of Not Killing, and all of the precepts we have considered, is to deeply cultivate the practice of kindness. Thich Nhat Hanh named his version of the precept of not killing “Reverence for Life”:
Aware of the suffering caused by the destruction of life, I vow to cultivate compassion and learn ways to protect lives of people, animals, plants and minerals. I am determined not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to condone any killing in the world, my thinking, and in my way of life.