How about that fish?

Recently when I was in Kuala Lumpur (KL) to speak at a conference, I had the opportunity to speak to a group of 50~60 nice folks from Kelantan, Malaysia.  Very friendly and lovely bunch I must say.

I noticed that some of the locals in KL were eating live seafood and so I quizzed them on how that relates to the first precept of non-killing.  After a very lively discussion, we concluded that eating live seafood crossed the line for non-killing.  Consider how the fishes were happily swimming around in the tanks … ok, maybe not so happily … but nonetheless, alive and swimming.  Then someone may come along to the restaurant and order a meal, resulting in one or more of them being killed for our consumption.  At that point, it became clear that the meal was quite the cause of death or at least the reason.  So far so good, as far as understanding how we relate to the first precept of non-killing.

Then someone pointed out that sometimes, actually most of the time, only one person do the ordering, so perhaps he is the only person bearing the karma of killing.  I threw it open to the . . . → Read More: How about that fish?

Shifu can I do this or that?

Shifu, can I do this?  Shifu, can I do that?  Can I kill insects?  Can I drink whisky?  How about beer? Can I pay for less bus fare than I travelled?  How about overtime pay?  Can I dock in more hours than I worked?

The answers to the above, would be yes, yes, yes … and more Yes! If you had asked, can I breathe through my lungs underwater unassisted, it would be a no.  It would be a no to “Can I have an unassisted controlled flight?”, and by controlled flight, free-falling is not included.

Before you quote me saying that I allow you to do all the above former, think again.  You may think that I’m forgetting about the Buddhist precepts that advocate non-killing, non-stealing etc, ala the five precepts (Panca-Sila in Pali).  You see, what most people are mistaken about the Buddhist teachings is that it does not stipulate a “The Buddha says you cannot kill” and impose it upon you.  Instead, it says, killing is harmful to others (apparently!), is in turn unwanted by ourselves, results in pain, suffering and/or stress, amongst other things, and is to be avoided, for the sake of one’s welfare and . . . → Read More: Shifu can I do this or that?