My interest in Buddhism has spiked recently and as i understand it, killing animals is a pretty big deal in Buddhism. Before I became interested, i was a big hunter and I've definately killed animals before. Is there any way to repent for this?
Killing anything is a big deal. But in Buddhism there are no sins and so nothing to repent from. Buddhism is more concerned with your present intents and actions.There are many Buddhist stories of warriors, murders, thiefs, scoundrels, and "untouchables" becoming model citizens or monks. Become aware.
Yeah I think it really depends on your intentions and whatnot. If you kill an animal so that you can feed your family, then the intention was good. If you kill an animal because you think it would be fun to watch them die, that's a different story.
If you devote yourself to Buddhism and take refuge in Buddha, then one of the rules/vows is to not kill. So in turn you would experience bad/negative energy/kamma (karma) if you were to kill another being be it a deer, human or ant. I believe repenting wouldn't at all help if you are a Buddhist as the emphasis on Buddhism philosophy is to be present and not dwell on past nor dream to the future. Pick up a book on the subject of Buddhism, its good to learn what you can from the philosophy and ways of living that it can offer you.
In Buddhism, there is no one you need to ask forgiveness from except yourself. You don't need to repent for what you did if it is already done, just tell yourself you have embraced buddhism and so the hunting part of your life is over. You can be sorry for what you did, but the point of buddhism, like Adventurous said, is here and now, how you feel, every moment as it comes. Don't dwell on past mistakes.
A soldier who killed 13 children in Vietnam was living in total misery and guilt. Finally he broke down and asked Master Thich Nhat Hanh for help. Thay's advice was this: That day you killed 13 children. But every day you have the opportunity to save the lives of 13 other children. Hundreds of children are dying from lack of a few medicines or some clean water to drink. You can save 13 children everyday, or you can wallow in the guilt of those children you killed 30 years ago. This is your path to heal your past. This is your path to become a Bodhisattva. And the man did it. He started a nonprofit and helps children around the world and is now a happy, whole, peaceful person.
Intentionally killing any living being, whether the IDEA of the intention be good or what, is still killing. Not seeing a bug, or seeing a bug, stepping on it you kill it is intention driven. It doesn't matter if that bug was or was not poisonous. With intention you deprived a living being of its life. Needing to eat you kill an animal is intention driven. With intention you deprived a LIVING BEING of its life, and for what? A self-driven desire for happiness you deprive another living being of its existence and of its desire for happiness. ALL action has consequence. ALL action ... Every action is intended ... yes, even not seeing a bug, stepping on it you kill it. Your intention may not have been to kill it because you did not see it, but you had intentions to move in the direction you were moving where you would step on a bug unawares. And as a result, not seeing it you step on it still has consequences just the same as seeing it you step on it. When the Buddhist texts says "they had mindfulness set before them" it meant they were aware of everything, thought, movement, speech ... and intention. Suffice it to say, unless you were "intending" to become a monk, I wouldn't worry too much about this issue ... just realize that ALL actions have results, good actions have good as its result and bad actions have bad as its result. There is no GOOD reason to take the life of any living being. Do you want anyone (or anything) taking your life ... ??? Oh, and Magpiethief, "your family" can just as well feed on broccli ... HTML:
If you kill only to eat do you think that is still bad? When a tiger kills, it is not for any form of anger of hate. It is because that is the way of nature. I’m more a believer of what I guess you would call a Native American view. As long as I respect the animal, and what it has sacrificed for me, eating it is not an evil act. And if I were to be eaten by something, it’s the same thing, the way of nature. I have a friend who is big into guns, and for enjoyment he shoots prairie dogs, now that is an act of cruelty, no point other then the act of the kill at that point. And he thought I was the weird one when I said I would not do that with him. "But they are a nuance to farmers" he said. Total BS IMO lol
Read my posts in this thread http://www.hipforums.com/newforums/showthread.php?t=380237&f=66 I'm not Buddhist, but my posts might help you understand another viewpoint.
I don't kill anything, except spiders. When it comes to spiders I can be a sick, twisted person. I killed a deer once and felt like SHIT because of it. Never hunted since. Animals are too cute. Spiders though...fuuuuck. That's the only thing I kill these days, and during the summer I sometimes go "spider hunting" and kill all the spiders I can find around my house. Creatively too. burn, squish, torture, whatever
Killing is killing. It is good for the tiger, not good for the prey. And don't compare yourself to a tiger. You're a human. You have different options even though you're both part of the natural world. It is natural for the tiger to be a hunter. It is natural for the human to have the ability to choose to either be a hunter or get food some other way.
I try not to kill anything. Not even an insect. And so far I've been mostly successful. There have been times however, that I chose not to follow the First Precept and called for an exterminator to kill the termites in my house. Was it good or bad? It was "good" for me because I got to prevent them from eventually destroying my house, "bad" for the termites. Did that make me a "good" or "bad" person? Wrong question, really. Because I don't think good and bad is the point in Buddhism. The point is how do we liberate ourselves from dukka (sp?)?. The Eightfold Path (of which the Five Precepts are a part of) is designed for liberation. It's not about being "good" as opposed to being "bad". It's really a matter of choices here and accepting karma. We make a choice to either undertake the Five Precepts as part of our training on the Eightfold Path, or not - and accept the consequences of either choice. We make a choice to either honor our commitment to that training, or not. And again, we accept the consequences of either choice. That's all there is to it really. There is karma for following the precepts. There is karma for not following. Killing is killing. There is karma that follows killing. There is karma that follows not killing. Neither karma is reward/punishment for doing something "good/bad". Karma is just karma. Maybe killing in defense (when no other option is available) and killing to eat (when one is hungry) has less negative karma than killing out of malice, but both are still killing.
