Some people beleive that all life is connected and should not be harmed, what it their opinion on such things as fleas, ticks, worms (the kind that gets in people’s stomachs), leaches or other organsims that harm and can kill the host? What should be done?
Also what are their views on a fetus living off of the mother for 9 months, which I have heard being described by some as a parasite?
I know there are quite a few belief systems that subscribe to the all life is scared, if you know the answer to a particular beleif system, please also mention the belief system as well as the answers.
[QUOTE]
On its ethical side—the sphere of Right Conduct—Jainism is largely at one with Brahminism and Buddhism. There are, however, a few differences in the application of the principle of not killing. The sacredness of all kinds of life implied in the doctrine of metempsychosis has been more scrupulously observed in practice by the Jain than by the Brahmin or the Buddhist. The Brahmin tolerates the slaughter of animals for food, to provide offerings for the sacrifice, or to show hospitality to a guest; the Buddhist does not scruple to eat meat prepared for a banquet; but the Jain reprobates meat-food without exception as involving the unlawful taking of life. For similar reasons the Jain does not content himself with straining his drinking water and with remaining at home during the rainy season, when the ground is swarming with lower forms of life, but when he goes forth, he wears a veil before his mouth, and carries a broom with which he sweeps the ground before him to avoid destruction of insect life. The Jainist ascetic allows himself to be bitten by gnats and mosquitoes rather than risk their destruction by brushing them away. Hospitals for animals have been a prominent feature of Jainist benevolence, bordering at times on absurdity. For example, in 1834 there existed in Kutch a temple hospital which supported 5000 rats. With all this scrupulous regard for animal life the Jain differs from the Buddhist in his view of the lawfulness of religious suicide. According to Jainist ethics a monk who has practised twelve years of severe asceticism, or who has found after long trial that he cannot keep his lower nature in control, may hasten his end by self-destruction.
I have always wondered the same thing… and also, if vegans find spiders in their house, or cockroaches, do they try to trap and release them, or do they kill them, or do they ignore them and let their house be over-run with pests? I mean, if you really think about it, it’s impossible not to be killing something… even cooking brocolli kills whatever little bacteria were living on it or whatever. You can sweep bugs out of your way, but you’re still stepping on something.
Well, it’s anecdotal, but when my Mother was working as a technician at a veterinary clinic, she once had a dog brought in that was suffering from heartworms. (If you don’t know what heartworms are, the name pretty much says it all) Now, this condition is indeed treatable, but the dog’s owner, who said she was a Buddhist, voiced reservations about having her dog treated, because that would kill the Heartworm. :eek:
After my mother noted that the dog and the heartworm both would die if nothing was done, the dog’s owner came to a reluctant compromise: she’d have her husband, who wasn’t a Buddhist, give the dog the heartworm pill. This, apparently, would be enough to fool the forces that control the universe. :rolleyes:
I told my Mom that if she had any other clients fret over a similar problem, she should remind them that if the “host” animal dies, the billions upon billions of microbes that live in it’s digestive tract would be killed.
An additional family discussion of this story, around the dinner table (we’re an odd bunch) came up with the additional argument that if some poor soul has had the bad luck to be reincarnated as a worm-parasite, then killing them might just be considered an act of mercy.
This is obtuse, right? The idea is to make the effort. And also, the vegans I’ve met usually take issue with the inhumane treatment and killing of animals that feel pain (and they feel that killing them for food is unnecessary). Bacteria don’t feel pain, and killing them is also rather necessary as some are quite unhealthy for you.
In Judaism, there is the concept of a rodeph ( a persuer). One is allowed to kill a persuer if there is no other way to save the intended victim. This includes killing lethal parasites and is the basis for the law in Judaism that one may abort a fetus, up until actual birth, if the life of the mother is in danger[sup]*[/sup].
Zev Steinhardt
[sup]*[/sup]I am not a posek (decisor of Jewish law) and this should not be considered a p’sak (a legal decision). In all cases, please consult your local Rabbi).