DeeKnow’s Grotto

Although I've travelled though a couple of predominantly buddhist countries I dont really know any Buddhists personally and/or well enough to ask them something thats really been bugging me (pun, to follow, intended).

On Sunday I went out for a weekend cobweb blowing blast on the 750 around the Norwegien Rd loop near Rotorangi. The Thin man had reccomended it after having done a few car club time trials round the circuit so of course it had to be investigated on the bike.

Once I'd actually found the Rd and begun picking my way through the winding narrow sealed sections of the loop I noticed an unusually large number of critters beginning to form a sludgy layer of dead organic material all over my visor. Squinting up ahead I spotted loads of those white cabbage butterflies drifting out of the paddocks and across the road into the path of the Ninja, so to speak.

There's really nothing that can be done at 100km/h (cough!.. cough!..) to avoid the little fellahs so I just continued mowing through them as they carried out their suicidal and ultimately unsuccessful attempt to knock me off the road.

It was at about this point that my mind began to wander a little to consider the dilema a Buddhist must face when similarly destroying large numbers of Earth's little creatures. Would a Buddhist slow down to the point where they could avoid them, would they give up and dismount to walk through the organic cloud, or would they do as I did and shrug their shoulders and bash on through with the comfort that the deaths were largley accidental.

Well it turns out my Karhma points may be safe afterall, as apparently...

On the following day, early in the morning when [Buddha] was pacing up and down in the ambulatory, he killed many insects unintentionally. Visiting monks seeing the blood-stained ambulatory complained to the Buddha that he had committed the offence of killing. The Buddha explained to them that he was not guilty as he was an Arahant. He had no intention to kill insects... The Buddha asked them "Do you know what 1 mean by Kamma? It means intentional activity or doing.

10:21:26 PM