When I first began learning about Buddhism, I remember being overwhelmed with all of the “rules” – Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, the Five (or Eight or Ten) Precepts, Three Marks of Existence, the Six Realms of Samsara (reincarnation)… It made my head spin. I knew it was going to be impossible to adopt all of these things into my life all at the same time, so I started a gradual path of accepting, practicing, perfecting each tenet individually.

Eventually, I began to group together similar concepts and tenets into a little set of principles for myself:

• Do not harm the world
• Do not harm yourself
• Enjoy life as it is

Each of these maps to some major aspect of Buddhism, particularly the Five Precepts, and makes it easy for me to make choices throughout each day. They’re pretty simple concepts, overall, but they have pretty far-reaching effects on my daily life.

My first principle is “Do not harm the world.”

It’s also probably the most complex of my little principles. It has obvious implications – don’t litter, don’t be mean to people, etc – but what happens when you start to apply it to everything in life? What if, in everything you do, you were to focus on not harming anyone or anything?

Eating Meat

Some things are pretty clear cut – I’m not going to murder anyone, of course – but other things really take a lot of thought – especially when it comes to my dietary choices. If I’m not to harm the world, how can I justify eating meat? What makes animals different from humans – and some animals different from others? Is there a compromise?

A Buddhist proverbial story tells of a General Siha, who was so convinced by the Buddha’s teachings that he gave up Jainism to become a Buddhist. When he did so, he decided to make a large feast for the monks and Buddha, and told one of his servants to go to the market and buy meat for the meal. The Jain monks, seeing this, were extremely upset, as Jains believe in not harming any animal for any cause. But the Buddha, however, made a very clear but subtle distinction: the meat which was served to him at the feast was intended for consumption, it had been raised exactly for that purpose. The animal was not killed explicitly for feeding the Buddha.

“Monks, I allow you fish and meat that are quite pure in three respects: if they are not seen, heard or suspected to have been killed on purpose for a monk. But, you should not knowingly make use of meat killed on purpose for you.”

Despite their direction specifically to monks, I also hold these respects very dear: I will not eat the meat if it was explicitly and knowingly killed for me. I will never order someone to kill an animal for my consumption, nor will I do so myself.

In addition, I strive to make sure that the animals I do consume lived cage-free, free-range lives, eating what they were intended to eat, and were treated humanely throughout their lives, up until and past the moments of their death. Derek and I happily pay a premium — really, more what the animal’s life was worth — for grass-fed, free-range, cage-free animals (and their byproducts).

While I do not rely on almsfood, as Buddhist monks do, and therefore have a choice in what I eat, I strive to make informed choices to ensure that the meat I eat (as well as the vegetables) do as little harm to the world as possible.

For more information on Buddhism and eating meat, there is a wonderful page on Urban Dharma which details a monk’s conundrums surrounding meat.

Refuse and Trash

When I began evolving my principles and defining what they meant in my daily life, I thought that taking care of trash would be pretty simple – just sort out the recycling and all is good, right? Not quite. Each day, I started to realize how much food was going to waste – from forgotten leftovers, spoiled fruit, spilled plates – and it bothered me. All of that food could go to another purpose, I knew – it could easily be composted and turned into soil, nurturing plants and animals to grow from my waste. But how can you compost when you live in a tiny apartment, with no backyard, in a concrete jungle?

Luckily, San Francisco came to my rescue in the form of a little green bin. It appeared outside my apartment building one morning, and I happily called Derek to tell him about it (as he was on his way to work already). A lovely little green compost bin, provided by the city of San Francisco.

Even more, every apartment in the building was given a compost bucket for their kitchen, to put the scraps into until they’re ready to take it to the big bin. When it’s collected, the compost goes to special lots where it’s further composted until it turns into nutrient-rich soil. Then the soil is distributed to local farms and vineyards in the Bay Area (as well as to hobby gardeners, I believe) and helps to make the next crop of fruit, vegetables and wine for me!

For more information on San Francisco’s composting efforts, check out RecologySF. And please, encourage your local sanitation and disposal departments to look into these efforts as well!

Getting Around

In this day and age, it’s pretty impossible to get around without using some sort of mechanical transportation – car, bus, train, plane, etc. In addition, I’m really, really bad at riding a bike (I didn’t learn how until I was 16 and I’m still really shaky at it). But part of avoiding harm to the world is considering how to get around and do as little harm as possible. Since my zero-emission methods are out (I can’t walk over these hills and biking would pretty much be suicide), I have to think of other ways to reduce my impact.

For me, that means not just public transportation but, even more, cleaner public transportation when possible. One electric bus halfway to work, and then either another electric bus or a diesel bus (not as great as an electric, but less emissions/person than a car) depending on the timing.

Interacting with Others

It’s pretty easy to avoid harming the world when you’re making all the decisions and controlling what you yourself do. But what happens when you come into contact with other people?

For me, this is the hardest part of my first principle. When someone harms you or someone you love or even someone you’ve never met, how can you avoid wishing harm on them? If someone lies to you, why would you want to be truthful to them? If someone elbows you on the bus, how can you avoid giving them a mean look?

The answer lies in a very deep concept: karuna.

Karuna is often translated as “compassion” – but the truth is that no English word exists to sum up all that this concept entails. Compassion is “a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.” (from Dictionary.com). Karuna, however, is the ability to relate to someone so deeply that it feels as though you have gone through their plight with them. It’s a universal love for every being as if it were yourself, which can only be achieved by the acceptance of one’s “oneness” with every other being. You accept every being’s imperfections because they are your own.

When someone harms someone else, I close my eyes and wish for them to be encompassed in the universe and feel the wholeness and love that they are missing, that makes them feel the need to act the way they do.

I remember that they have their reasons for lying, for harming, for elbowing me on the bus, even if they’re misguided. Maybe they’re having a rough day. Maybe they feel like they’ve never been able to trust anyone. Maybe all they’ve ever known is hurt themselves.

It’s very similar to a Christian verse:

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. (Luke 23:34)

It’s not easy. Oftentimes, the pain strikes very close to home and it’s hard to remember that these people are humans, too, and connected by the same universe. But, for me, it is important to extend out that universal love and compassion – karuna – regardless.

In the past few weeks, I’ve been dealing with a lot of pain, as someone I’ve never met inflicted harm on one of my loved ones. It’s exceptionally hard to deal with – as much as I don’t want to ever forgive them, I know that I already do. There is no blame, there is no fault. There is only pain traveling from one person to the next, and I will not let it travel past me to go on and harm others.

Kuan Yin’s Prayer for the Abuser

To those who withhold refuge,
I cradle you in safety at the core of my Being.
To those that cause a child to cry out,
I grant you the freedom to express your own choked agony.
To those that inflict terror,
I remind you that you shine with the purity of a thousand suns.
To those who would confine, suppress, or deny,
I offer the limitless expanse of the sky.
To those who need to cut, slash, or burn,
I remind you of the invincibility of Spring.
To those who cling and grasp,
I promise more abundance than you could ever hold onto.
To those who vent their rage on small children,
I return to you your deepest innocence.
To those who must frighten into submission,
I hold you in the bosom of your original mother.
To those who cause agony to others,
I give the gift of free flowing tears.
To those that deny another’s right to be,
I remind you that the angels sang in celebration of you on the day of your birth.
To those who see only division and separateness,
I remind you that a part is born only by bisecting a whole.
For those who have forgotten the tender mercy of a mother’s embrace,
I send a gentle breeze to caress your brow.
To those who still feel somehow incomplete,
I offer the perfect sanctity of this very moment.

More information on Karuna can be found on this page.

I think that’s probably enough deep pondering for one entry, don’t you? Next time we’ll talk about my second principle – Do not harm yourself. Hopefully it will be a little lighter fare. :)