Question: Venerable, I took a vow of not killing, and I would like to know about . . . I had to . . .
Venerable: What are you saying, sweetheart?
Q: Sorry (crying).
Ven.: No, don’t worry, you go.
Q: I did take a vow of not killing.
Ven.: You’ve taken a vow of not killing, yeah?
Q: But my dog was . . . he was ill.
Ven.: You killed your dog, darling? Is that what you’re saying?
Q: Yes.
Ven.: All right. This is very common, we all do that, don’t we? So let’s talk about this, shall we, let’s talk about it.
Q: So, you know, I can’t really get on top of the regret part, because I feel like the choice to end his life was out of compassion for his suffering.
Ven.: I understand that, darling. So let’s discuss it, all right?
Q: Yes.
Ven.: Should we do that?
Q: Yes, please.
Ven.: Okay, darling.
Q: Thank you.
The very first level of Buddhist ethics is based on the view of karma. So, according to this view, there are trillions of sentient beings and everything they think and do and say, first of all, produces results in them and, second, has impact upon others.
So there’s two things going on here: there’s you and there’s the dog. First, we’ll discuss you, okay?
This is a major point and I think we miss it totally. All Buddha’s advice at the very first level of practice is solely to protect oneself from future suffering – compassion and helping others comes later; it’s a more advanced level of practice.
How to do that? Well, given that whatever I think and do and say leaves seeds in my mind that will ripen as future suffering, it’s pretty reasonable that I would not want to kill – who would want that type of result for oneself? But we don’t think this way.
So let’s break down how we create karma. A complete action of, for example, killing, in order for that to be a strong negative action for you, which leaves a seed in your bank vault of killing, and which will grow and grow and grow and multiply and then ripen as you having the four suffering results of killing, four things need to be in place when you do the action.
And, by the way, the four results of any karma, but here killing specifically are: 1. A type of rebirth, and in this case a lower realm rebirth; 2. The tendency to keep killing; 3. Being killed or dying young; and 4. A suffering environmental result such as getting sick easily.
So, the four things that need to be in place when we do the action of killing in order to bring those four results are: 1. The object: a living being, in this case your dog. The second one, two parts: 2a. intention: “I will kill my dog.” Now I know you didn’t actually say that because we don’t like to say that, we’ll say “put it down,” or whatever, do you understand me? So far so good, that’s there, you did do that.
The second part of the second step, 2b, is your motivation. Now we can see – it’s obvious – you have compassion, because you see your dog suffering, and you have compassion, and you feel very strongly that killing the dog will help the dog. Am I correct?
That’s called “compassion for the dog,” very clear, and everybody who kills their pet – not always, I’m sorry – does it for that reason. Many people don’t want to admit it, but they do it because the damn bills are so expensive, so now it’s inconvenient, so you kill your bloody pet. But in your case it sounds like compassion. Do you understand me?
The third one, 3. you do the action, or you get the vet to do it. Fourth, 4. the result: a dead dog. Okay?
So far, we are looking at the consequences for you; we’re not discussing the dog. We have to understand this; in other words, this is what understanding the law of karma means; this is what has to guide our actions.
Okay, now, in general, with any action we do, the key factor – I’m choosing my words very carefully – the key factor in any action we do that determines whether it is negative or positive, which in turn determines the karmic result for oneself, the key factor isn’t the doing of the action, it isn’t even the intention, “I will steal, I will kill,” or even, “I will be generous.”
The key factor in determining whether an action is negative or positive, and therefore the result for you, is the motivation.
So, in your case, we can say there’s not much negative karma at all. Your motivation was compassion, for sure. You meant well, you really did mean well. Are you with me?
Now we’ll talk about the results for your dog. And we never give this any thought.
As Lama Zopa says, “Meaning well is not enough, I’m sorry, you need wisdom.” Let’s just say I’m your friend, and I have a very terrible headache, and you have compassion for me, and you have a pill, and you really want to help, but you’ve just forgotten whether the pill was cyanide or Tylenol. And you think, “Oh, I’m not sure, but I really want to help Robina.”
In other words, with any action we do that involves another sentient being, we must be confident about the likely results for them. This is really clear.
So with me and my headache, you’re not sure – you don’t know the consequences because you forget what the pill is. But you so much want to help Robina, and you give me the pill, and I die in agony. And you say, “Oh well, I meant well, Robina.” You with me, dear? You’ve got to have some wisdom – you better have some wisdom!
And we know we’d never do this, we’d never take the risk. So I’d have to put up with my suffering or look for another alternative.
So what about your dog? What are the likely consequences for your dog if/when you kill it? We have no idea, have we!
Most of us don’t have what the Buddha would refer to as clairvoyance, would you agree? And what that means is the clairvoyance that’s crystal clear, that sees the mind of your dog, knows exactly its karma, and knows that it’s beneficial for your dog that if you kill it now, you can guarantee that it will, when it dies, take a really good human rebirth, and meet the Dalai Lama, and have a good spiritual path.
This level of wisdom does exist: this is the point. At a certain level of spiritual practice, we can accomplish this. In fact, Buddha says that we can’t really help sentient beings until we have clairvoyance. But this is like science fiction to us.
Now, did you have that certainty? No. Did you have any certainty at all that it would get a positive rebirth? Did you have any certainty at all that it wouldn’t get a suffering rebirth? In fact, you didn’t even think of that probably – most of us don’t.
So you didn’t have the wisdom that knows your dog’s mind well enough that enables your action to not only bring you a good result but bring a good result for your dog. We don’t think that way because we’re not used to the view of reincarnation. It takes us a while to think it through. You with me?
So you have no certainty, do you, that you didn’t send your dog from the frying pan into the fire? I’m not trying to increase your guilt here, but that’s a fact.
Now, due to the dog’s karma, maybe it died really well, and it now has a happy human rebirth and is practicing. But you don’t know that. But if there was a lot of fear in its mind at the time of death, that would have triggered a negative karmic seed, which would cause the dog to take another lower realm rebirth.
In Buddhism it’s not that, “Oh, you shouldn’t kill, it’s wrong” – it’s that we don’t have the wisdom to know the results. You see my point?
So learn from that, sweetheart, have the regret: if you did harm your dog, and you might have, you have to own that fact. But you did mean well, so for yourself there’s not much negative karma. The reason you did it was for your dog’s sake but, like with the pill, you didn’t have enough wisdom. That’s the view.
If you like, learn from that, regret the killing, have compassion, purify it, and vow not to do it again. Best to play safe and just don’t kill, period, the best you can. Do you get my point?
That’s the approach. Is that helpful? But move on from it, don’t just sit there with guilt, that’s useless. Move on and learn. Do you understand? That’s the Buddha’s view, darling.
Compassion is the wish to help, but it’s your wisdom about that person that informs your ability to help. That’s the wisdom wing!
Working on our minds, purifying our karma, dealing with our own minds, living in vows, what that does is clarify our mind, give us more contentment and more fulfillment, lessens our own neuroses, and therefore gives us more clarity and more wisdom where we can add compassion to the mix, and now have wisdom and compassion, and know wisely how to help people.