Consciously knowing that microbes get killed while we live our day

[Viveka]

Dear Raghav022,

The internet is not the best place for receiving advice in situations such as this No-one can appreciate the details of your circumstances, and as such, all advice is just a general, non-personalised opinion. So when reading the advice offered here, please keep this in mind! Only you and perhaps a teacher who knows you can offer the most appropriate direction.

With the Bushfires in Australia, I have been contemplating this subject and here are a few relevant points that I offer for your consideration.

Without death there cannot be life It is the same with every living thing on the planet, and not exclusive to humans. In my personal opinion, this is one of the reasons that Samsara is such an unsatisfactory place. Dukha in samsara is inescapable. So one should feel no personal guilt for existing - Samsara is Dukha - it is nothing to do with any individual being.

@Mat

At Savatthi. There the Blessed One said: “From an inconstruable beginning comes transmigration. A beginning point is not evident, though beings hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving are transmigrating & wandering on. What do you think, monks: Which is greater, the tears you have shed while transmigrating & wandering this long, long time — crying & weeping from being joined with what is displeasing, being separated from what is pleasing — or the water in the four great oceans?”

“As we understand the Dhamma taught to us by the Blessed One, this is the greater: the tears we have shed while transmigrating & wandering this long, long time — crying & weeping from being joined with what is displeasing, being separated from what is pleasing — not the water in the four great oceans.”

"Excellent, monks. Excellent. It is excellent that you thus understand the Dhamma taught by me.

"This is the greater: the tears you have shed while transmigrating & wandering this long, long time — crying & weeping from being joined with what is displeasing, being separated from what is pleasing — not the water in the four great oceans.

"Long have you (repeatedly) experienced the death of a mother. The tears you have shed over the death of a mother while transmigrating & wandering this long, long time — crying & weeping from being joined with what is displeasing, being separated from what is pleasing — are greater than the water in the four great oceans.

"Long have you (repeatedly) experienced the death of a father… the death of a brother… the death of a sister… the death of a son… the death of a daughter… loss with regard to relatives… loss with regard to wealth… loss with regard to disease. The tears you have shed over loss with regard to disease while transmigrating & wandering this long, long time — crying & weeping from being joined with what is displeasing, being separated from what is pleasing — are greater than the water in the four great oceans.

“Why is that? From an inconstruable beginning comes transmigration. A beginning point is not evident, though beings hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving are transmigrating & wandering on. Long have you thus experienced stress, experienced pain, experienced loss, swelling the cemeteries — enough to become disenchanted with all fabricated things, enough to become dispassionate, enough to be released.”

SN 15.3 the truth of dukkha -dukkha sacca- ( not suffering deeply, which is not useful in the Path) is what needs to be realized.

So when one is on the path, one is striving to leave samsara behind :-). One has to stay alive to achieve this. It is the same as when the Buddha says that the desire to do wholesome things is necessary to engage on the path, and then at the very end it is let go of. In the same way, we as humans can’t stop existing (and harming some beings) until we are finally liberated. It is a necessary step to eventually achieving total harmlessness.

While this knowledge doesn’t get rid of the suffering, one can use it to develop further. Remember that you are one of the beings who is suffering, and have compassion for yourself.

I had some wise advice from a teacher recently, and that is to be careful about too much emphasis on compassion, as it is so closely related to suffering, and can lead to excessive suffering for oneself - which blocks progress on the path. Ultimately only wisdom can truly help other beings, so this gives extra impetus to practice well

In order to progress along the path and not be crippled by doubt and guilt one needs to develop Right Attention. So in this case, one aspect is about realising the metta inherent in your wish to avoid causing any suffering. Focusing so intently on suffering can misdirect Right Attention, away from the Noble 8 fold path. Focusing on the metta frees one up to practice well.

One can choose how to use the experiences of Dukha, by directing attention (yonisomanisekara) to different aspects of it. Being aware of ones own conditioning also helps to direct Right Attention - one is aware of ones own habits of thinking, and consciously directs them to better areas for contemplation. EG if one is prone to see and feel the suffering of others, with a tendency toward depression, then one can see how ones conditioning can stop one from transcending samsara, by keeping the focus stuck. Instead if one focuses on Metta, which exists concurrently with suffering , then one has a means to keep practicing towards ultimate liberation. It is about balance and using experience to gain a broader perspective, gain in wisdom, and to begin to see things as they are

I’ve always viewed every experience of suffering as an opportunity for progressing on the path. It works on 2 levels, firstly one uses the circumstances to further ones own practice and secondly, one becomes conditioned to associate appreciation with occurrences of suffering, ie one can immediately see a positive side to the experience no matter how horrible it is. This profoundly minimises the negative emotions and stops one from freezing or being stuck in the ‘suffering victim’ role, At least for me
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With Regard to Right Attention Yonisomanisikara there is SN 46.32
https://suttacentral.net/sn46.32/en/sujato

Mendicants, whatever qualities are skillful, part of the skillful, on the side of the skillful, all of them are rooted in proper attention and meet at proper attention, and proper attention is said to be the best of them.

“Ye keci, bhikkhave, dhammā kusalā kusalabhāgiyā kusalapakkhikā, sabbe te yonisomanasikāramūlakā yonisomanasikārasamosaraṇā; yonisomanasikāro tesaṃ dhammānaṃ aggamakkhāyati.A mendicant accomplished in proper attention can expect to develop and cultivate the seven awakening factors.

As such, you could perhaps focus on both Metta and Right attention, while aiming for liberation for the benefit of ‘yourself’ and all beings

If however, the depression has developed to such a stage as to interfere with your ordinary life, then I strongly suggest you seek some professional health. For this will ultimately help you get back to a balanced focus on the path.

With Metta and Karuna