Buddhist Ideas & Gardens – Preserving Life
As far as possible, Buddhists should try not to kill other creatures – this is part of the Noble Eightfold Path. This applies to insects too.
Taking Trouble Not to Kill Other Creatures
At the Roots of Wisdom Institute, for instance, anyone who is visiting, whether Buddhist or not, is asked to follow this basic Buddhist rule while they are there. This means taking care to step over any columns of ants on garden paths and not swatting mosquitoes. Rather than kill mosquitoes, you are expected to use mosquito repellent and wear long sleeved clothing. Once you’ve got into the habit, this rule is actually quite easy to follow.
Avoiding killing anything when digging or lawn mowing is more complicated. However careful you are, you may still kill some worms and insects. Also, the same gardening tasks, which kill some creatures, can create food and better habitats for others. Dig a pool and you inevitably kill some insects – but your pool is soon a life source for many others and birds and animals come to feed or drink there. A Buddhist approach is to plan your gardening so it does least harm to other creatures and brings them most benefit. For instance near the edges of a pool you could make shallow areas so that animals like hedgehogs do not fall in and drown when they come to drink.
For creatures which cause problems in the garden, Buddhists use control methods which do not involve killing them. Generally they do not use pesticides. They will be careful not to leave lying around food which could attract mice or rats. The garden of the Roots of Wisdom Institute in Bodhgaya, India gets visited by many rats which come to eat vegetables growing there. They are caught in humane traps, which do not harm them. Then they are taken to the countryside and released.
Buddhists also reduce the need for ‘pest control’ through viewing other creatures as fellow owners of the garden rather than ‘pests’ which you have a right to keep out or kill.
Continue reading: Sharing the garden with other creatures.