Saving Insects' Lives

When I was in Madison to take the Great Insight teachings, the great commentary on the path to enlightenment; one day after the teaching, there were a lot of ants on the road next to the car that Roger had brought. I told the students that we have been like that. In our past lives we have been like that. So these insects are a teaching for us, to practice Dharma. They are born due to negative karma; due to not having practiced Dharma. They are showing this to us.

• She Zong: Casting away the spirits.
• Offer one hundred tormas. [See Engaging in the Practice of the Hundred Torma Offerings.]
• Make offerings to the Three Jewels. [See Extensive Offering Practice.]
• Make offerings to the nagas and landlords to repay your karmic debts. [See Practices to Benefit Pretas, Nagas and Spirits eBook and PDF.]
• Sur Offering: Aroma Charity for Spirits. [See also Rinpoche’s commentary on the sur practice.]

[Find links to the above practices in the FPMT Catalogue.]

Note: Ultimately, when insects are invading one’s house it is due to past karma, so another method Rinpoche recommends is saving the insects and taking them around holy objects. You can set up a table in the room with statues and books, take the insects around that and then liberate them outside. Each time you do this, so much merit is created, and this is what has the power to change the karma.

Many animals cannot hear mantras, but all they have to do to liberate themselves is circumambulate a holy object, even without the motivation—that is all. Stupas and, specifically, the four Dharmakaya Relic mantras, have so many benefits. Just by seeing, hearing, touching, or thinking about any holy object that has the four Dharmakaya Relic mantras inside it, one can be liberated from all negative karma and suffering. This means that as we circumambulate with the insects, we are offering them the body of a happy transmigrator in their next life, and a happy rebirth. Not only that, but we are giving them the opportunity to practice Dharma in their next life, which is the most important thing: to have a better rebirth to be able to accomplish the path, eliminate defilements, and achieve enlightenment.

This is an incredible gift. It repays their kindness. They have been our mother numberless times, and because of their kindness we have been able to practice Dharma. As our mothers, they protected our lives from hardships and dangers every day, and bore so many hardships for us. These insects are the source of all our present happiness, as well as all our previous and future happiness, and all the realizations of the path up to enlightenment.

I asked for a stupa to be built at my house in California (Kachoe Dechen Ling) because we got a dog who was in danger of being put down. Our dog is called Om Mani Padme Hum. I thought that if we had a dog, then we needed a stupa so that the dog could circumambulate it every day. Now, there is an extremely beautiful stupa there, covered with tsa-tsas and filled with the four Dharmakaya Relic mantras. These mantras are the most powerful for purification and for collecting merit. Now that we have a stupa, we perform animal liberation practices several times a month, on the 8th, 15th and 30th of the Tibetan calendar and on all Wheel Turning days. We buy worms and insects, and circumambulate them around the stupa as many times as possible. We chant mantras and blow on water, which we then sprinkle on them. Then we liberate them: those from the water into water, those from the ground into the ground.

As there are many copies of the four Dharmakaya Relic mantras inside the stupa, just one circumambulation purifies the negative karma to be reincarnated in the eight hot hells. In each successive hell the suffering is heavier. With one circumambulation, all the heavy, negative karma is completely purified and the insects’ lives are directed toward enlightenment.

If you have a thousand insects and worms and you circumambulate them around the stupa three times, not only will you liberate them from the lower realms, but they will also create the cause for enlightenment. Those circumambulations become the cause of their enlightenment, for them to achieve liberation from samsara, and to have a good rebirth in their next life. Each time you circumambulate with them, you are giving all those thousands of insects and worms enlightenment, liberation, and a good rebirth. However many mantras and stupas are present, with each circumambulation you are giving the insects that many causes of enlightenment, liberation from samsara, and happiness in future lives. You are creating the cause for their purification and for them to collect merit. Along the way, you also create these things for yourself, no question.

If you have cockroaches, you can do Sur offering for them. There is a reason why they have come to the center. It’s because you have a karmic debt with them. They didn’t come intentionally; it’s not like all the cockroaches had a meeting and decided to move into the center, it happened by the force of karma. So, you need to do Sur offering to repay your karmic debts with them. If you didn’t have a karmic debt with them, they wouldn’t come. It’s the same with mice or insects that eat crops and flowers, or woodworm in a house. It’s because there are some karmic debts. So, one thing you can do is to offer them what they want, offer charity to them, because we never get the opportunity to offer things to sentient beings. The other thing is to do Sur practice and the 100 torma offering. I can also give you mantras to recite.

One of my students spoke to a mouse and asked it to move outside the house and it went. She also spoke to some insects and told them to leave and they went. There are some other stories like that. So, it seems that if you talk sincerely to these creatures, with some it works.

You can put the cockroaches in a small part of the house. Otherwise, make a house out of a paper box, find out what they eat and put that in the box, and then after they have gone in the box, put the box outside. Then, sometimes, go and give them food. By putting them in the box they are protected. If food is given regularly, it becomes charity.

Having ants in your house gives you your only opportunity to let them create the causes for enlightenment. If there are many ants, put them in a plastic bag or container and then carry them around holy objects, keeping the bag at the same level as the holy objects.

If you carry them around 20 holy objects (statues, stupas, or scriptures of the Buddha), then it means you are giving them 20 causes of enlightenment and 20 causes of liberation and a higher rebirth. This is from taking the ant or any sentient being around the objects one time.

If you have many ants in your house, and you’re careless, you will kill them. With a soft tissue paper, soft piece of cotton, broom, or feather, pick them up and put them in a plastic bag with some food in it. Use some food that they like, something they’re excited about or fascinated by, and then close the bag and take it around a stupa or holy objects as many times as you can. This will liberate them from a lower rebirth and help them achieve liberation and enlightenment. The holy objects can be set up on a table, and then you can walk around the table with the ants. Then, put the ants outside, opening the plastic bag to release them, or shaking them onto the ground with the food.

The only way you can help ants and other insects in this way is if they come into your house. This is an excellent opportunity to benefit them. You are also being charitable by giving them food.

If you take them around a stupa or holy objects, you are offering them the charity of Dharma. By purifying their minds, you are saving them from suffering.