Do viruses have Buddha Nature?
This is not a factious question, but a serious one. I have recently had a really bad bout of flu, and I was lying there about to do some visualisations the one day, to try and get my immune system to fight the virus more effectively. Then it occurred to me that perhaps this was an aggressive thing to do. After all, the virus might have been there for a reason. Now I don’t think a virus is quite on a par with a sentient being, but still…
Do viruses have Buddha Nature?
July 1, 2007 at 9:29 am
My information suggests that all things have Buddha Nature, including insentient objects; or, more accurately, all things ARE Buddha Nature, including a sick body and the virus which besieges it.
Perhaps a fruitful issue to explore is the contention of so many teachers that ultimately the Dharma is a set of concepts (and that includes the concept of Buddha Nature) which point to something beyond conception.
July 11, 2007 at 9:56 pm
Depends! What do you understand by sentient? According to the common definition or Oxford Dictionary wording, “having the power of perception by the senses”. So next, what is meant by senses? According to Buddhist teachings, six, namely: seeing (sight), hearing, smelling, tasting, feeling (touch), and cognizance. And then, what is perception?
According to the dictionary “the faculty of perceiving”, which is fairly useless ( I believe), and so perceiving means … “apprehend, esp. through the senses, … observe … with the mind; understand”.
Okay, that’s not going anywhere useful, so let’s approach this differently. Is a virus a living being? According to biological and/or medical acceptance, a virus is generally accepted as being a living organism.
But let’s leave all of that aside as well. (Trust me, it is not going to go anywhere useful.) Far more relevant, I believe, is that you have a choice with everything in life, except, death. Death is a certainty, for us all, and everything else is pretty much uncertain. So you get to choose! Simple.
It is your choice whether you want to kill the virus or bacteria, or whatever, or not. If you do not have the compassion to let it breed in or on you, then kill it. If you believe you have to demonstrate THAT level of compassion, then let it feed on you. Nobody can tell you which is right and which is wrong. You decide, and as long as you are willing and happy to live with the consequences, because there will be consequences, then that is fine. One way or another.
If you believe that that living beings’ consciousness or existence is more relevant (important) than yours, please do everything to make its habitat as ideal as possible. No antibiotics, not too hot or too cold, don’t exceed the moisture levels, or deprive it of sufficient moisture. Maintain a good pH level in your body. Do not stress out the poor creature, or … oh what the heck. Who am I kidding?
Stuff the virus, I have a life to live, and many more other living beings to benefit, and I will gladly inherit the Karma from doing everything in my power to let myself feel a bit better among the misery of having a cold, or flu, or a sore throat, or cough. Life is hard enough, and for once I will accept survival of the fittest, because believe me, given half a chance the virus won’t bat an eyelid, or whatever it is that they bat, to do me in.
But hey … that is JUST me.
July 23, 2007 at 10:01 pm
Thanks Peter and John
Both of these approaches are helpful to me. I use a mozzie net to keep mosquitos at bay, rather than poisoning them… and if I can do the same with viruses, why not? So, I take echinacea and vitamin C and so on. I do what I can to protect my own well-being.
But at the end of the day, when the battle is sometimes lost, it helps to see things in the light John mentions. All things have their place, and their time, it seems…
January 3, 2008 at 4:10 am
When we’re one with all things, should the lion eat the deer?
March 9, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Dear Sue,
Things are as they are, there are many different energies that make up the whole, from parasitic organisms to bio-degrading organisms. We do not need to be complacent, placid, we can however remain soft. Allowing and softly adjusting for things to pass by.