For Buddhists (or others concerned with Right Action): Your opinion, please.?

Question

A colony of sugar ants has recently made a new home in my kitchen and the are constantly enjoying themselves on my counter, and contributing to my suffering because I would like them to take their little Sangha and go live happily elsewhere and I do not want to kill them. How might I convince them to leave?

Humor is understood, expected and appreciated, but I would like some serious opinions as well.

Peace.

Answer 1

A Western Buddhist woman was In india, studying with her teacher. She was riding with another woman friend in a rickshaw-like carriage, when they were attacked by a man on the street. In the end, the attacker only succeeded in frightening the women, but the Buddhist woman was quite upset by the event and told her teacher so. She asked him what she should have done - what would have been the appropriate, Buddhist response.

The teacher said very simply, "You should have very mindfully and with great compassion whacked the attacker over the head with your umbrella."

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNe5n8gKPhk <<< you'll like this one...

Answer 2

You are not the only Buddhist with this problem... the Hong Hock See temple has had an infestation of poisonous ants for more than a year (link 1).

Some of your better solutions involve interfering with the chemical trail that ants use to return to food once they find it. I've heard that leaving cucumbers, basil or mint leaves, or a variety of other strong-smelling stuff near their point of entry will entirely deter them. You may wish also to combine this with a bait (like sugar) to get them to move to somewhere else instead!

Hope that helps!

Answer 3

In Vedic Culture also Karma or Right Action is important.

I had faced this same problem. I had then put some sugar at one corner of the place where ants used to live, and requested them not to eat other things that would be offered to God. This worked !!!

Bhagavad Gita mention that in every step of this Life we are forced to live on some other living entity. Even the vegetarian live on trees and plants that have soul in it. We cannot always avoid killing ants or insects when we walk or work or rest and in our day to day activity.

According to Vedic culture, the intention of doing such activity is very important. Vedas advice us to put the intention as always – “for the service of God”. Since God is above the law of nature, hence he is not wronged at any circumstances.

All activity is divided into 3 category - that which produce Good on the person, that which produce Bad on the person, that which does not entangle the person.
When a person works for following the order of God then he is not entangled in the results of his work. This is main teaching of Bhagavad Gita.

So if we keep our place clean, with intention that you will be able to maintain your Health and thus engage more in service of Lord, then such activity, even if it results in killing of insects, it will not entangle us. Similarly if an Army man fights to protect the citizen so that citizen and the country can engage properly in service of God then he will not be punished for killing in the battle. However such decisions should be under the guidence of a person who has understood the desire of the Lord Properly.

This is science of getting free from results of our activity and go back to Spiritual self.

Answer 4

We have the same problem with Cockroaches in the US in many of our urban areas. Ask the UN for a Big Can of Raid.

Answer 5

Try Combat for ants. Barring that, find out what kind of music they don't like and play it.

Answer 6

sprinkle cinnamon ; it gets into their exoskeleton and is an irritant and they go away. We used this in the nursing home and restaurant since you can not spray.

Answer 7

there are ant killing products at wal-mart