a sincere question

[liberal_at_heart]

7. I struggle with it too. What happens when insects or rats infest the house you live in?

Some animals can carry disease. I try to live and let live whenever possible, but there are times when it is not compatible with living within a society. I think I remember reading some history on Buddhism when I first started becoming interested in it. I read that monks have a much stricter set of expectations and rules put on them than on lay people. When you have a family and you work it is hard to adhere to strict Buddhist rules and I think the people who set the standards and rules we are to live with know this. Maybe if we're lucky we can be born a Monk next go around and we can dedicate ourselves completely to the pursuit of enlightenment. For now I think all we can do is the best we know how. And of course there are those Buddhists who believe it is not necessary to go through all the cycles if we can wake up and realize that we are already enlightened. Buddha nature is not something you reach, but something you already are. We just haven't realized it yet. That's how it happened for Siddhartha.