Tiny Joys

Tiny Sorrows

What do they live for
the ants, the bees, the spiders?
Small joys and sorrows

The principle Bodhisattva vow is to work for and secure the enlightenment of every single sentient being before he or she enters Nirvana him- or herself.

This, of course, is an amazingly gallant goal and undertaking, but it begs, for me at least, the incredibly crucial question: what, precisely, is a sentient being? And by that I mean: what delimits and defines a life form sufficiently aware to be considered sentient. How large? How small? Especially, how small?

Okay, human beings — I take that as a given. Giants and trolls, if they exist, would also be givens.

Animals, yes, givens as well. And that would include birds, fishes, the lot.

Insects, yes, they too are (in Buddhist scripture) considered sentient, individual beings, each and every one (and there are a lot of them buzzing, biting little beings).

How about plants? I mean trees actually communicate, don’t they? Grasses too, most likely. The Pali Canon, as best as I can make out, is silent on this topic.

How about cells? Here, too, the Canon remains mum — as well it probably should be.

Now, there is no doubt in anybody’s mind (I believe) that both plants and cells are alive — which is fifty percent of the sentient being criteria. Cells, by splitting, form colonies which sometimes take the form of plants, sometimes of internal organs, sometimes of brains, et cetera. They metabolize food and what they don’t use for their own growth they can convert to energy. Yes, they are indisputably alive. But what about sentient?

Here’s the definition of that word (according to the New Oxford American Dictionary): adjective, able to perceive or feel things.

Let’s take a look at another interesting definition: Killer T-cells find and destroy infected cells that have been turned into virus-making factories. To do this they need to tell the difference between the infected cells and healthy cells with the help of special molecules called antigens. This way Killer T-cells are able to detect cells with viruses and destroy them.

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