On Guard

Here I stand,
On guard,
Of my actions.

Where I sit everyday, surfing the Net; there's always a mosquito that would almost always whizzes out from nowhere just to irritate. Naturally, I'll just automatically go out to war, trying hard to smash the little creature. Then when one is smashed, I'll remember the right actions prescribed by Buddha; to abstain from killing, stealing and  sexual misconduct. The first of the Buddhist Five Precepts,  Panatipata veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami has been translated as I undertake the precept to refrain from destroying living creatures. A professor of philosophy from Fordham University in New York City, Christopher Gowans was of the opinion that Buddhist scriptures forbid killings of living beings of all forms, not just human beings.  Here, I suppose, I have to be on guard!