I don't think so, but I don't know what I don't know.

If you're never successful.

Joking aside, I think you can. It is against a precept but it is not like you can't awaken after or inbetween. 

The question is, can you be a hunter and be enlightened? I also think you can, successful or unsuccessful.

​​​​​​​Did someone order up some dogma?

Yes.

Do prey have buddha nature?

<ol><li></li></ol>LoL that is what I was thinking, but I am successful.&nbsp;<br /><br />I'm a noob householder and lol a DIY Buddhist.<br /><br />I had some great sits and was in a great place. I went hunting unsuccessfully but very adrenaline filled and my meditation went to crap. It might have been my mean hatefilled family, a mini dark night or the hunting?&nbsp;<br /><br />I'm finally back to having good sits (not Great) and I'm afraid to mess that up.&nbsp;<br /><br />I guess I should test it and see? Before I give up a large part of who I currently think I am.<br /><br />Thanks for the input, I am in search of noble friends and noble conversations.

Are you? and cool. does it affect your meditation?

yes and no, everything on this planet is eating something or someone else on this planet. 

Do you think you can become enlightented without sila? 

No, I live in a city. But I killed a wasp yesterday as I have a house guest who is allergic. That kind of thing does not have any noticeable impact on my mediation.

Tons of people who have been practicing Buddhists have been hunters and soldiers and poison sellers and so on. Just as tons of people have been Catholics and had extramarital sex, for example. Many Buddhists undertake to refrain from taking life but the Buddha ate meat when it was served to him an Angulimala, a serial killer who wore a necklace made from the fingers of his victims, later became fully enlightened. So Buddism, or at least early Buddhism, is not a religion in which the main thing is strictly following rules. That said, if you have good relations with the people in your life and go to bed feeling that you acted as well as you could, meditation will probably go better. You may also change your mind about the things that you do as a result. Who knows. Practice and see :-)

Thanks, I am practicing.

If eating meat wasn't immoral before when it only involved killing animals it certainly is now that it is killing the planet.

I once lived in wallowa county end experienced "portland hunters" who had won the elk lottery come out and kill great huge animals for "sport" and to eat elk meat sandwiches at work and brag. The whole industry is deeply corrupt, managing "wilderness" to crop animals for fun and profit. I have many horror stories. It is unpleasant to live in the woods and have people spy on you through the lens of a rifle scope.

Label "Buddhist" is relative, so the anwer to the question simpy depends on how strictly do you want to define what "being a Buddhist" means. IMHO, hunting is just unnecessary cruelty.

If you choose, you can turn out most of the lights shine a bright flashlight to lead birds and wasps to a door or window. I've done it with both.

I recommend hunting with a camera.

I'm not a vegetarian (I've tried a few times but I always got sick from it. I have a Master's degree in molecular biology and I can't explain it.)

I enjoy wildlife photography and I recommend using a camera rather than a gun if you like hunting.

I have an immense respect for wild animals. They are battling nature seven days a week, 24 hours a day, to live and raise their young. They can't buy food at the grocery store or go to the doctor when they get sick. They don't have clean indoor running water, central heating, air-conditioning, or money to pay rent or buy a home. Humans have hogged more than our fair share of the ecosystem on Earth and polluted the air and the rivers and streams that flow beyond our living space. In general I think we ought to leave wild animals alone. (Invasive species and overpopulation due to lack of natural predators - problems humans created - might be exceptions.) If every human tried to live off the land, Earth would not be able to support us. Instead we have industrial farms that produce food efficiently, I think we should leave the wildlife in peace on the scarce natural habitat that is left to them.

My favorite photography story is when I was filming a coywolf (a coyote wolf hybrid we have in the eastern US) and she crossed the path in front of me. I set up my tripod in case she crossed back when she returned to her den. A minute later I heard her barking behind me, she could have snuck up and bit me on the rear end if she wanted to. A few days later I was able to film her puppies.

And wildlife photography challenges you physically. Someone asked me what the best time of day to do wildlife photography was and I said I got up at dawn and got home by 5pm. I would be on my feet the whole time. One summer I spent 3-4 hours in the sun in 90 degree weather one day a week for several weeks standing by my tripod with my camera pointed at an eagle's nest waiting for a parent to return with food for their young in their talons. (I use a telephoto lens so I can stay far away and not disturb the animals.) I kept it up every week as the chicks grew larger, getting flight feathers, and they began testing their wings and finally leaving the nest. One time while walking home I had to take a rest in the shade because I felt queasy from heat stroke.

I've also filmed herons spearing fish with their sharp bills, and cormorants and grebes diving and coming up with fish in their bills, and mallards diving and coming up with snails. I've filmed herons, cormorants and other birds feeding their young from their gullets. Wildlife photography is a great way to get an appreciation of nature and it gives you a deep understanding of and respect for wildlife that you only get from long hours observing them in their natural habitat. You have to understand many aspects of animal behavior in order to find the animals and take interesting pictures.

Another interesting aspect of this is that this was all done in the suburbs in small patches of wild areas between housing developments, sometimes visible from a road where drivers were speeding by totally oblivious to the dramas occuring so close by.

You have lived sir!! Lol I currently belive you haven't lived until you have had your ass chewed out by a coyote. 

I'm happy you enjoy wildlife photography. Sounds like you have an awesome, wholesome hobby! 

I consider myself a photographer and have taken backyard bird photos. I'm thinking about hunting with a camera, I'm into the up close incounter, the overcoming their enlightened level of senses is where the fun is at for me. 

Right now I don't think I could give up spring turkey season. I eat the turkey and can justify killing to eat. 

I'm having trouble all the sudden with hunting predators that I don't eat and deer. 

I was an anti hunter most of my life, one day I decided to start hunting I'm sure one day I will decide to completely stop.

Lol, you don't know what you don't know.. if a human serial killer can become enlightened whats a few deer?

Hi Vanessa,

Sorry it took awhile to respond. Below is my response to your question.

"Do you think you can become enlightented without sila? "

Yes and no. I think without everyday sila we cannot mitigate the creation of further Saṅkhāras and karma. I don't think it is absolutely and always required, to the degree of no sin, in order to begin the journey of the 8 fold path which is each time we sit for meditation. I believe the 8 fold path is a recipe for every time we "cook" during meditation. 

When sitting on the cushion to meditate do we all observe sila? How can you break sila while meditating? If broken, can it not be fixed in the next moment to suffeciently continue on the path. The 8 fold path is a moment pointing to a non moment.

The generalization of sila, and the 8 fold path, into an everyday "way of living" as a dogma is a mistaken interpration in my opinion. Good to do but not absolutely required as pointed out by Martin and the Suttas.