Are antibiotics good?

General discussion, particularly exploring the Dharma in the modern world.
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tomschwarz
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Are antibiotics good?

Post by tomschwarz »

Hello Buddhist friends and friends of other faiths who are here,

...but specifically from the Buddhist perspective, are antibiotics good? I am referring to things like Penicillin, Amoxicillin and so on, as in:
1928 England Sir Alexander Fleming discovered enzyme lysozyme and the antibiotic substance penicillin from the fungus Penicillium notatum

I am certain that after this discovery, humans started living much longer and animals (which humans eat) started living much shorter. Or at least many more animals started living short lives in poor conditions (e.g. factory farming, more humans, longer human life, means more animals raised for slaughter). And the suffering is not just in meat creation, it is also in milk products which require that the baby is born (mother lactates) and then the baby is removed from the mother so that the humans get the milk. This is always a period of massive emotional pain for mother cow and baby cow, they cry out for each other for days, for example.... ...and then what do you do with the baby orphaned animal? Usually used for meat production.

So, maybe the bigger question is not simply antibiotics/medical advancements, but human life... ...why is human existence (doah!) so good if it causes so much suffering in the animal realm? Or even if it is good because humans can practice Buddhism, is that off set, at least some degree, by the suffering humans as a whole cause? his holiness the dalai lama once mentioned that there would be much less suffering among animals if humans became extinct "it would be a great liberation for the animals".
i dedicate this post to your happiness, the causes of your happiness, the absence of your suffering the causes of the absence of your suffering that we may not have too much attachment nor aversion. SAMAYAMANUPALAYA
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Grigoris
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Re: Are antibiotics good?

Post by Grigoris »

tomschwarz wrote: Mon Apr 02, 2018 9:50 pm Hello Buddhist friends and friends of other faiths who are here,

...but specifically from the Buddhist perspective, are antibiotics good? I am referring to things like Penicillin, Amoxicillin and so on, as in:
1928 England Sir Alexander Fleming discovered enzyme lysozyme and the antibiotic substance penicillin from the fungus Penicillium notatum

I am certain that after this discovery, humans started living much longer and animals (which humans eat) started living much shorter. Or at least many more animals started living short lives in poor conditions (e.g. factory farming, more humans, longer human life, means more animals raised for slaughter). And the suffering is not just in meat creation, it is also in milk products which require that the baby is born (mother lactates) and then the baby is removed from the mother so that the humans get the milk. This is always a period of massive emotional pain for mother cow and baby cow, they cry out for each other for days, for example.... ...and then what do you do with the baby orphaned animal? Usually used for meat production.

So, maybe the bigger question is not simply antibiotics/medical advancements, but human life... ...why is human existence (doah!) so good if it causes so much suffering in the animal realm? Or even if it is good because humans can practice Buddhism, is that off set, at least some degree, by the suffering humans as a whole cause? his holiness the dalai lama once mentioned that there would be much less suffering among animals if humans became extinct "it would be a great liberation for the animals".
Antibiotics are great for certain types of microbial infections and in cases where the infection won't pass with time and rest.

Human existence is the optimal state for liberation, so it would not be great if humans became extinct, it would be great if humans could return to respecting the environment they live in, rather than dominating it.
"My religion is not deceiving myself."
Jetsun Milarepa 1052-1135 CE

"Butchers, prostitutes, those guilty of the five most heinous crimes, outcasts, the underprivileged: all are utterly the substance of existence and nothing other than total bliss."
The Supreme Source - The Kunjed Gyalpo
The Fundamental Tantra of Dzogchen Semde
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tomschwarz
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Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2015 12:31 am

Re: Are antibiotics good?

Post by tomschwarz »

I am sure that is the right answer Grigoris, but the devil is in the details.... let's say that the only completely peaceful way forward, for humans, is to attain liberation (world religion of your choice, here buddhism). How do you see these truly peaceful beings having human lives? Is there a "realm of humans that is not part of samsara? In other words, isn't the real peace only attainable if humans are not reborn here? Even Sidartha Gaithama, according to legend, was born into a life of fundamental ignorance which implies, in all likelihood, and definitely in the 4th Buddha's case, causing suffering in others. No?
i dedicate this post to your happiness, the causes of your happiness, the absence of your suffering the causes of the absence of your suffering that we may not have too much attachment nor aversion. SAMAYAMANUPALAYA
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