From Ant to Human

Q: If one is reborn as an animal, say an ant, how would the ant be able to practise the Dharma, so that after death, it gets reborn as a human being? An ant does not have the mental faculty to practise, does it? Maybe your answer will give me more motivation to practice harder in this lifetime.

A: Here is how hard it is to be able to be born human again, after being born as an ant… First of all, when one gets reborn in the lower realms, it is often due to great negative karma, which also means it is usually not for a single lifetime (as animals’ lifespans are generally short) but for many. That is to say, for example, one becomes an ant for 50 or more lifetimes. As an ant, as you mentioned, due to lower mental capacity, it is mostly a matter of ‘burning up’ negative karma, instead of creating positive karma. In other words, it is mostly suffering. Yet, it is still possible to do some good. Which is why you see in documentaries at times, animals helping out one another.

When one breaks free of the animal rebirth, it is usually a slow ‘crawl’ to the higher realms. For example, one might be reborn as a ‘better’ animal first, before becoming human again. And here is the scary part – when one becomes human again, one is unlikely to recall, at least not immediately, much or any Dharma learnt in the past – because if one was already very mindful of the Dharma in the first place, one would not fall to the lower realms. In other words, it’s almost like being back to square one! In short, it is wise to reach Pure Land as the best means to prevent the potential messy problems above.