Monks who set themselves on fire

When this question  came up, the dilemma was clear. OK, killing is bad, killing a monk is really bad, but what about a monk committing suicide? This was tricky ground. The obvious answer was that this was not good behavior. Perhaps setting yourself on fire as a protest was a bit better, than for no reason at all, but still not in alignment with the 5 precepts.
    Related to monks setting themselves on fire, there was a video narrated by a professor in which he described a monk who was in such a deep meditation he set himself on fire in the half-lotus position and held the position until he keeled over dead 3 minutes later. Great visual?! The explanation behind this amazing feat, was that he did not see himself as "being on fire", so much as he had "become the fire." It was disturbing and fascinating at the same time.

Killing

Now we were on a roll. The class suddenly came to life as the mood shifted from sedated after a 45 minute meditation, to rapt attention. "If we eat something that someone else killed, is that OK", asked another member of the class. "What if the person killed an animal to feed his family? Does that bring demerit (the opposite of the coveted merit)", chimed in someone else. The leader was both thrilled to have this much activity and overwhelmed by the response. As the conversation continued, we found out that killing a fly, while not preferred, is less damaging than killing another animal which ranked higher on the evolutionary ladder. Not surprisingly, killing a monk was the absolute worst offense you could make in your life. "What about monks who set themselves on fire", asked someone. Suddenly the room became silent. We waited for the answer...

The 5 precepts

How do you live a righteous life? Apparently there are a minimum of 5 precepts to guide you. After quizing some of the long term members on what the 5 were, and getting partial answers, the leader stepped in. "OK", she said, "The five are; killing, lying, improper sexual behavior, use of intoxicants, and ...hmmm, what was that last one? Oh yeah stealing." "No beer?", I asked. "Yes", "no alcohol", she responded. I wasn't about to ask for a clarification on improper sexual behavior, and luckily someone took up the conversation with a focus on killing. "Does that mean we should be vegetarians?" This was going to be an interesting conversation!

Reincarnation

Last meeting I noticed we were back to the original venerable. Apparently there is a rotation, a certain venerable reincarnation, back from wherever they go. I'd also noticed that the half-lotus had become my position of choice. This was the preference for serious meditators, and backed by the Buddha himself. Why shouldn't I follow suit? As we began the guided meditation my cell phone went off. Luckily it was on vibrate, but even the soundless buzz, was like a gun had gone off. I groaned inwardly and quickly, soundlessly, shoved it under my meditation chair hoping the thick cushion would silence any future noise. Sadly I was mistaken, as another call came through. The muffled buzz now had the qualities of an alarm clock instead of a gun, but the damage was done. Red faced, I sat silently waiting or the session to finish with no hope of trying to reenter the meditative state. " No more phones in the future," I silently recited instead of the mantra. Hopefully there would be a next time, assuming the group hadn't decided to ban me from future events.