The Five Precepts consist of the bare minimum of moral behaviour for a Dhamma practitoner. Being a sincere devotee involves much more than just following the precepts, and anything less than that disqualifies one from honestly calling oneself a disciple of the Buddha. If you ask someone why they should keep the precepts or what are the benefits of doing so they will usually say something like: “To avoid making bad kamma.” Wanting to circumvent unwholesome behaviour, people sometimes ask if smoking violates the precepts, in particular the fifth. Smoking and intoxication are often associated with each other because of the popular perception that those who smoke also drink alcohol. When the issue is brought up the opinions tend to be either “smoking does not violate the fifth Precept” or “yes, it does.”

The sockeye salmon is one of the most tenacious animals on the planet. The name “sockeye” is an anglicisation of the Indigenous Coast Salish word suk-kegh, which means red fish, since both the male and female turn from silver to bright red when ready to spawn.

After sockeye eggs hatch, they turn into fry and remain in the freshwater estuary of a creek or river, or in a nearby lake, for a year or two, after which they transition to the smolt stage and migrate into the ocean. They swim north along the British Columbia coast feeding on zooplankton and growing in size, pass through Alaskan waters and enter the Bering Sea. From there, they follow a current rich in food that takes them towards Japan.