Kamma
Kamma
3. “Could you please explain about the death process…how quickly does rebirth occur?” [Death] [Rebirth] // [Recollection/Death] [Delusion] [Self-identity view] [Recollection] [Impermanence] [Not-self] [Theravāda] [History/Early Buddhism] [Sutta] [Vajrayāna] [Clinging] [Culture/Thailand] [Chanting] [Goodwill] [Relinquishment] [Ceremony/ritual] [Kamma]
References: Amaravati Chanting Book, p. 55: Five Recollections; Amaravati Chanting Book, p. 12: The body is impermanent... [Similes] [Craving]
Simile: Fire blown by the wind (MN 72: Aggivacchagotta Sutta)
Story: A former monk asks Ajahn Chah about working with dying people to give them the opportunity for wholesome rebirth. [Ajahn Chah] [Teachers] [Fierce/direct teaching]
Quote: “I practice dying.” — The Dalai Lama [Dalai Lama]
10. “What is upekkha – equanimity – and how does one practice it?” [Equanimity] // [Kamma] [Conditionality] [Not-self] [Proliferation] [Divine Abidings] [Knowledge and vision] [Impermanence]
Reference: Amaravati Chanting Book, p. 55: Five Recollections [Kamma]
5. “If everything about me is impermanent, and even 'myself' is illusory, just the rising and falling of kamma, then who or what am I addressing when I wish myself well-being?” [Aggregates] [Impermanence] [Not-self] [Kamma] [Goodwill] // [Conventions] [Craving not to become] [Right View] [Conditionality]
1. “In the palm reader story, you mentioned that Ajahn Chah still had a lot of anger, but he chose not to act from it. So does this mean that if there was a troublesome monk, Ajahn Chah would still experience a flare of anger but have the wisdom to set it aside and consider what to do with a cool head? This sounds similar to something Ram Das said about his practice....” [Ajahn Chah] [Aversion] [Discernment] [Ram Dass] [Unwholesome Roots] // [Personality] [Kamma]
Story: Ajahn Jayasaro is massaging Ajahn Chah's feet when a monk undergoing a disciplinary procedure walks by. [Ajahn Jayasaro] [Vinaya] [Fierce/direct teaching] [Emotion]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno observes Ajahn Mahā Boowa's fierce behaivor. [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [Arahant] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Rapture] [Goodwill]
Quote: “You never quite knew...you were always very careful around [Ajahn Chah] because you never knew which side was going to come out. It wasn't as if he was just playing with you, but he always responded to the situation or the person.” [Heedlessness] [Personal presence] [Teaching Dhamma]
4. “Is it hopeless to send loving-kindness to Mara?” [Goodwill] [Māra] // [Craving] [Suffering] [Kamma]
6. “What are the characteristics of personality? Are they conditioned by kamma and our family, culture, and nationality? How do I learn not to take mine as truth and real?” [Personality] [Conditionality] [Kamma] [Family] [Cultural context] [Self-identity view] // [Suffering] [Characteristics of existence] [Humor]
Recollection: Ajahn Chah tended to translate anicca as uncertain or not sure. [Ajahn Chah] [Impermanence] [Translation] [Proliferation] [Direct experience]
7. Comment: Maybe recollection of the devas isn't frequently taught because it could slip into a desire for heaven. [Craving for material existence] [Deva] [Recollection/Devas]
Response by Ajahn Yatiko. [Sutta] [Hell] [Kamma] [Delusion]
2. Comment: I'm looking at contemplating peace as opposed to grasping for peace as a result of aversion to dukkha. There's not the same result. [Recollection/Peace] [Clinging] [Aversion] [Suffering]
Response by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Noble Truth of Suffering] [Craving not to become] [Relinquishment] [Kamma]
2. “In the analogy of the accountant (MN 107), it seems that the training works linearly. Are there basic practices that are important to focus on in the beginning? Are ther other practices which should not be attempted in the beginning?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Similes] [Practicing in accordance with Dhamma] [Gradual Teaching] // [Faith] [Kamma] [Unconditioned] [Learning] [Relinquishment] [Concentration]
Story: A monk carrying money asks to stay at Wat Pah Pong. [Ajahn Chah] [Wat Pah Pong] [Not handling money]
3. “Could you talk more about the particular professions that the Buddha laid out as wrong livelihood (AN 5.177)? Why is being in the military not on the list?” [Work] [Military] [Right Livelihood] // [Unskillful qualities] [Kamma] [Killing] [Intoxicants] [Rebirth]
Sutta: AN 5.177: Trades
Story: The widow of a wealthy man divests from Singha Beer. [Commerce/economics]
5. “Can you speak about the people who sell these things [intoxicants] versus those who make them?” [Intoxicants] [Commerce/economics] [Right Livelihood] // [Kamma] [Volition]
Story: A clerk at an organic food store asks about selling wine. Told by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo.
6. “If the person selling the product enjoys selling it and the person buying it enjoys the product, what is the unpleasant consequence?” [Commerce/economics] [Sensual desire] [Kamma] [Right Livelihood] // [Unskillful qualities] [Intoxicants] [Crime] [Heedlessness]
21. Quote: “The Buddha's function was not to make grand pronouncements that apply universally, everywhere, all the time. He gave guidelines to relfect a variety of circumstances, personal effects, social effects, and then make a decision from there.” [Buddha] [Idealism] [Discernment] [Conditionality] [Right Livelihood] [Kamma] [Community] [Politics and society]
3. “Everyone in our group is struggling with issues about livelihood. Does anyone here feel their livelihood is in tune?” Answered by Ajahn Yatiko and Ajahn Pasanno. [Work] [Idealism] // [Contentment] [Eightfold Path] [Kamma]
Quote: “Maybe it would be better phrased 'Right-enough livelihood.'” — Ajahn Karuṇadhammo [Right Livelihood]
Story: An upright career police officer in Thailand transfers in and out of a corrupt assignment. Told by Ajahn Pasanno. [Community] [Crime] [Corruption] [Family] [Precepts]
Comment by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo: Even monks face moral dillemas. [Monastic life] [Vinaya]
1. “I have seen both monastics and laypeople start getting ill after they became serious about practice. Can you relate this to your talk today? (whether such illness is karmic. Etc.)” [Sickness] [Kamma]
16. “Would you please talk a bit about karma in past lives...I'm asking for future karmic results an preventing negative ones.” [Kamma] [Rebirth]
20. “Please explain the inner workings of right intention and its karmic effect.” [Right Intention] [Kamma] [Volition]
5. “Funeral and memorial services are not only important for those left behind, but maybe important for the new traveler in afterlife. Could you say more about supporting a dead person? What kind of support and how long? Years? Does 'human support' matter or does 'karma' of each individual 'take care of it'?” [Funerals] [Death] [Rebirth] [Kamma]
2. “Can you talk about karma? (particularly in regard to the theory of specific cause yields similar result; and results from past life actions)” [Kamma]
11. “How do you atone for past unskillful behavior that you know you have done? Will this lower the negative karma you reap?” [Kamma]
17. “Is there a difference in doing a good deed for a monastic versus a lay-person in regards to generating merit? Can only humans create merit..devas..animals?” [Kamma] [Merit] [Realms of existence]
17. “Thank you for your inspiring teachings...Question: I seem to recollect that the Buddha cautioned against unwholesome thoughts in a way that seemed to raise their results as similar to their unwholesome causes. Is this so?” [Proliferation] [Kamma] [Unskillful qualities]
1. “I was struck by the simile of the stone being heavy, but you won't know it's heavy unless you pick it up, and it's just like suffering. You don't have to pick it up. I'm battling a loss in my life, and I'm suffering. I didn't pick up the stone. It was flung at me. I'm not sure how to deal....” [Similes] [Ajahn Chah] [Suffering] [Grief] [Christianity] // [Human] [Naturalness] [Equanimity] [Self-identity view] [Goodwill] [Discernment]
Reference: Amaravati Chanting Book, p. 55: Five Recollections [Characteristics of existence] [Recollection/Death] [Kamma]
Quote: “Whenever you get into a fight with nature, you always lose.”
Quote: “What makes it heavy is the 'me' bit.”
2. “You said in the chanting, 'I am the heir to my kamma.' Gam in Thai is what we cultivate in body, speech and mind. In the Thai concept, we also have jao gam nai ren. Can Ajahn help me sort this out?” [Kamma] [Culture/Thailand] [Nature of the cosmos] // [Suffering] [Health care] [Birth]
Reference: Amaravati Chanting Book, p. 55: Five Recollections
Follow-up: “My mother is dying at age 88. She had a plane accident 20 years ago and has been completely immobile....In Thai we say, jao gam nai ren must have been chasing after her.” [Family] [Sickness] [Death] [Kamma]
2. “How does one incline the mind towards recollecting one's own good actions?” [Recollection/Virtue] [Merit] [Aversion] [Gladdening the mind] // [Emotion] [Feeling] [Kamma] [Investigation of states] [Vajrayāna]
5. Comment: In the Thai Forest tradition there are some fierce teachers. In other Buddhist traditions the “don't question the guru” mentality seems to get way out of hand, but in Thailand that doesn't seem to happen so often. [Thai Forest Tradition] [Fierce/direct teaching] [Mentoring] [Ajahn Jia]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno: Well, they just leave. [Ajahn Chah] [Respect] [Culture/Thailand]
Comments by Ajahn Pesalo and Ajahn Pasanno about Ajahn Jia. [Faith] [Liberation] [Personality]
Comments by Ajahn Jotipālo and Ajahn Pasanno about avoiding both blind faith and badmouthing others. [Malicious speech] [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [Kamma] [Ajahn Wanchai]
6. When the practice is difficult, one can look at wholesome states and say, "This is the result when I did this. There actually was some good that came of it." Comment by Ajahn Cunda. [Skillful qualities] [Conditionality] [Gladdening the mind] [Kamma]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Recollection/Virtue]
13. Comment: We can't know the kamma or state of mind of someone who is dying. Because the dying person's consciousness can be very open, it's useful to remind them of their wholesome actions. Contributed by Jeanne Daskais. [Kamma] [Consciousness] [Spaciousness] [Recollection/Virtue] [Death]
Story: Sri Lankans keep a lifelong record of the good things they have done. Friends and relatives read this to them at the time of death. Told by Ajahn Pasanno. [Skillful qualities] [History/Sri Lankan Buddhism]
25. Comment: Merit is faith driven, so there aren't any limitations to where that can take you, and it has real value. [Merit] [Faith] [Realms of existence] [Death]
Story: Two Thai doctors take temporary ordination to make merit to rejoin their deceased brother in a future life. [Culture/Thailand] [Monastic life/Motivation] [Temporary ordination] [Family] [Rebirth]
Story: The mother of a woman killed in a bus crash dedicates merit so that the dead woman will be reborn in the family. Told by Ajahn Pasanno. [Wat Pah Nanachat] [Ghost] [Relinquishment] [Ceremony/ritual] [Kamma] [Volition]
Quote: “We live in a fairly limited concept of the world; it's very material in the West. There's a lot more happening than what we can see.” — Ajahn Pasanno [Nature of the cosmos] [Culture/West]
26. “If a family member who has passed turns into a hungry ghost, how might one help them when they're in that realm?” [Family] [Rebirth] [Ghost] [Compassion] [Death] // [Merit]
Sutta: AN 10.177: Jāṇussoṇī
Follow-up: “Does it work the same way if the person hasn't made much merit?” [Kamma] [Skillful qualities] [Unskillful qualities] [Human]
3. Reflection by Ajahn Yatiko: "Authenticity and Freedom": Ajahn Yatiko reflects on his brother Glenn’s life, values, and suicide from the perspective of a “Siamese twin joined at the soul” and from the perspective of a Buddhist monk. Originally offered at Glenn’s memorial service on September 30, 2013, at Ascension Lutheran Church in Edmonton, this talk was replayed during the 2014 Upasika Day on Death and Dying. [Family] [Suicide] [Truth] [Liberation] [Death] // [Christianity] [Monastic life/Motivation] [Mental illness] [Idealism] [Spiritual search] [Judgementalism] [Impermanence] [Kamma]
7. Comment by Jeanne Daskais: The reflection on kamma has helped me watch this person [my stepmother] disappear through the course of Alzheimer's disease and other loss. [Kamma] [Sickness] [Grief] [Death] // [Recollection/Virtue] [Compassion] [Right Speech]
5. “At times during my meditation, my body acts funny, leaning to one side or the other or spinning. What causes this? Is it a good or bad sign?” [Meditation/Unusual experiences] [Mindfulness of breathing] // [Kamma] [Teachers] [Mindfulness of body] [Rapture]
6. “Modulating the breath seems more sublte than controlling it. Does this relate to where you put your attention as it grows?” [Mindfulness of breathing] // [Kamma] [Directed thought and evaluation]
10. “Thank you for so many wonderful teachings. I am contemplating cessation and would like to hear more about the cessation of the body-death. I have been with a few beings as they have died, 1 human and a few pets. Is the manner of death important to having a “good” rebirth? Does being afraid or suffering a great deal affect the next life directly or is the experience of death just added to ones overall karma?” [Death] [Rebirth] [Cessation] [Fear] [Suffering] [Kamma] // [Stream entry]
13. “Dear Aj. Karuṇadhammo, could you say a bit more about how you find a belief in rebirth to be motivational? And that it “just makes sense?” Do you think, perhaps, about the person who will inherit your rebirth and how it would be good to load them up with good kamma? Thanks!” Answered by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Rebirth] [Kamma] [Faith]
14. “Could you please speak a bit about karma and volition? For instance, if an unwholesome thought such as anger, or fear arises or wants to arise of its own accord in the mind, does one get unwholesome karma? Or is the bad karma produced only through the grasping or rejection of it? Or is bad karma produced only if action is taken? Or are different kinds of karma produced for thought vs. action?” [Kamma] [Volition]
2. “In this passage where the Buddha lists illnesses and calamaties (AN 10.60), he separates kamma out as a cause of those things. However the cause of being subject to these things is because of making good or bad kamma. Is kamma [in this list] a direct, proximate cause?” [Kamma] [Sickness] [Conditionality]
Sutta: SN 36.21 Sīvaka: The Buddha refutes the notion that kamma causes everything. [Kamma]
8. Discussion about feeling, craving, self and kamma. Led by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo and Ajahn Pasanno. [Feeling] [Craving] [Self-identity view] [Kamma] // [Dependent origination]
Sutta: MN 18: Madhupiṇḍika Sutta, The Honeyball.
2. Discussion about kamma and the results of kamma. Led by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo, Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Ñāṇiko. [Kamma] [Conditionality] [Feeling] // [Abuse/violence] [Abhidhamma] [Ajahn Chah] [Vajrayāna] [Sickness] [Compassion] [Culture/India] [Equanimity] [Disasters] [Christianity]
Quote: “Too much Dhamma.” — Ajahn Buddhadāsa. Quoted by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Buddhadāsa]
Sutta: AN 4.77 Acinteyya: "Vexation or madness."
Story: Ajahn Chah to Ajahn Munindo: "If it wasn't supposed to be this way, it wouldn't have been this way." Told by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Munindo] [Self-pity]
Thai saying: "That's as far as their merit takes them." [Culture/Thailand] [Death] [Merit] [Thai]
14. Comment: This speaks to a Boddhisattva/Zen approach to karma. It's more your attitude towards your karma. [Bodhisattva] [Zen] [Kamma] [Merit] [Tudong] [Harsh speech]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Impermanence]
13. Comments regarding not-self. [Nature of the cosmos] [Kamma] [Self-identity view] [Not-self]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Buddha] [Teaching Dhamma]
15. “Is the heir to my thoughts, words, and deeds me or some other guy?” [Kamma] [Rebirth] [Not-self] // [Becoming] [Cessation] [Self-identity view] [Direct experience]
3. “I've been confused between intention and desire. For me, desire arises from non-conceptual craving.” [Volition] [Craving] [Desire] [Language] // [Cause of Suffering] [Right Effort] [Happiness] [Kamma] [Pāli]
4. “I've heard 'not being in control' as a description of anatta. In relation to desire, do we really have any choice or free will in the context of Buddhist understanding?” [Not-self] [Desire] [Volition] [Nature of the cosmos] // [Kamma] [Clear comprehension] [Right Effort]
6. “If there isn't an intention, [meditation] isn't useful for the goal?” [Meditation] [Volition] [Jhāna] // [Volitional formations] [Kamma]
5. “How can we apply the law of cause and effect in daily life? How can we apply this law to such a simple thing to remove suffering?” [Kamma] [Cessation of Suffering]
18. “If mind and consciousness are impermanent, what/who is aware? Also, who/what is it that experiences the results of karma, especially after the body dies and perhaps is reborn?” [Kamma] [Rebirth] [Impermanence] [Nature of mind]
1. “In working with the Four Noble Truths, to understand suffering, does the Buddha mean knowing for instance the pain in your heart, the stress around your eyes, or does he also mean to see with insight its karmic effect on yourself and others?” [Four Noble Truths] [Noble Truth of Suffering] [Kamma]
4. “Could you talk more about the two levels of understanding the true nature of karma: mundane and transcendent?” [Kamma]
17. “I understand that our genetic disposition can't be changed, but epigenetics say that their expression can be modified by changing lifestyle. In a similar way, our kamma is given but understanding but your teachings say the expression and effects can be changed by practice. Please comment.” [Science] [Health] [Kamma]
2. “How do these particular teachings (AN 5.48: Situations) fit with kamma?” [Kamma] [Sickness] [Sutta] [Human] // [Lawfulness] [Characteristics of existence]
9. “I like the translations 'conscience' aand 'concern' for hiri and otappa. Having done unskillful actions in the past that create suffering, and being aware of the tendency to personalize, how can it be over and done?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Treasures] [Conscience and prudence] [Unskillful qualities] [Suffering] [Kamma] [Self-identity view] // [Four Noble Truths] [Divine Abidings]
Quote: “As a human being, I have the opportunity to learn from the past and move on to skillful action in the future. I don't have to be like a dog that barfs stuff up and goes back and eats it again.” — Ajahn Pasanno [Human] [Learning] [Skillful qualities] [Similes]
Quote: “The not-self refrain, 'This is not me, this is not mine, this is not what or who I am,' is not an abdication of responsibility but an understanding, 'This is the way I can put things down and move on, move past the things that are still creating suffering.'” — Ajahn Pasanno [Not-self] [Kamma] [Relinquishment]
Suttas: SN 42.8 The Conch Blower; AN 3.100: A Lump of Salt. [Kamma]
7. “Generally, is right intention a subset of kamma or is it the whole enchilada?” [Right Intention] [Kamma]
7. “Do thoughts by themselves have karmic consequences?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Kamma] [Directed thought and evaluation] // [Perception] [Feeling] [Volition] [Self-identity view]
Sutta: MN 56: Upāli
Follow-up: “Is it good kamma to decide not to act on an unskillful thought?” [Skillful qualities] [Kamma]
Story: A person talks with Ajahn Liem, analyzing their consistently bad thoughts and obsessions. He replies, "If you see a pile of excrement, why would you want to stick your nose in it?" Told by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Ajahn Liem] [Unskillful qualities] [Similes] [Fierce/direct teaching] [Culture/Thailand] [Thai Forest Tradition]
Comment: I think my problem is that my nose is already in there, and I don't want to realize that I'm so stupid that it's hard to get it out. [Delusion]
9. “Some of my suffering in the current situation comes from feeling compassion with regard to specific suffering that I'm aware of and not acting in response to it. What are helpful stories to frame a patient, long-term effort to effect change?” [Suffering] [Compassion] [Patience] [Long-term practice] [Politics and society] [Kamma] [Activism] [Views] // [Association with people of integrity] [Right Effort]
Quote: “And just because one doesn't see results doesn't mean one shouldn't do something....To put the causes into something–that's the only way that change is going to happen.” [Conditionality]
12. “Is this along the concept of Right Effort in a global sense? Not getting attached to the outcome, but yet finding something that's important enough to put some energy into?” [Right Effort] [Activism] [Politics and society] // [Kamma] [Energy]
Quote: “There's no such thing as doing nothing.” [Kamma]
3. “What is the role of confession and other tools for recifying offenses?” [Vinaya] [Confession] // [Ajahn Chah] [Volition] [Kamma] [Dhamma]
1. “How can those just entering monastic life lay a good foundation?” [Monastic life] // [Vinaya] [Right View] [Ajahn Chah] [Virtue] [Stream entry] [Four Noble Truths] [Kamma] [Generosity] [Greed] [Communal harmony] [Happiness] [Gratitude]
Sutta: SN 55.1: Sīla of a stream enterer
Sutta: MN 117: The Great Forty
16. “Can you speak about regret?” [Conscience and prudence] [Restlessness and worry] // [Guilt/shame/inadequacy] [Determination] [Skillful qualities] [Culture/West] [Kamma] [Goodwill]
Story: Ajahn Pasanno can't translate guilt into Thai. [Ajahn Pasanno] [Thai] [Suffering]
9. Question about cultivating goodwill towards a difficult coworker. [Work] [Goodwill] [Forgiveness] // [Suffering] [Right Effort] [Craving] [Relinquishment] [Kamma]
Comment: Sometimes having metta means leaving the situation. [Association with people of integrity] [Clear comprehension]
Reference: Amaravati Chanting Book, p. 46
5. “How can we recognize and know the present moment more clearly?” Answered by Ajahn Ñāṇiko. [Present moment awareness] // [Mae Chee Kaew] [Relinquishment] [Kamma]
1. “The reflection on kamma (Amaravati Chanting Book, p. 55) uses language related to family: 'born,' 'heir,' 'related', 'supported.' What are the implications of this?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Kamma] [Family] [Language] // [Community] [Perception]