Part of key topic Buddhist Perspectives on the World
1. “At what point does it become unskillful to continue to reflect on one’s own good deeds?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Beth Steff. [Recollection/Virtue] [Unskillful qualities] // [Self-identity view] [Right Effort] [Recollection/Generosity] [Culture/West] [Christianity] [Guilt/shame/inadequacy]
Quote: “In Buddhism, we don’t believe in original sin. We believe in original purity.” — King Rama IX to a BBC interviewer. [King Rama IX] [Nature of mind]
Reference: The 1979 BBC interview on YouTube.
Commentary: Path of Purification by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli, p. 104: Forty subjects of meditation.
Story: Western researchers find Tibetans who have been tortured don’t suffer post-traumatic stress. [Abuse/violence] [Vajrayāna] [Three Refuges] [Compassion]
Story: God’s finger over the “Smite” button. [God] [The Far Side]
Comment by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo: The Dalai Lama emphasizes the effect of faith in the law of kamma. [Dalai Lama] [Kamma] [Faith]
Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Right View]
2. Story: Master Hsu Yun is beaten twice by Chinese soldiers and holds on to life for their sake. Told by Ajahn Jotipālo and Ajahn Pasanno. [Master Hsu Yun] [Abuse/violence] // [Kamma] [Arahant] [Compassion]
3. “Is divided consciousness the same as divided awareness?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Kondannyo Bhikkhu. [Consciousness] // [Pāli] [Proliferation] [Concentration] [Sense bases] [Ignorance]
Story: A man born blind gains sight. Told by Ajahn Jotipālo. [Contact]
Sutta: MN 43.6: Viññana is to be understood and pañña is to be developed. [Discernment] [Kamma]
2. “How do these particular teachings (AN 5.48: Situations) fit with kamma?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Kamma] [Sickness] [Sutta] [Human] // [Lawfulness] [Characteristics of existence]
9. “I like the translations ‘conscience’ and ‘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]
6. “Is there a difference between mindfulness and awareness?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Mindfulness] [Present moment awareness] // [Language ] [Translation] [Culture/West] [Pāli] [Kamma] [Thai]
5. “When one dies, do they carry memory of their former life into their next life? Is it possible to make amends from the former life into the next life?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Rebirth] [Memory] // [Kamma]
Quote: “It’s bad enough just remembering what you’ve done in this life.”
7. “Generally, is right intention a subset of kamma or is it the whole enchilada?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Right Intention] [Volition] [Kamma] // [Volitional formations]
9. “Was sati, vedana, jhana part of the religious climate current at the Buddha’s time? How revolutionary was he seen to be then? Do we know?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [History/Early Buddhism] [Buddha/Biography] [Mindfulness] [Feeling] [Jhāna] // [Four Noble Truths] [Aggregates] [Culture/India ] [Kamma] [Volition]
1. “I was surprised to learn recently that there is a concept of hell in the suttas. Could you talk a bit about what Buddha meant by it and who goes there?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Hell] // [Realms of existence] [Kamma]
14. “Are devas imagery or symbolism, or are they tangible for some people? Particularly the talk around the heavenly minstrels and nagas in the water (Snp 3.11)....” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Deva ] [Symbolism/metaphor] [Realms of existence] // [Ajahn Pasanno] [Recollection/Devas] [Virtue] [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?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [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?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [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?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Vinaya] [Confession] // [Ajahn Chah] [Volition] [Kamma] [Dhamma]
1. “How can those just entering monastic life lay a good foundation?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [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?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [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. Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [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]
9. “Could you suggest some inquiry questions to contemplate and investigate the wisdom practice of equanimity?” Answered by Ajahn Ñāṇiko. [Recollection] [Discernment] [Equanimity] // [Kamma] [Judgementalism]
Reference: Amaravati Chanting Book, p. 55.
3. “I struggle to find meaning in life....I struggle to find what to do during my days and what to do in the future in terms of career or lifestyle....What would be your advice for someone who feels lost as to what to do next in his/her life?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Purpose/meaning ] [Sickness] [Work] [Depression] // [Right Effort] [Generosity] [Virtue] [Kamma] [Happiness] [Clear comprehension]
7. “Is it fine to give with the understanding of the law of cause and effect, thinking that this generosity will bring benefit to the recipient now as well as it will benefit us in the future in a similar way?” Answered by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Generosity] [Kamma] [Volition] [Ageing] // [Recollection/Generosity]
Sutta: AN 4.77: Imponderables. [Commerce/economics]
9. “How to forgive a person who has hurt and done very wrong things to you?” Answered by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Forgiveness ] [Abuse/violence] // [Aversion] [Memory] [Mindfulness of body] [Kamma] [Spiritual friendship] [Proliferation]
See also the previous question, “How do you deal with anger?”
10. “I am taken by the idea of volition. Can one enter volition without judgement?” Answered by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Volition] [Judgementalism] // [Kamma] [Killing]
10. Principle of Cordiality #6: Core aspects of Right View that lead to communal harmony: Our actions have consequences. We can change. Liberation is possible. Teaching by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Principles of Cordiality] [Right View ] [Saṅgha] [Kamma] [Communal harmony ] [Right Effort] [Liberation] // [Judgementalism] [Habits] [Four Noble Truths]
Sutta: MN 48: Kosambi Sutta.
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]
2. “What is meant by skillful?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Skillful qualities ] // [Unskillful qualities] [Happiness] [Tranquility] [Kamma] [Discernment]
Quote: “The language of Dhamma is the language of feeling.” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah] [Dhamma] [Feeling]
10. “What are the words or practices to develop equanimity? In this difficult, divisive period, it’s helpful to have as much non-ill-will as possible.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Equanimity ] [Conflict] [Goodwill] // [News] [Kamma] [Conditionality]
Quote: “[News] is not there to inform you. It’s there to create a reaction....Their job is to try to get click baits.” [Internet] [Advertizing]
11. “Can you be a Buddhist and yet an I-don’t-know agnostic about reincarnation?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Buddhist identity] [Rebirth ] [Atheism/agnosticism] // [Faith] [Merit] [Kamma]
Sutta: MN 60: The Safe Bet
10. “We can control unwholesome acts of body and speech through precepts, but whatever pops up in the mind we mostly can’t control. But how is kamma formed in the mind? Should we control that thing or should it be let go?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Precepts] [Nature of mind] [Kamma] // [Suffering] [Relinquishment] [Ajahn Chah] [Volition]
Sutta: MN 19: Two Kind of Thought
3. “When kamma meets this present moment way of handling experience, this synchronic approach, is there some sort of free will there?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Kamma] [Conditionality] [Philosophy]
Reference: The Wings to Awakening by Ajahn Ṭhānissaro, pp. 35-37.
Quote: “The concept of free will is quite European.” [Culture/West]
Reference: “Is God a Taoist?”, Raymond M. Smullyan in The Mind’s ‘I’, edited by Douglas R. Hofstadter and Daniel C. Dennett.
2. “What about the cow that killed the arahant Bahiya (Ud 1.10)?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Animal] [Kamma] [Rebirth] // [Human] [Volition]
3. “Does the Buddha speak about karma in relation to the family we find ourselves in?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Tipiṭaka] [Kamma] [Family] // [Jātaka Tales] [Great disciples] [Rebirth] [Buddha/Biography] [Previous Buddhas] [Ajahn Sumedho]
Sutta: MN 81 Ghaṭīkāra Sutta
Story: An eight-year-old girl remembers being her grandmother’s mother.
1. “When we immerse and lose ourselves in a book or movie, is this the craving or thirst for non-being?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Craving not to become ] // [Kamma] [Volition] [Restlessness and worry]
Sutta: AN 6.63.33: Kamma is intention.
1. Teaching by Ajahn Pasanno: Confidence or belief in the law of kamma is the foundation of mundane Right View. [Faith] [Kamma] [Right View] // [Rebirth ]
Sutta: MN 117.7.
Follow-up: “Would you say [mundane Right View] includes rebirth?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno, Ajahn Karuṇadhammo and Ajahn Kaccāna. [Views] [Kamma] [Conditionality] [Spiritual traditions] [Ordination]
Sutta: MN 60: Apaṇṇaka Sutta.
3. “What is meant by supramundane?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Kamma] [Saṃsāra] [Suffering]
2. “Is it possible to have a wholesome action that is unskillful, like saying the truth at the wrong time?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Skillful qualities] [Unskillful qualities] // [Kamma] [Volition]
3. “You mentioned the class of actions that are neither bright nor dark as the path leading to Nibbāna. But isn’t the work one does on the path good?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno, Ajahn Karuṇadhammo and Ajahn Kaccāna. [Kamma] [Nibbāna] [Skillful qualities] // [Happiness] [Liberation] [Clinging]
Sutta: MN 57.7: Four kinds of kamma. [Kamma]
Sutta: MN 75.19: Nibbāna is the highest bliss.
Sutta: AN 6.63.33: Kamma, its origin, and its cessation. [Kamma] [Four Noble Truths]
Sutta: MN 117: The Great Forty.
4. “When considering the four kinds of kamma (MN 57.7), do action (kamma), volitional formations (saṅkhara), and intention (cetanā) refer to the same thing?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Kamma] [Volitional formations] [Volition]
Follow-up: “So it’s all based on the sense of self?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Conceit] [Liberation] [Relinquishment] [Not-self] [Conditionality] [Buddho mantra] [Attachment to precepts and practices]
5. “How important is it to develop wholesome actions (the second of the four kinds of action in MN 57.7) to progress with the fourth [kind of action]?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Kamma] [Skillful qualities] // [Merit] [Translation] [Happiness] [Concentration]
Sutta: Iti 22: Do not be afraid of puñña.
6. “In Mahāvagga 8.15, Visaka’s intentions in giving to the Saṅgha are to realize Dhamma rather than go to heaven. Does this mean it’s more in line with neither dark nor bright kamma [as described in MN 57.11]?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Great disciples] [Generosity] [Happiness] [Deva] [Kamma] // [Skillful qualities] [Culture/West]
7. Comment: The quality that the Dhammapada describes (Dhp 1) seems like it has the quality of the beginning of the formations, like saṅkhāra, with its quality of intention. To me this seems like a mano kind of quality as opposed to the broader citta quality. So that kind of mind, mano, is the forerunner of stuff that gets produced. Contributed by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Heart/mind] [Volitional formations] [Volition]
Response by Ajahn Amaro. [Kamma]