INTENTION AND ACTION The Buddhist teachings say that all effects have causes,
And that all things are conditioned by the causes that produce them.
Furthermore,
This chain of events is rational,
And its workings can be understood.
Indeed,
Buddhist teaching states that karma is one of the laws of nature,
Like gravity and electromagnetism.
So let's begin with the basics,
The ABCs of cause and effect,
According to Buddhism.
Just like combinations of letters become words and sentences,
Combinations of behaviours create karma.
1.
Intention leads to action When we reflect on our normal behaviour,
We find that most of our actions start from intention.
We have an intention,
And then we act.
We hold this book in our hands,
And think that it may be interesting to read.
So we decide to open it,
And we open it.
Our thought leads to action.
By action,
I mean all bodily and verbal action.
2.
Action without intention For second category,
We have those times when we act without conscious intention.
For example,
Suppose we're driving a car and hit and kill a man who stepped into the road.
We tried to stop,
But we couldn't.
It wasn't our intention to kill him,
Yet he's dead.
Do we have to suffer the consequences?
Certainly.
Our car is damaged.
The police will question us.
A judge may decide that we were driving carelessly or too fast.
We may be fined or imprisoned,
Or troubled by a terrible memory.
Let's look at another example.
We go on a picnic.
Eat a banana.
Throw the banana peel into the forest,
And then we go home.
However,
Our banana peel fell onto a forest path that we didn't see.
A sweet old lady slips on our banana peel,
Cracks her head,
And passes away.
As for us,
Our life goes on.
We forget all about the banana.
The old lady remains dead.
Our unintended action plays a part in her death.
Thus,
Even small,
Unintended actions may have large results.
Throughout our life,
We cannot know how many sweet old ladies might have passed on from slipping on our banana peels.
Did we have any intention of causing harm with our banana?
Of course not.
But the fact remains that someone passed away,
And our unintentional action was involved.
Number three.
Intention without action.
For our final category of karma,
We have those times when our intention leads to no bodily or verbal action.
Thoughts are constantly arising in our everyday life,
And our various intentions are changing countless times,
Moment by moment.
Many,
Many thoughts arise and pass without our taking action.
These thoughts can affect our physiology.
A happy memory cheers us.
A sad memory depresses us.
But for now,
Let's limit our concept of action to bodily and verbal action in the external world,
And let our external world include our physical environment,
The people around us,
And society.
In summary,
We have three categories of intention and action.
Number one.
Intention leads to action.
Number two.
Action without intention.
Number three.
Intention without action.
If we put the intention on the left and the action on the right,
We can create a chart.
On the intention side,
We can see that there are two mind effects.
When there is intention that leads to action,
Or intention that leads to non-action.
And on the action side,
We can see that there are two world effects.
When there is intention that leads to action,
And when there is action without intention.
The mind effects are things that disturb or clarify our minds.
Things that bring us mental suffering,
Or mental joy,
Serenity,
Or sadness.
Every thought we have,
Whether acted upon or not,
Has an effect on our mental environment.
This cause and effect link is natural law at work.
It is unavoidable and inexorable.
Our good thoughts benefit us,
And our bad thoughts hurt us.
This latter,
Often overlooked fact,
Is the cause of much suffering in the world.
We will look at this mental activity in the second part of this book.
The world effects are more straightforward.
They are the sum of all bodily and verbal actions,
And their effects on our world.
There are two cases of action.
One due to intention,
And one without intention.
Both always have a direct effect on our environment.
And since all things are interconnected,
These effects always have further effects,
However small.
These chains of effects go on and on through time.
In Thailand,
We have a saying,
Plucking a flower and affecting a star.
