Karma

278. RESULT FOLLOWS ACTION

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts and made up of our thoughts. If a man acts or speaks with an evil thought, suffering follows him as the wheel follows the hoof of the beast that draws the wagon.”

THE DHAMMAPADA

279. ACTION AND EMOTION

Karma literally means “action”. In Buddhist teaching, the word implies intentional action: action motivated by emotion. Every intentional action will bear fruit, for good or ill, either positive or negative, at some time, even in a future life. Thus, we carry karma as a burden.

280. NO ESCAPE

“Those who act in evil, selfish ways are followed by the thought, ‘I have done wrong,’ and the memory of the act is stored in karma to work out its inevitable retribution in following lives.”

THE LANKAVATARA SUTRA

281. HARSH MASTERS

“Men are not punished for their sins but by them.”

ELBERT HUBBARD (1856–1915), USA

282. TAKING RESPONSIBILITY

“I am the owner of my karma, heir to my actions, born of my actions, related through my actions and have my actions as my arbiter. Whatever I do, for good or for evil, to that will I fall heir …”

THE BUDDHA (THE ANGUTTARA NIKAYA)

283. SEEDS AND HARVEST

“As men think, so they are, both here and hereafter, thoughts being the parent of all actions, good and bad. As the sowing has been, so will the harvest be.”

THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD