Lesson Eight: Sow Good Seeds and Reap The Harvest

Lesson Eight: Sow Good Seeds and Reap
the Harvest

"Hah! What a day. I've missed all my shots. I
couldn't have done worse," brooded the hunter.
''It must be that monk I met this morning. He is
the cause of my bad luck. If I see him again, I'll
lay my hands on him."

On his way home, the hunter met the same
monk again at the fringes of the forest. Instantly,
he set his ferocious dogs upon the innocent
monk. Being unable to outrun the fangs that
were snapping at his heels the monk scrambled
up a tree to save himself.

The enraged hunter hurled curses and pierced
the soles of the monk with his arrows. As the
monk was struggling in pain, his outer robes fell
upon the hunter and covered him completely.
Suddenly, the dogs turned around and attacked
their master thinking he was the monk. The
hunter was bitten to death.

When the dogs were gone, the monk climbed
down the tree. He went to see the Buddha to
find out if he had committed any wrong. His
doubts were cleared, and the Buddha told him
the evil results accrue to one who harms an
innocent person.

He who harms a harmless person, one pure

and guiltless, upon that very fool the evil

recoils like fine dust thrown against the wind.

Dhammapada 125

1.What is Kamma?

Modern physics took a great leap forward when

Isaac Newton discovered the natural physical

law that every action has an equal and opposite

reaction. There is a similar law expounded by

the Buddha more than 2,500 years ago which

operates in the moral sphere Kamma.

Kamma operates in its own sphere withoutthe

intervention of an external, independent ruling

agent or beingit has no lawgiver. It is a natural

and universal law.

Kamma can be explained at many levels. In the

language of a child, it isGood begets good, and

evil begets evil

In the language of a farmer, Kamma is explained

in this wayThe harvestyou reap is the result of

seeds you have sown. Good seeds bring a good

harvest and bad seeds a bad harvest.

Kamma is explained in the Dhammapada as: "By

mind the world is led, by mind it is drawn,and

all men own the sovereignty of mind. If a man

speaks or acts with an impure mind, harm

follows him like the wheels follow the ox that

draws the cart. If a man speaks or acts with a

pure mind, happiness follows him like a shadow

that never leaves him."

These explanations show that Kamma is a

physical, verbal or mental action performed

intentionally. "Kamma is volition," said the

Buddha.