Buddhism provides the answer to this great mystery of inequali-
ties and imperfections of mankind. e Buddha taught that ‘all
things spring from a cause’ and he clearly laid down the nature
of good and bad Karma. Reduced to its most elementary mean-
ing, Karma is action; it refers to the fruits of actions as well as
the effects of causes and so on. If there is a cause, an effect is
inevitable, where there is an effect, there must be a cause. us it
is quite easy to understand that ‘what happens today is the result
of yesterday and the cause of tomorrow’. is reasoning springs
from what the Buddha has said:“If you wish to know the past, then look at the present
which is the result of it.
“If you wish to know the future, then look at the present
which is the cause of it.”e above teaching describes the oneness of cause and effect and
also explains the inequalities of birth which are but the effects of
causes generated in past lives. Understanding this Law will help
us to put to a stop all the evil actions of our body, speech and
mind — the three karmic vehicles. e three evils committed by
the body are killing, stealing and adultery. e three evils of the
mind are greed, anger and delusion and the evil deeds that are
committed by the mouth are vulgar speech, false speech, harsh
speech and duplicity.
rough such unwholesome actions of our body speech and
mind we generate bad Karma which, when it ripens, will cause
us to fall into states of misery either in this world or another. It