Let’s study together thru the conversation of the students who really need to know about “Buddhism”

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Alan : Porn, I’d like to give up

              teaching English to your friend.

Porn : Why is that ?  Isn’t he a good

               student.

Alan : He hardly remembers anything

               he has learned even though

               I always review the previous

               lesson for him before starting

               a new one.

Porn : Maybe he has no talent for

               language.

Alan : I think he’s dull-witted.

Porn : Well, what you said made me

               think of individual differences.

               Some people are very smart,

               some are brainless, some are

               good-looking and some are

               unattractive.  What do you

               think makes each individual

               different ?

Alan : I think genes are the cause of

              individual differences.

Porn : Why are some people born

              with a silver spoon in their

              mouths and why are some

              born poor?  What is the cause

              of their differences ?

Alan : I don’t know. 

              What do you think ?

Porn : According to Buddhism, there

              are many differences between

              living beings;

              and the differences between

              human beings and animals are

              especially great.  These

             differences are due to their

              own kammas.

Alan : What do you mean by kamma?

Porn : Kamma is a Pali word, it means

             “volitionalaction”.   Kammas

              are intentional actions of

              body, speech or mind.  In the

             Law of Kamma, if we do a

             wholesome action, we’ll finally

            get a wholesome fruit, and if

             we do an unwholesome action,

             we’ll finally get an unwholesome,

              painful result.          

Alan : How does one know whether

              an action that is wholesome or

              unwholesome will produce

              happiness or unhappiness ?

Porn : Time will tell.  Some kammas

              give their immediate results

              but some kammas bear their

              fruit only after some time,

              and it’s more difficult to see

              the connection.  Kamma can

              manifest its effects either in

              this very lifetime or in the next

              lifetime or after several lives.

Alan : How does one know about the

              effect in the future lives ?

Porn : These are very difficult to

              understand, unless the power

              of remembering previous

              existences is developed thru

              the practice of meditation.

              However, Lord Buddha and

              His prominent disciples who

              had developed their minds

              were able to perceive the long

              term effects directly.  For

              instance, when Moggallana was

              beaten to death by bandits,

              Lord Buddha was able to tell

              that this event was the effect

              of what Moggallana had done

              in previous life when he took

              his blind aged parents to the

              forest and beat them to death.

Alan : What you are saying is  

              that result of the prior action.

Porn : That’s right.  Moggallana

              suffered torment for

              numberless hundreds of

              thousands of years in hell; and

              thereafter in a hundred

              successive existences he was

              beaten to death, and this

              included his final lifetime.

Alan : Was Moggallana an arahant ?

Porn : Yes, he was. Lord Buddha also

              said that at death we have to

              leave everything behind, but

              our kammas will accompany

              us like a shadow, that nowhere

              on earth or in heaven can one

              escape one’s kammas. 

              Therefore, it’s very important

              what actions we do in present,

              for our future fortune or

              misfortune is dependent on

              our present lifetime.

Thanks & regards : AJ S. Srisopa (Cr. All Dhammateachers)  &  Law of Kamma