Thanissaro Bhikkhu on Karma & Rebirth

"The Buddha never taught a theory of just [justified] war; no decision to wage war can legitimately be traced to his teachings; no war veteran has ever had to agonize over memories of the people he killed because the Buddha said that war was okay. These facts are among the glories of the Buddhist tradition, and it’s important for the human race that they not be muddied in an effort to recast the Buddha in our own less than glorious image." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Getting the Message"

"I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Rājagaha on Vulture Peak Mountain. And on that occasion, Ajātasattu Vedehiputta, the king of Magadha, wanted to attack the Vajjians. He said: “I will cut down these Vajjians — so mighty, so powerful! I will destroy these Vajjians! I will bring these Vajjians to ruin — these Vajjians!” Then he addressed Vassakāra the brahman, the chief minister of Magadha: “Come, brahman. Go to the Blessed One and, on arrival, show reverence with your head to his feet in my name and ask whether he is free from illness & affliction, is carefree, strong, & living in comfort, (saying,) ‘Ajātasattu Vedehiputta, the king of Magadha, lord, shows reverence with his head to the Blessed One’s feet and asks whether you are free from illness & affliction, are carefree, strong, & living in comfort.’ And then say: ‘Lord, Ajātasattu Vedehiputta, the king of Magadha, wants to attack the Vajjians. He says: “I will cut down these Va...

Question: Kamma and Rebirth, second try. How does individual kamma migrate from this life to the next one? Is this a relevant question? If no, how can our next life be better if we don’t have the benefit of a kind of karmic legacy? Thank you, Ajaan, for clarifying this “critical” question. Thanissaro Bhikkhu: It’s not a matter of migrating. Our kamma is actually what creates our experience of the next life — or rather, it supplies the raw material for our experience of the next life. When we leave this life and go to the next one, it doesn’t feel like we’re going someplace else. Just as we have a sense of our present life as “right here,” the next life will also have a sense of being “right here,” right at our consciousness. It’s like going from one dream to another. Even though the appearance of the location in the second dream is different from the location in the first, it still has a sense of happening “right here” just as the first one did. To give another examp...

"This story of the world right now.... If you believe the media, then where everything else is happening, that’s where the power is. The people who seize the power, those are the important ones. But from the long view, those are the ones who are going to suffer the most. So use the power you have right now to make wise choices — because it is within your power to really make a difference, a difference that will last for the long term." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Taking the Long View"

"Everybody deserves compassion. Everybody deserves goodwill [mettā], empathetic joy. But again, it’s not so much what they deserve, it’s: What do you want to do with your life? How are you going to shape your experience? How do you want to shape the world around you? Give your goodwill as a gift, your compassion as a gift to others and to yourself. That’s a good way of shaping things." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Goodwill & Karma"

"There are some people who complain that the precepts are absolute, hard-and-fast rules. People don’t like hard-and-fast rules, but actually the precepts clear-cut, and for a good reason. Clear-cut rules are easier to remember: Don’t kill, don’t steal, don’t have illicit sex, don’t lie, don’t take intoxicants, period. Although some people would prefer a little wriggle room in the rules, they’re being shortsighted and heedless. The times when you need clear-cut rules the most are when you’re most tempted to break them. It’s a lot easier to remember clear-cut promises that you make to yourself. Remember, right after 9-11? So many Buddhist teachers were saying, “Well, this business about not killing, we can throw that away for the time being. And this business about hostility not being cured by hostility, forget about that.” People were throwing away the basic principles that they actually needed most at that point. The Buddha’s not teaching us these principles just for times when t...