The question of whether or not we're actually going to suffer from the results of some past bad actions depends on our present actions.

"As you get more and more sensitive to what you’re doing, you begin to see that your actions in the present moment have a lot of power: They can create a sense of full well-being right here, right now.

In fact, in the Buddha’s analysis, even though we may have the results of some bad actions coming in from the past that are going to influence the present moment, the question of whether or not we’re actually going to suffer from those results depends on our present actions. Which is good news. Otherwise, we’d just be stuck with whatever comes up from the past and we’d have no way out.

But the fact is that our experience of the present moment is a combination of the results of past actions, our present actions, and the results of our present actions. The present actions are the ones that can make us suffer, or not, so those are the ones we want to focus on."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Mature Happiness"

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