If you don’t accept these principles, the path to the end of suffering is closed to you. If you do accept them and try them out in your actions, it’s open. Despite the complexity of kamma, the choice is as simple as that.

"It’s wise to take as working hypotheses the basic principles of kamma:

Your actions are real. They come from your choices. They have results. Those results are determined by the intention behind the act. Those results follow patterns that shape both the present moment and the future, even beyond death. You can learn the patterns underlying actions and their results. Having learned the patterns, you are free to choose to change the way you act so as to get the results you want. A central principle of those patterns is that your present actions determine whether or not you will suffer from the results of past actions. And you can act in such a way that you can put an end to suffering — and to birth, aging, and death — altogether.

If you don’t accept these principles, the path to the end of suffering is closed to you. If you do accept them and try them out in your actions, it’s open. Despite the complexity of kamma, the choice is as simple as that."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Karma Q & A, a Study Guide"

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