Happy about Kamma (extract)

"Kamma works regardless of what power you have. It may explain a lot of suffering, but it doesn’t justify the suffering. It just simply says that this is why it’s there, but the way kamma works also offers the way out. So even though we’ve done bad things in the past, we don’t have to suffer for them.

Think of that image of the salt crystal: You put it into a cup of water and you can’t drink the water. You put it into a river of clean water and you can still drink the water — because there so much more water than there is salt.

The water stands for the state of mind in the present moment. The salt stands for your past bad kamma. How expansive the water of your mind is going to be is your choice right now. So take advantage of the freedom of choice that you’ve got right here, right now. That can make you happy."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Happy about Kamma"

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