Thanissaro Bhikkhu on Karma & Rebirth

"The Buddha talks about your good kamma as being like wealth, noble wealth: the kind of wealth that fire can’t burn, floods can’t wash away, nobody can steal. It’s yours. Even as you leave this lifetime, it goes with you. In some ways, it actually goes before you, prepares the way. So it’s good to think about that kind of wealth, because it comes from inside. It’s something you can create yourself. It’s not like the wealth of the world where you have to work for somebody else and only then do they give it to you. You create it yourself. You’re independently wealthy in a way that’s really secure." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "The Economy of Goodness"

"Have some positive feelings toward this teaching on kamma. It’s not there just to punish you. It’s there to offer you opportunities. It’s there to remind you that your actions are important. And even though you’ve done unskillful things in the past, you’ve got a new opportunity right now to do something skillful. And then again right now. Each right now. So if you do find yourself in the middle of having made some unfortunate choices, you can say, “Well, I’ll stop.” And the fact that you stopped becomes positive kamma right there. Part of the mind may say, “You’ve been doing unskillful things in the past, you’re going to give in to unskillful impulses in the future, so why bother resisting now?” Fight that. You’ve got to fight it. And you have the freedom to fight it. That’s the important part of our kamma: that element of freedom. All of these good things associate with the teaching on kamma: gratitude, generosity, goodwill, freedom. So keep those positive associations in mind...

"Your actions are what are real, that have the most reality. The world out there is not the issue. The world that you experience comes from your actions. Your [intentional] actions [karma] are more solid, more powerful than your experience of earth, wind, water, fire, and all the other elements. That’s a pretty radical statement. This is why the Buddha keeps focusing back on what you’re doing right now because what you’re doing right now is the big shaping force in your experience." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "So Little Time" (Meditations8)

"The mind needs a purpose. Otherwise, it begins to blur out or to start looking for entertainment on the side. So there’s the purpose in getting the mind to settle down and there’s a purpose in using the sense of well-being, the sense of concentration, to set your mind on getting some understanding about how you’re creating suffering, and how you don’t have to. This is the purpose. It’s what gives meaning to the meditation — just as in our lives in general, we have to have a sense of purpose, a sense that we’re making choices, and our choices have some impact on our experience. And we can learn how to control that. So you’re going to control your attention and your intentions to try to understand, “What do I do that’s causing suffering?” And here the word “suffering,” dukkha, can spread from heavy suffering to very light." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Take Nothing for Granted"

"Then there’s that reflection on karma. That’s where our refuge is. If you look at it, it says: “We’re owners of our actions, heir to our actions, whatever we do for good or for evil, to that will we fall heir.” And you can focus either on the good or the evil. Karma is scary. There are a lot of things we do that are unskillful and will bear results, one way or another. It’s so easy to slip and forget. That’s one of the reasons why you want to be mindful. But there’s also the good side to karma — there’s a lot of good that you can develop with your actions. When the Buddha teaches karma, that’s what he focuses on — the good that can be done. This is why the reflection on karma is meant to give rise to confidence — that you have it within you that you can do this. If your habits are unskillful, you can change them. They’re not written in stone. Past karma doesn’t control everything. In fact, your primary experience is what your intentions are right now. When the Buddha analyzes th...

"Think about it. When the Buddha taught people how to put an end to suffering, he didn’t ask them first, “What kind of bad karma do you have in the past? Only if you have no bad karma can I teach you.” That wasn’t his approach. His approach was based on the assumption everybody has bad karma, everybody has some good karma. That’s how you get into the human realm. The question is: What can you do in the present moment so that you don’t have to suffer from the bad karma, and not suffer even from the good karma? That’s where his emphasis is. When he’s teaching karma, this is where the emphasis is — on what you’re doing right now, and on your ability to reflect on it and learn." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Return of Wisdom for Dummies"

"The same goes for any anger that you’re carrying around. Is it worth carrying around? “Well, so-and-so did this, and it really was bad.” Well, does it really matter? And do you need to carry that around right now? You can have an image in your mind of all the things the mind carries around as being like a big burden you’ve placed on your shoulders, and how huge that burden can be. Now, if you saw somebody carrying a load like that around, you’d feel really sorry for them: “Why do you carry it around? There’s nobody forcing you. You can put it down.” Part of the mind may complain about putting it down, but look carefully into the part of the mind that’s complaining about putting it down, that says, “It’s not right. I want to get back at that person. Justice won’t be done.” Justice is rarely done in the world. Once one person’s idea of justice has been carried out, other people don’t like it and will come back with their idea of justice. The world has this back and forth, back an...