Is there Justice in Samsara?

0:00 Today I thought about addressing one of the topics proposed on the WhatsApp group last week, and that was a question, is there justice in saṃsāra? Yeah, so kind of interesting question. And so I thought I will see what I can do. I'm not an expert on the concept of justice. Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:30 Yeah, it's a concept, isn't it? There are many word concepts. All of the words are, in fact, concepts. And it has meanings. And not all words exist in all cultures, right? We know that. And it's interesting. So I'm not entirely sure whether there is a... Pāli word for justice in meaning in exactly the same way. Sometimes there are words that are similar or close, but, you know, the understanding of it, even the word justice itself, I think maybe I did a little bit of research beforehand to see since I'm not very familiar with the whole idea. Report an error in the passage at 0:30 Highlight the passage at 0:30

1:20 And I think it was probably it started like in 400 BC by maybe Plato. And then the idea was developed by Aristotle and probably it was further developed by others, yeah? So even the definition and the meaning can change over periods of time, how it's understood. And how a word is understood and applied in different cultures, it might sound the same, might be different. So it's really interesting, yeah? Report an error in the passage at 1:20 Highlight the passage at 1:20

1:51 Interesting point to remember that this is a concept, whether the Buddha's... spoke about this in exactly the same We'll try and find out. And also it's interesting. So as I said, all words, even the words that are in the dhamma or the dhamma terminology are also concepts. So some of these concepts, are they rooted in wisdom or are they rooted in delusion? Report an error in the passage at 1:51 Highlight the passage at 1:51

2:21 Because there are like an idea of permanence. That's clearly. A concept rooted in delusion, yeah? Because we know that according to the Buddha's teachings, according to the right view, there isn't anything that is permanent. But we do have this idea of permanent, yeah? The word is there, yeah? For example, so like that there are. So these are concepts and they have practical value and we use them. Report an error in the passage at 2:21 Highlight the passage at 2:21

2:50 But are they, you know, where are they rooted in? Are they rooted in wisdom or in delusion? So a lot of the dharma concepts, or in fact, all of those dharma concepts, words, they would be rooted in wisdom, not in delusion. So it's interesting, this idea. So what does justice mean? Yeah, I'm not sure whether I will be able to say it fully. Report an error in the passage at 2:50 Highlight the passage at 2:50

3:14 I can see some lawyers in the audience as well. So they may even argue with me later because they're supposed to know justice. So I don't know whether I'll get it. quite correctly but the idea is to treat people fairly right or to avoid the unfairness that happens in the world that's i suppose is a basic idea of justice and also for anybody who doesn't know what saṃsāra means saṃsāra is this never-ending almost cycle of Birth and death, being born again and again and traveling through life after life. And that is referred to as saṅgha. Report an error in the passage at 3:14 Highlight the passage at 3:14

3:58 So as we travel through life after life, is there justice happening? Yeah. So where is justice? Why is justice necessary? Because beings, let's talk about human beings. Do intentional actions, right? So the justice applies to intentional actions. Anything unintentionally done, it's difficult, right? If somebody accidentally killed somebody, well, you know, that's a different situation too and they have intentionally killed somebody, how you treat them. Report an error in the passage at 3:58 Highlight the passage at 3:58

4:36 So anyway, actions when done by body, speech and mind, especially these apply to speech and body, the actions. How do you deal with these things? Some people do things that are hurtful and harmful for themselves and to others, to the whole world, even to the environment, to the animals, to the trees, to anything. Report an error in the passage at 4:36 Highlight the passage at 4:36

5:01 So if there is harm done. If people's actions cause these kinds of stuff, how do we deal with them? How do you treat them? So this is where it is that the interest is. Because I asked the person who proposed the topic, tell me a little bit more about what you would like to hear. And one of the things was like, you know, we see politicians in the world, not all politicians, some politicians, yeah, some politicians. Report an error in the passage at 5:01 Highlight the passage at 5:01

5:30 Do so much bad, so much harm to so many people, and yet they seem to live a very nice, good life, and they don't seem to get any trouble because of that. They don't seem to be punished because of that, and they seem to get away, in fact, having done so many difficult things. And then you wonder, where is justice? Report an error in the passage at 5:30 Highlight the passage at 5:30

5:54 It seems unfair. So justice has this idea of treating equals equally and unequals in a way that is appropriate to that unequal way. So which is nice because that's how fairness should be because it's not like being fair means that you give everybody the same because that's not everybody needs. Being fair means doing the right thing by the... Report an error in the passage at 5:54 Highlight the passage at 5:54

6:28 So this is where it gets very complicated, right? Because it's so hard. There are many variables. How do you find out which group of people belong as equals? Because there is gender to consider. There is age to consider. There's race to consider. There's the educational background to consider. There's intelligence. There's wisdom. There's health. Report an error in the passage at 6:28 Highlight the passage at 6:28

6:54 So many things, yeah? And kamma wouldn't even come in a normal conversation, but their kamma, what they have done in their previous lives, we don't even know that. So we can't even have information about it to make this idea of how to find out which group of people are considered equal so that we can apply the law or the way of treatment. Report an error in the passage at 6:54 Highlight the passage at 6:54

7:21 This is where things really go badly. This is where you see even in spite of all everybody's good intentions of doing justice in the right way, we often see that it is not done correctly. It is not done correctly because also everybody who sort of try to implement justice, they are also human beings. With defilements, so their judgments can be biased at times, can be wrong at times, can't just be only based on what is black and white. Report an error in the passage at 7:21 Highlight the passage at 7:21

8:02 So this is where sometimes you see it's so complicated how to treat and deal with these things. And when it becomes unequal, it's even more difficult to find out what's the right thing to do. Of course, there are things that are quite straightforward, but there are things that are very many things. So one person might think, yes, that was given a very, you know, the treatment was done according to justice. Report an error in the passage at 8:02 Highlight the passage at 8:02

8:29 And another person might contradict and say, no, that was not really done properly because I know more about this and that's not the right way to do it. So this is where there is this question and people worrying about people being treated in a just way. Report an error in the passage at 8:29 Highlight the passage at 8:29

8:50 So already you can see maybe, you know, this idea, this concept is not necessarily fully based on wisdom. Yeah, there are many things to be considered here, many unknowns to be considered here. So it's important to reflect a bit more deeply about this issue when this comes about, to understand it deeply. Report an error in the passage at 8:50 Highlight the passage at 8:50

9:14 One of the things that I want to bring up is a very beautiful simile that I have come across. In a sutta in Samyutta Nikaya connected discourses, Salayatana Sanghuta, chapter 35, I think it was sutta 245. And in this sutta, there is a very beautiful simile given by the Buddha about a tree called a Kimsuka tree and different people seeing this tree. Report an error in the passage at 9:14 Highlight the passage at 9:14

9:48 I think it's a deciduous tree, right? And seeing this tree in different seasons gives a different description. Somebody who saw the tree at autumn says, oh, Kimsuka tree is beautiful. It's red and yellow and orange in color. And what they see is true, what they have seen. And that tree looked like that at that time. Report an error in the passage at 9:48 Highlight the passage at 9:48

10:13 And somebody else who's seen the tree during winter when it has shed all the leaves would say, oh, Kimsuka tree is just a stump. It has no leaves, no flowers, no fruit. It's just bark, bare trunk and brown in color. That's all it is. And that's true as well because that's what they have seen. And then... Report an error in the passage at 10:13 Highlight the passage at 10:13

10:37 Somebody who sees it in spring would say, oh, Kimsuka tree is so beautiful. It has green, beautiful, lush green leaves. And that's true as well. And somebody else who sees the Kimsuka tree in summer might say, oh, it's so beautiful with such beautiful flowers. It has this beautiful fruit. And everybody is true. Report an error in the passage at 10:37 Highlight the passage at 10:37

11:03 What they say, what they see. But unless they've seen all four seasons, they don't know the Kimsuka tree fully. In the same way, we judge people, right? Depending on their small period or the limited time that we have interacted with them or seen them. You may see somebody in a retreat and say, oh, they're such peaceful people, seem like good meditators, calm. Report an error in the passage at 11:03 Highlight the passage at 11:03

11:32 That's maybe your impression and maybe that is true while they were on retreat and then you might see that person at work on a stressful day and then your judgment would be quite different maybe. You might see the same person when they're so sick in hospital suffering a lot. So many things. So when we judge people. Report an error in the passage at 11:32 Highlight the passage at 11:32

11:55 And we go through phases in our life. Sometimes these phases last for weeks, months and years. Still, who you think this person is could be different to different people. So this is where again, how do you decide which group of people belong to be a group of equals? They change, people change. So interesting. So how do you? Report an error in the passage at 11:55 Highlight the passage at 11:55

12:22 you know treat them in a fair way and you only have very limited information about individuals and how can you categorize them there's multiple things yeah that come to play into So this is where the whole idea gets very difficult. could. Report an error in the passage at 12:22 Highlight the passage at 12:22

12:48 That doesn't mean that we don't try our very best or we can only try our very best. But the most important part is when we get upset. The part when we get upset is when we see people doing really difficult things, harmful things to others and yet they seem to get away with it or they seem to still have a good life. Report an error in the passage at 12:48 Highlight the passage at 12:48

13:12 They don't seem to have any punishment or any difficulty. As a result, even karmically as well as with law. Something interesting that needs to be remembered as Buddhists, as with the teachings of the Buddha, is the idea of many lives, past lives, and our intentional actions done by body, speech and mind in the past, and how they come to fruit, that is the viparka, the consequences of those actions. Report an error in the passage at 13:12 Highlight the passage at 13:12

13:45 And that process of vipaka, the consequences of your intentional actions, is a very complex process because it's multiple lifetimes and multiple causes and conditions have conditioned each person to do those intentional actions. So they vary. You might see two people doing pretty much the same kind of thing, but two different people who come from different mind states. Report an error in the passage at 13:45 Highlight the passage at 13:45

14:15 Externally, you might see they did the same thing. Yeah, and they might have had a similar upbringing, even twins, even identical twins. Yeah, they might do similar things, yet how they do, how they think about things, even they may have had the same upbringing. Still, there are so many things that affect us. Report an error in the passage at 14:15 Highlight the passage at 14:15

14:39 So our actions and their power is different. So the Buddha says in, I think I have the Sutta reference here. Anybody who wants to check this out in numerical discourses, book four, Sutta 77, called Inconceivable Matters. In there, the Buddha says the workings of the kamma, how the vipaka, the consequences come about, is difficult matter for somebody else to understand. Report an error in the passage at 14:39 Highlight the passage at 14:39

15:10 It is called Buddha Vishaya. It's a subject of... Only of the Buddhas, yeah, because of its complexity. So this is where we see, you know, people who are doing good sometimes get into so much trouble. And some people who are doing really bad things seems to have good things come to them. And this is where we ask the question, is there justice in saṃsāra? Report an error in the passage at 15:10 Highlight the passage at 15:10

15:37 Because it seems like it's not there. And this is not just us. If you want to have a read of Majjhima Nikāya, that is the middle length discourses, Mahakamma Vibhanga Sutta, Sutta number 136. There were people at the time of the Buddha who had very deep meditations and these were not... Buddhist, but these were people from the other religions. And they had the psychic ability called divine eye. Report an error in the passage at 15:37 Highlight the passage at 15:37

16:14 And one aspect of having divine eye is they can see what happens to somebody when they die. They can see the stream of consciousness departing this body and entering another one. They say it's like departing one house and entering another house. This is how they can see. And they can see that they have seen, some people they see, that people who have done good, they go and get a good life. Report an error in the passage at 16:14 Highlight the passage at 16:14

16:43 They are even born in heavenly realms. Report an error in the passage at 16:43 Highlight the passage at 16:43

16:49 And some others, they have seen with their divine eye that people who have done really good things in this life, they die and they went into really bad place. They ended up in a very bad situation or in hell. And some others saw people who did really, really bad things. After that, they got into really bad situation or ended up in hell. Report an error in the passage at 16:49 Highlight the passage at 16:49

17:19 And some others saw that people who did really bad things, but they got a good rebirth and went even into heaven. So they got really confused. And one group of people thought, yes, good actions bring good results. So your actions have good consequences. Good actions have good consequences. But the people who saw people who did good and got bad results, they came to the conclusions there is no good results in good actions. Report an error in the passage at 17:19 Highlight the passage at 17:19

17:51 Like that, they came to different judgments about your actions, intentional actions, good and bad. So then the Buddha says, yeah, that is because they were only considering this one lifetime. They could only see this one lifetime. But Buddha can see the many previous lives. of these people. And then that person who did many good things this life, but ended up in a bad destination. What has happened is that one of the bad things that they have done in a previous life have just come to fruition at the time of death in this life. Report an error in the passage at 17:51 Highlight the passage at 17:51

18:33 And that is what has taken them to a bad destination. But the Buddha says, however, the good actions that they have done this life will also bear good fruit later. Later on, once that other karma is finished or that period is gone, these other actions will come. So it's very complicated. And also, it's not eye for an eye. If you do one action, it's not your results are just one. Report an error in the passage at 18:33 Highlight the passage at 18:33

19:03 One good action or one bad action has multiple consequences, sometimes maybe hundred. This is the other thing. Why? Because each time we think about it, it is regenerated as a mental karma. So if you think about something and regret, each time you remember your bad action and regret, the mental karma similar to the actual one is generated. Report an error in the passage at 19:03 Highlight the passage at 19:03

19:30 But the good news is also this is true for good things. So when you have done good things, yeah, and you remember every time your good actions, it also multiplies. So this is also complicates matters and it goes over lifetimes. Not all of your actions gets your results in this very life. Yeah, it is many lifetimes. So this is where it's just like that tree. Sometimes even in one life, people change, but you also don't know how people were, what they did in their previous lives. Report an error in the passage at 19:30 Highlight the passage at 19:30

20:03 It's also like the different seasons of a tree. So this is where it is really, really difficult to understand when we see these things, why our hearts break, especially when people who do harm don't seem to get away and even have a good time. Report an error in the passage at 20:03 Highlight the passage at 20:03

20:21 And another thing to remember along these same lines is that, you know, when we think about many lifetimes and people moving on from life to life, is that Report an error in the passage at 20:21 Highlight the passage at 20:21

20:36 The perpetrator this life was sometimes the victim in the previous life. So is it fair? So this really terrible thing. A really terrible thing has happened to somebody and they couldn't bear it. And I'm not saying that this is right or this is according to the dharma, how people should think about it. Report an error in the passage at 20:36 Highlight the passage at 20:36

20:58 But of course, when you're being hurt, harmed and treated badly or even abused, of course, you can't, many people can't help but thinking, I will do that to you. Yeah, this comes into their mind, saying you did this to me, I will do the same to you. So what happens in the next life? The victim this life becomes the perpetrator next life and do that harm to the other person. So this is where hatred is never ended with hatred. Report an error in the passage at 20:58 Highlight the passage at 20:58

21:28 So it goes on and on, swapping between sometimes. So then how can you say where is justice? Hard to understand, isn't it? When you think about lifetimes, what happens? Yeah, sometimes the people might get away, like the politicians might get away in this life. But do you know where they are going to go when they pass away from this life, the kind of suffering they might reap later on? Report an error in the passage at 21:28 Highlight the passage at 21:28

21:59 Yeah. And we can't say even, oh, yes, you deserve it. Good on you. Yeah, you should be punished and you should really, really suffer. Report an error in the passage at 21:59 Highlight the passage at 21:59

22:12 But the thing is, you know, there are conditions. We have spoken about this many, many times in the previous dharma talks, how our actions by body, speech and mind are conditioned from our past. So they are conditioned by our past and we have our defilements and we have lack of mindfulness. Report an error in the passage at 22:12 Highlight the passage at 22:12

22:34 This is what happens. So it is really hard and this is how why people do the potential to do good or the potential to do bad is there and our defilements and spiritual qualities are there depending on which one is stronger. If your spiritual qualities are stronger even with bad circumstances you will do good. Report an error in the passage at 22:34 Highlight the passage at 22:34

23:01 if your spiritual faculties are weak but your defilements and hindrances are strong then in the same kind of situation You might be doing. Now, this is where you can't just look at the conditionality and say because it's multiple again, because this is where there is a story where I sometimes talk about this story. Report an error in the passage at 23:01 Highlight the passage at 23:01

23:24 I'm not going to tell the whole story where there was a little kid who was getting abused by the father, always hitting and treating badly. And the kid, when they grow up to be old, also end up being a very bad and nasty kind of person. So conditioned by the abuse from this life. But then there is also the story like Ajahn Brahm's father. Report an error in the passage at 23:24 Highlight the passage at 23:24

23:52 This is a story that Ajahn Brahm talks about where his father has experienced a lot of abuse from his father. This is Ajahn Brahm's grandfather. A lot of hitting and things like that. But when that was happening, Ajahn Brahm's father determined, because his spiritual qualities I suppose were quite good, that I will never do this to my kids. Report an error in the passage at 23:52 Highlight the passage at 23:52

24:16 And he never ended up being a very aggressive, bad, abusive person. Instead, he ended up being a very good, kind person. So both kids. You know, had very similar kind of situation, an abusive parent, but one ended up being a very abusive person themselves. The other one ended up being a kind person as a result. Report an error in the passage at 24:16 Highlight the passage at 24:16

24:40 So this is where again, a complicated idea, what we have developed, what we have cultivated will also decide how we deal with things. So this is where Kamma and Vipaka, how the actions and consequences gets very complicated. And that's why the Buddha said, if you try to work this out, he says this in that Sutta, Anguttara 477, Sutta 77, that you would go mad, really mad, because it's so hard to comprehend. Report an error in the passage at 24:40 Highlight the passage at 24:40

25:13 So the best is to leave the working of the justice. I suppose there is a form of justice happening in saṃsāra, much better than in the actual world or in the system of justice or law and justice. But the kamma, that is where some form of justice is happening. Report an error in the passage at 25:13 Highlight the passage at 25:13

25:39 But try to figure that out, we will go mad. So for our businesses, when we see these consequences, is to try to make peace in our own heart. That doesn't mean that we just allow harm to happen and not take action. Not at all. So when we see harm, unfairness happening, of course, if there is something that can be done. Report an error in the passage at 25:39 Highlight the passage at 25:39

26:04 We will take, it is important, especially putting down your boundaries, taking care of yourself, protecting yourself, protecting others from harm. That is important. So protecting people, protecting yourself, protecting the environment or whatever to your best ability, you can do. But you can always understand no matter how much we try. Report an error in the passage at 26:04 Highlight the passage at 26:04

26:31 Sometimes, because this is the nature, it is not within our power. This is the idea of non-self in the Buddhist teachings. We can only do so much. Karma really takes the upper hand at the end of the day. No matter how much we do, we can't control these things. So instead of worrying about justice, we can take actions, very practical things to whatever we can do. Report an error in the passage at 26:31 Highlight the passage at 26:31

27:00 but the most important thing is that mental harm or that anger irritation that comes up as a result when we see unjust happening in the world that is not helpful for ourselves yeah so but when we understand with right view why these things all these things that i've been talking about are The core teachings of the Buddha, the workings of the kamma, the actions and the differences in people and why people are so diverse and, you know, all of those things, based on that you understand, you try to make peace with the situation. Report an error in the passage at 27:00 Highlight the passage at 27:00

27:41 Even when you see, you know, people doing harm, to even be able to have compassion for these people. That is our job, not to really blame them, worry about them and stuff. Instead, we try to bring up compassion, understanding their bad actions, their unskillful actions will have karmic consequences. That is where in saṃsāra, there is some form of justice happening. Report an error in the passage at 27:41 Highlight the passage at 27:41

28:13 But then again, it's also not about punishment because in the Buddha's teachings, there is no real place for punishment. There's only forgiveness in the Buddha's dispensation. Report an error in the passage at 28:13 Highlight the passage at 28:13

28:27 Because with punishment, you can never really change something fully. It doesn't really do that much. Report an error in the passage at 28:27 Highlight the passage at 28:27

28:37 Because when you understand a person, when you forgive them and give them the benefit of the doubt and support their good side, then change, a good change can happen. Now, this is very interesting to contemplate. There are different prison systems in the world I have been made aware of. Like the Scandinavian prison systems I have heard has a very different way of treating with their inmates. Report an error in the passage at 28:37 Highlight the passage at 28:37

29:08 They're not being treated apparently like bad people. The staff treat the people quite respectfully, kindly, in a good way, and they're being trained in a good way. So they're not being treated in a really bad, harsh way and punished in a way like that. They are still in jail. They are limited what they can do. Report an error in the passage at 29:08 Highlight the passage at 29:08

29:36 But the way they're being treated and trained is quite different. And apparently the research shows that a lot of these people, a lot of these prisoners, when they go out of the jail, there's very few that return. Most of them actually never come back because the system works quite well. Whereas in some other countries, the way the prisons work, How the people, the criminals, so-called, they're not criminals, as Sajjan Brahm says. These are people who have done an act of crime. Report an error in the passage at 29:36 Highlight the passage at 29:36

30:14 They have also done many other good things too. But anyway, so those people, people who are prisoners, are treated quite badly. And the way they have been trained and treated. Then they seem to come back again and again much more. The return of the prisoners is higher in other countries because of the prison system. Report an error in the passage at 30:14 Highlight the passage at 30:14

30:36 So that also teaches a very powerful message. So punishment and how you treat. So punishment has no place as far as I understand the Buddha's teachings in the Buddha's dispensation. It is much more about forgiveness. Learning from one's mistakes and others' mistakes and moving forward, yeah, moving forward and accepting and letting go of things. Report an error in the passage at 30:36 Highlight the passage at 30:36

31:04 So this is where even, you know, if we have done things that are unskillful, silly or stupid or harmful, all of us have done to some degree something or the other. Report an error in the passage at 31:04 Highlight the passage at 31:04

31:19 It's not to just punish ourselves. There's no point in that because at the time when we did that, that's our level of wisdom or stupidity. We didn't know. We were not mindfulness or our spiritual qualities were not, faculties were not so strong. Instead, our defilements were much stronger. So that's why we did it. But if you just try to punish ourselves, have lots of regrets and resentment, it doesn't really do any good. Instead, you let go, you forgive and you move on. Report an error in the passage at 31:19 Highlight the passage at 31:19

31:57 And then your karmic consequences also change accordingly. That doesn't mean that you repeat. The idea of doing this is also you determine after you see that what you have done. said or thought was unskillful you determine not to do it and you might fail few times because sometimes habits are strong sometimes till the defilements are still strong but each time you see each time you determine each time you forgive yourself it gets lesser yeah and lesser and finally one day it will end Report an error in the passage at 31:57 Highlight the passage at 31:57

32:37 So this is what we need to do. This is the important thing. Otherwise, it's really difficult. My business is about justice and how to do it, how to understand it. It gets very complicated. Report an error in the passage at 32:37 Highlight the passage at 32:37

32:54 So, um... Yeah, I don't know how much more to say and what else to say. This is not my expert kind of area, but I tried to say a few things or at least offer you some ideas to contemplate and come to your own conclusion about it. Report an error in the passage at 32:54 Highlight the passage at 32:54

33:15 And yeah, so any questions, any comments, anything to add? Everybody is welcome. You can unmute. And speak or put into the chat. I mean, this is quite a difficult topic. It is a topic that is quite close to the heart and especially for people who has gone through a lot in this life. So I understand, but it is really important to build up right view around these things to make our heart. Report an error in the passage at 33:15 Highlight the passage at 33:15

33:54 Peaceful and easeful in a world that is difficult, yeah, in a world that seem unfair, in a world that seem unjust to, you know, keep cool is important. Otherwise, we just get drawn by those things and led astray and we ourselves end up doing difficult things. Report an error in the passage at 33:54 Highlight the passage at 33:54

34:20 So. Okay, Rumi is asking, is justice kamma? Well, kamma is your actions. Vipaka is your consequence. Justice is how it is treated, right? I suppose. So it's very complicated thing. It's justice. I don't think it's kamma, but justice is how the others impose something or what kind of treatment you get or what kind of karmic results if you want to look it in the lens of kamma. Report an error in the passage at 34:20 Highlight the passage at 34:20

35:00 But then again, I've spoken about kamma quite a lot in the past. It is also up to you. What somebody says as good karma, somebody might say as bad karma. Somebody might say this is bad karma. And if you're smart, you can see it says good karma. It's how you look at it. So 200 ml glass can have 100 ml of water. One person might say my glass is only half full. Report an error in the passage at 35:00 Highlight the passage at 35:00

35:30 The other one would say my glass is half empty. So again, it's really complicated. But anyway, justice, I don't think justice is karma, but there's a relationship. Okay. Ying Wang is happy. Well explained. Thank you. Thank goodness. Okay. Michael says, I wonder how much karma will fruit in this life and how much after, between. Report an error in the passage at 35:30 Highlight the passage at 35:30

36:00 Yes, that's the thing. Don't wonder about it because you would go mad. That's what the Buddha said. So stop wondering about karma because we don't know. We have endless karma, both good and bad. And we also have no control of which ones will fruit this life and which ones would fruit next and in the subsequent ones. Report an error in the passage at 36:00 Highlight the passage at 36:00

36:23 So the most important thing is not worry about what we have done. It's already done and finished. But what you do right now, that's why present moment is so powerful. Yeah, here and now, what you do now is what is most important because that's what's going to fruit later on. So if that is skillful, then sometime in the future, things will be good. So focus on this moment and what you can do now and being here is important. Report an error in the passage at 36:23 Highlight the passage at 36:23

36:55 Yeah, worrying about is difficult. Okay, lots of questions have come or some things have come. Let's see, B.E. says, it certainly made sense, especially the complexity of trying to interpret. Kama, exactly, yeah. Kama, but also interpret, you know, who are equal people because people are so complex. And we ourselves don't know, you know, our own life, previous life and so many multiple causes and conditions affecting us. Report an error in the passage at 36:55 Highlight the passage at 36:55

37:28 Okay, and Nilakshi says, and to support friend from other faith. What does that mean? Yeah, so you have to contemplate. Yes, from other faith. Yes, because when there is no understanding of rebirth, when there is no right view, it is difficult. Yeah, that is why that's a good point. So this is where right view is so important, right? View brings so much peace to ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 37:28 Highlight the passage at 37:28

38:01 But not everybody has right view. Not everybody accepts. Right view according to the Buddha's teachings. So it is going to be difficult. It is probably impossible even to try to make sense of what I said according to the Buddha's teachings and the way of understanding life and people's actions and consequences and treatments. Report an error in the passage at 38:01 Highlight the passage at 38:01

38:28 It's going to be very difficult. That one I would have to say good luck because it's not going to be so easy. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 38:28 Highlight the passage at 38:28

38:49 I find it hard to offer compassion to people who prosecute others in very terrible ways, like the Nazi commanders to the Jews in the Holocaust. Yeah, I went to see the concentration camps recently. Yeah, of course, these things are devastating. Report an error in the passage at 38:49 Highlight the passage at 38:49

39:14 But that is just because we still see Just one side or one part of people's lives. I mean, let alone that, that is people doing stuff. But when the environment does things, like when a tsunami comes, what do you think? When a big tsunami comes and many hundreds of thousands of people just die a terrible death. What about that? Report an error in the passage at 39:14 Highlight the passage at 39:14

39:49 Because it is environment, it's not a person, we seem to accept, isn't it? We think, oh, well, isn't it? Think about these things. You put them into, how are we different sometimes, yeah? If we don't have mindfulness, if we don't have right view, we are also like, you know, blindly going, led by all these forces. Report an error in the passage at 39:49 Highlight the passage at 39:49

40:20 Biological, mental, karmic, all these things, forces lead us. So quite a natural process ourselves. So sometimes these kind of mass massacres or whatever that happens, it's also like can be seen like a tsunami. You might disagree with me, but when people don't have mindfulness and then when the defilements take over. Report an error in the passage at 40:20 Highlight the passage at 40:20

40:49 It's also a natural process because it just causes and effects taking place with no way of directing. Yeah, only mindfulness. That's why mindfulness is so important. Yeah, that is when you become aware of these things. But mindfulness itself isn't enough. You need right view as well. Then when you are mindful and you know what is happening, then you also know wisdom and the right view says what is the right thing to do, how to deal with this carefully. Report an error in the passage at 40:49 Highlight the passage at 40:49

41:18 But without that, it's so hard. So when you think about what has conditioned those people who did these terrible things like Hitler or Trump or whoever, all these people, yeah, they are also conditioned. They probably don't have right view and right mindfulness and have lots of defilements. Their spiritual faculties are not strong. So what do you expect? But those people still have karmic consequences. Report an error in the passage at 41:18 Highlight the passage at 41:18

41:56 That is where I feel it's unfair. It seems like saṃsāra is unfair in that way. That is because sometimes your actions by body, speech and mind, you were driven by the conditions from the past. And yet you have to reap karmic consequences. To me, that seems unfair. If somebody didn't have the opportunity to come across good teachings, the opportunity to build up right view, the opportunity to build up right mindfulness, then as you travel along in saṃsāra, things happen. Report an error in the passage at 41:56 Highlight the passage at 41:56

42:35 And you do things. And you have consequences. And then, you know, then that idea of justice really gets To me, it seems saṃsāra is unfair in that way. Because people, when they're going in the darkness, how can you talk about justice? When people are traveling in the darkness, they can't see without eyes when the wisdom has departed. When the defilements are there, that's what the defilements do. Report an error in the passage at 42:35 Highlight the passage at 42:35

43:13 That's what the Buddha says. When you have defilements, it's like you're somebody with no eyes. achakku karana anda karana panya nirodhi Report an error in the passage at 43:13 Highlight the passage at 43:13

43:20 It's like somebody walking in the dark. So as you're walking in the dark, if you walk all over people and even accidentally killed somebody, what can you do? This is what it is. The thing is, we can't see the darkness in the world. So this is the darkness of these people who do terrible things. They are in great darkness of defilements. Report an error in the passage at 43:20 Highlight the passage at 43:20

43:43 They don't have eyes yet. Yet their actions, their unskillful actions have common consequences. In fact, I feel sorry. I have compassion coming up instead of anger. So we need to forgive these people and have compassion for them. May they come across good teachings. May they be able to be free from being trapped in this darkness. Report an error in the passage at 43:43 Highlight the passage at 43:43

44:12 It's such a terrible thing in saṃsāra as you Go in darkness, in blindness, without any wisdom. It's such a scary thing. So that is the scary bit about the saṃsāra. So, yeah, it's not about justice. Justice is done in a way that is difficult. Report an error in the passage at 44:12 Highlight the passage at 44:12

44:33 It is very scary. This is the whole reason why we need to do something when we have the opportunity, when we have the ability to understand the problem, when we have good teachings, when we have these beautiful opportunities of learning, of meditating and practicing. And we have to make the best use and get out of this darkness. Otherwise, as we travel in this darkness, Report an error in the passage at 44:33 Highlight the passage at 44:33

45:03 All these things happen to us. This concept of justice becomes very interesting when you think about it like that. Anyway, we are almost coming close to time. Thank you for the many different questions, suggestions and comments and also this interesting topic. Report an error in the passage at 45:03 Highlight the passage at 45:03