What is good? What is evil?

    There are three types of karma created by one person. The first type is caused by his physical behavior, called “body karma”; the second type is caused by his words, called “oral karma”; the third type is caused by his mind, called “mental karma”. It is easy to control your behavior and speech, but it is more difficult if you want to control the thoughts in your mind and not to cause bad karma. Moreover, our behaviors and words are also produced by our mind, so we must always be alert to our own thoughts and avoid creating bad karma.

・Greed Is bad karma

    All greedy thoughts belong to bad karma. Many behaviors are also caused by greed. For example, humans breed a large number of pigs, chickens, cows, fish... and other animals, and then kill them, take their meat, and sell them to ordinary people to eat. People who breed animals, who kill animals, and who sell meat have created evil karma because they are greedy for the benefits of business, but if people who buy these meat are not greedy for appetite, no one will raise these animals and create bad karma of killing. so those who buy meat to eat will have to be responsible for a part of the effects of killing in the future.

    Some people are greedy to the lust between men and women; after having a wife (husband), they still feel dissatisfied and have sex with other women (men). Or before marriage, they have relationships with different opposite sexes. Such behavior is also caused by greed, and, in the future, they will get the bad retribution of wife's (husband’s) unfaithfulness, family disharmony, or uneasy mind. So we should avoid being greedy, and don't think that the persons who have sex with us feels indifferent anyway. Now, the concept of sex is too open, many people are not ashamed after committing the bad karma. Just for getting temporary pleasure now, but in the future, they have to suffer from painful retribution; it is just like moths fighting a fire, how can we be careless?

    There are also some businessmen who do business —— They negotiate with their customers in advance to sell a product for ten dollars, but when it comes to delivery, they give a cheaper product as a ten-dollar product to customers in order to get a better profit. This kind of bad karma is also caused by greed. In addition, there are public servants who take advantage of work to embezzle public money or goods for personal use, or accept bribes, or even corruption. They will not only be punished by law, but also suffer bad retribution because of greed. Therefore, we should not make unethical money, nor take things that do not belong to us.

    Of course, the types of “greed” are more than just the above. Strong desires for something or feelings, dissatisfaction with the present state, and trying hard to ask for more, are all greed. For example: It is obvious that I can't eat two pieces of free cake, but at the time I think that it is free, I feel it’s a pity if I don’t take more; so I think that I can take one more for the evening, and two more for my family; It’s better that I can take a few more pieces and put them aside, then I can eat them when I want;  no need to regard of whether there remain enough cakes to others. Or when we are buying things, one piece is one hundred and fifty dollars, two pieces are two hundred and fifty dollars, three pieces are three hundred and fifty dollars. Although I only need one piece, I am greedy for petty gains, so I buy three pieces in one go.

    If you often observe your own thoughts in your daily life, you will find that our greeds are really a lot, and once they arise, they are difficult to be controlled. Buddhism provides many methods to teach us how to eliminate greed. As long as greed arises, we must be alert and find ways to control it, so you won't create evil karma in a groggy state without being conscious of it.

・Giving is good karma

    “Giving” is the opposite of greed. “Giving” means giving away the wealth or things you have to others without asking for reward. For example, if you see that some people are poor and can hardly live on, you give them money, food, and clothes, so that they can continue to live, which is “giving”. The result of frequent “giving” is that you will be rich in the future without worrying about living. There are many people whom we can give to —— the poor, the sick, the disabled, the homeless, the stray dogs, the victims of natural or man-made disasters…... As long as we treat them sincerely with the idea of ​​helping people out of pain, even if it is a word to comfort them or helping the frightened person no longer afraid, we can plant good causes.

    Providing money to monks for use is what we call “offerings”. Because when there are monks, the Dharma can be continued, so offering monks can also be rewarded with great merits. Even offering Buddha statues, reading sutras, or spreading the Dharma is considered good karma, because doing these things can benefit all living beings, and the merits of benefiting all living beings even exceed the merits of just giving money to the poor.

・Anger is bad karma

    Usually when our mind is not satisfied, or when things are not as we expected, or when others do not do things according to our ideas, we will be angry. When we are angry, we want to revenge or hurt the person who made us angry; not just thinking about it, but really doing it; then the karma we created is definitely bad karma. For example, in our home, there are often mosquitoes and ants. Maybe we can pretend that we have not seen them when we are fine. If the mosquito bites us or a group of ants hinder us, then our mind will get angry. So we will kill these little beings in a state of anger. Such bad karma not only included killing lives in behavior, but also hatred in mind, and the retributions will surely be more serious.

    When we get along with our parents, not only can we not be thankful for their hard work, but when we feel unsatisfactory, we will argue with them. When we get angry, we scold them with our mouth. It is already wrong that we can’t repay their favor, yet we still scold with our mouth; the karma we’ve created will likely make us become dumbs in the future. In fact, we should not be angry with not only our parents, friends, and strangers, but also our enemies; we should avoid disputes or conflicts. Ancient saint says: "When one’s mind becomes angry, it burns his merits." In other words, anger not only creates bad karma, but also decreases our accumulated blessings in the past. Being in a state of anger will also affect our physical health. It is not worth it. How not to be angry? This is not a simple matter. There are also related methods in Buddhism to guide us gradually away from anger and gain a calm mind.

・Compassion is good karma

    Compassion is good karma and the opposite of anger. Compassion is kindness, and compassion is sympathy. When we see that others are suffering, if our empathy arises, we can also sense that painful feeling, and then turn it into action to help others out of suffering. If we do good deeds with a compassionate mind, then we will surely get good effects. For example: Although stray dogs ​​are smelly and dirty, but when we see a stray dog ​​hit by a car, no one pays attention to it, the thought of pity for it arises in our mind, and we send it to the veterinary hospital for treatment, and even arrange for it to the stray dog ​​association to settle down, such behavior will be the effect of good. Treating all lives often with compassion will not only gain great merit, but it is also one of the necessary causes for becoming a Buddha. (to be continued)