Lessons In Practical Buddhism - Sirimangalo.Org

something goes contrary to our expectations; to see this bed
that we've made for ourselves; to see this nest, this house
that we've built for ourselves. We build a home for ourselves
in the mind. Whatever seeds you sow, so is the fruit you
reap. This was said by the Buddha, at least five-hundred
years before it was written down in Christian texts - "yādisaṃ
vapate bījaṃ, tādisaṃ harate phalaṃ. (SN 11.10)"
From the meditation practice itself, we see that doing good
deeds leads to good results and doing bad deeds leads to
bad results. It's not an intellectual teaching. You reap what
you sow. We may ask ourselves, "is it really true?" We see
all these rich people who do such horrible things and don't
see them reaping anything, except more good; this makes us
wonder whether cause and effect really works. If you think
intellectually about karma, it can certainly cause a lot of
doubt. When you start to look for complex truths, you find
many problems. But the simple truth is that when you give
rise to a negative mind state, suffering is the only result you
can expect. Ask yourself, when you get angry, when you get
greedy, when you are conceited or arrogant, how do you
feel? Does it form a habit or does it not form a habit?
Suppose you are sitting and you have pain, and you adjust
your position. You think, "oh, that was nice, that worked."
So you think, "wow, this is the truth of suffering, isn't it?"
You get the idea that the truth of suffering is sitting still on a
meditation mat, and so all you have to do to be free from
suffering is not sit on a meditation mat. When the suffering
comes, what's the path that leads to the cessation of
suffering? Moving. Massaging. Stretching. This, you think,
is the path to the cessation of suffering, only the suffering
always comes back again, and when it does do you think you
will be less inclined to move or more inclined to move? Of
course, you will be more inclined. Habits are not static. You
become more averse to the feeling; more set in the view that
you can and should try your best to avoid suffering, that it's
under your control.
We think that all we have to do is find that magic button. It's
the same with mindfulness. We think if we find the magical
button, we'll be mindful all the time. We think we're doing
something wrong when we're not mindful. We beat
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