The Buddha's Words on Kamma - DharmaFlower.Net
The Buddha's Words on Kamma - DharmaFlower.Net
The Buddha's Words on Kamma - DharmaFlower.Net
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Majjhima Nikaya 57<str<strong>on</strong>g>The</str<strong>on</strong>g> Dog-duty Ascetic(Kukkuravatika Sutta)Introducti<strong>on</strong><str<strong>on</strong>g>The</str<strong>on</strong>g>re were some strange people around in the <str<strong>on</strong>g>Buddha's</str<strong>on</strong>g> daysbelieving some strange things -- but that is no different from our owndays when people still believe the most odd off-balance ideas. In thisSutta we meet some people who believed that by imitating animalsthey would be saved. Maybe they're still with us too!Belief is often <strong>on</strong>e thing, acti<strong>on</strong> another. While beliefs sometimesinfluence acti<strong>on</strong>s, for other people their beliefs are quite separate fromwhat they do. But the Buddha says all intenti<strong>on</strong>al acti<strong>on</strong>s, whetherthoughts, speech or bodily acti<strong>on</strong>s, however expressed, are kammaand lead the doer of them to experience a result so<strong>on</strong>er or later. Inthis Sutta the Buddha classifies kamma into four groups:(i) dark with a dark result,(ii) bright with a bright result,(iii) dark and bright with a dark and bright result,(iv) neither dark nor bright with a neither dark nor bright result.Dark (evil) kamma does not give a bright (happy) result, nor doesbright (beneficial) kamma lead to dark (miserable) result. <strong>Kamma</strong> canbe mixed, where an acti<strong>on</strong> is d<strong>on</strong>e with a variety of motives, somegood, some evil. And that kind of kamma also exists which gives upattachment to and interest in the other three and so leads bey<strong>on</strong>d therange of kamma.1. Thus have I heard. On <strong>on</strong>e occasi<strong>on</strong> the Blessed One was living inthe Koliyan country: there is a town of the Koliyans calledHaliddavasana.2. <str<strong>on</strong>g>The</str<strong>on</strong>g>n Punna, a s<strong>on</strong> of the Koliyans and an ox-duty ascetic, and alsoSeniya a naked dog duty ascetic, went to the Blessed One, and Punnathe ox duty ascetic paid homage to the Blessed One and sat down at<strong>on</strong>e side, while Seniya the naked dog-duty ascetic exchanged greetingswith the Blessed One, and when the courteous and amiable talk wasfinished, he too sat down at <strong>on</strong>e side curled up like a dog. WhenPunna the ox-duty ascetic sat down, he asked the Blessed One:"Venerable sir, this naked dog-duty ascetic Seniya does what is hardto do: he eats his food when it is thrown <strong>on</strong> the ground. That dog dutyhas l<strong>on</strong>g been taken up and practiced by him. What will be hisdestinati<strong>on</strong>? What will be his future course?"[1]5