..续本文上一页 future lifetime. However, the most immediate and obvious result of an intentional action can be observed at the time the deed is committed. A good deed, for instance, results in the doer being a good inpidual, and a bad action renders him a bad one. This is the law of kamma in operation right at the time an action is performed, which can be empirically experienced.
Says the Buddha: "All sentient beings are the owners of their kamma, inheritors of their kamma, born of their kamma, related to their kamma, supported by their kamma. Kamma is that which pides beings into coarse and refines states."
Determining the quality of actions
We have seen that intention, according to the Buddha”s teachings, constitutes kamma. In English, we tend to use the term ”intention” rather loosely to indicate our willingness or purpose in an action. For instance, we may say, "I intend to write home" or "He said it intentionally." Sometimes, intention is implicit in the inference even if the word is not used. "He looks at the picture" clearly indicates an intention involved in the act of looking. However, intention in such instances contains no specific moral implication and the actions so performed do not fall into either the wholesome or unwholesome category, but are of an indeterminate nature.
This is the point of distinction. The Abhidhamma classifies intention or volition as a mental concomitant (cetasika) that is present in all types of consciousness. There is no consciousness that arises without it. Volition has the function of assisting the mind to select objects of awareness. By nature it is morally indeterminate, but becomes qualified as wholesome or unwholesome in accordance with the wholesome or unwholesome mental concomitants which arise with it. It is on the basis of these factors that an action is determined as morally good or bad. Of course, for the sake of convenience we may refer to a particular element of intention as skillful or unskillful volition, but the Abhidhamma analyses this down to the very fundamental qualities of each and every inpidual type of consciousness.
A simple indeterminate action may turn into a morally skillful or unskillful one depending on associated factors. With the accompaniment of wholesome mental qualities, an otherwise morally neutral action will be transformed into a wholesome one. If the accompanying mental qualities are unwholesome, the opposite will result. If we understand this rather intricate relationship between the action and the mental states at the time the action is carried out, there will be no difficulty in determining the moral implication of our own actions in everyday life.
We may further clarify this through an illustration. Take, for instance, the simple act of eating or drinking. Ordinarily, this in itself cannot be classified as morally good or bad and is, therefore, not kammically productive. However, such ordinary actions are bound to become either morally wholesome or unwholesome if and when founded on, or accompanied by, wholesome or unwholesome mental qualities (with volition playing an important supportive role).
Eating with mindfulness and clarity of mind as a form of meditative practice is wholesome because it is accompanied by awareness and wisdom, which are positively wholesome mental qualities. Such an act is therefore a morally good action. Drinking intoxicants that cloud the mind and produce heedlessness is morally unwholesome, as is borne out by the crime and violence that are associated with such consumption. Its effect is much different from drinking a glass of pure water.
All actions lead to certain results; every action produces a reaction. If you walk, you get to a certain place; if you eat, you get full; if you lie down and close your eyes, you will fa…
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