Chapter 04: Karmic Debt Repayment to Dogs and Cats

LOK4004

Phra Dhamsinghapuracariya

The principle in the Abhidhamma states that “Cetana-ham. bhikkhave kammam. vada-mi”, which means that “intention is the karma”. Without intention, the deed is only action.

Take an example of your coming to observe the Eight Precepts here. How do you know that your observation is broken? You know it with one word – intention. If you have no intention, the observation is not broken. For example, suppose you walk outside this room and there happens to be a cat asleep under a mat. You do not know that. Thinking that it is only a mat, you step on it. Uncovering the mat you find out that poor kitten has just been crushed. Is your observation broken? No, it is not. But there is impurity in the mind. Poor creature! You shouldn’t have been under my feet at all. Now you’re dead. Your observation of the Precepts is not broken but stained. Your mind is full of sorrow. That is an action.

But if you intend to perform good deeds, you have to repay that action as etiquette. The Doctrine has not explained this clearly. I’ll explicate it from my own experience.

What does ‘repay the action as etiquette’ mean? Take an example. I go into a shop selling glassware. While choosing the glass I drop it unintentionally, clank! It’s broken. So, I have to ask the seller, “How much is it, please?”

“Two baht, sir.”

“There you are. Two baht.”

“Oh! That’s all right. You have been kind to me before. It’s only two baht. Never mind that.” This is called Defunct Karma (ahosi-kamma). You don’t have to repay. Is it now clearer?

But if I have never known the seller before, never been kind to her before, I have to repay her two baht. This is an action. But you still have to repay.

cSometimes the teacher cannot explain this correctly, thinking that there is no need to repay. For example, one day I performed a good deed by pounding the floor of the old hall. There were neither roof nor wall then. The hall was beside the walkway. When I was about to stop for the day, I looked around and saw nothing in the way. So, I flung the piece of wood out to the pile of other pieces.

cIt just so happened that a dog was running from somewhere. The piece of wood hit him in the nose, blood squirted out. This was an action because I had no intention. That dog happened to be in the way. I hadn’t fed him. If I had, it might give me ahosi-kamma.

I went to pick some “rangjued” (Thunbergia laurifolia – a medicinal herb) at the back of my residence to crush and mix with rice washing water to give him to drink. He was up and about in no time at all.

A month later, I went to give a speech at the Community Hall, Lopburi. I had lunch at the Head of the District’s house and visited the new temple being constructed in the new town. There were about 100 people sitting in the tent. I was seated in the abbot’s residence. Then the phone rang. The abbot left me to receive the call inside. Just after the abbot had left, a strong whirlwind blew. The tent was blown down. No one out of the hundred was injured. But the wind blew a piece of purlin wood that hit me right in the nose. Had the abbot been there, he would have died since he would have been in front. The wind having blown hard and the piece of wood having hit me hard enough to cause blood to squirt from my nose, the wind died down completely. Do you see this law of karma? Even if it is an action, you have to repay like this.

If we have never made any merit at all, we may not have to pay yet. We shall have to repay it in our next life. I would like to remind of you this. A good deed has its obstacle. When we do something good, there are people who say bad things about us. We have to be patient. Heroes in plays and movies have to endure hardship like this. If anyone likes comfort, he is not good enough to be a hero. He can only be an unimportant character. Do you see?

Seeing that I was bleeding, the ushers hurried to offer help. I said, “That’ s all right. Trivial matter.” Then I told the abbot about it, explaining the law of karma to a small group.

In fact, they asked me to talk about unity at the Community Hall. My nose was still stained with blood. A doctor came to dress my wound. I told him not to because I wanted to keep the stain as evidence. My glasses were also thrown off. But there had been no law of karma about the glasses. So, they were not broken. When I flung the piece of wood out, it had hit a dog without eyeglasses. If the dog had had a pair of glasses, mine would have been broken too. Do you see now? When I was invited to the Community Hall, Lord Mayor asked what had happened to my nose. I told him to wait for the answer in my speech. Then I talked about the law of my karma for an hour.

In fact, they asked me to talk about unity at the Community Hall. My nose was still stained with blood. A doctor came to dress my wound. I told him not to because I wanted to keep the stain as evidence. My glasses were also thrown off. But there had been no law of karma about the glasses. So, they were not broken. When I flung the piece of wood out, it had hit a dog without eyeglasses. If the dog had had a pair of glasses, mine would have been broken too. Do you see now? When I was invited to the Community Hall, Lord Mayor asked what had happened to my nose. I told him to wait for the answer in my speech. Then I talked about the law of my karma for an hour.

Thus is the saying “Cetana-ham. bhikkhave kammam. vada-mi _ Intention is the karma. Without intention, the deed is only action. If you always do good deeds, you repay bad deeds soon. You don’t have to repay them in your next life. The more good deeds you do, the sooner you repay bad deeds in this life.

Should you do good deeds, yet not forsake evil deeds, you cannot repay them in this life. You have to repay your bad actions, with interest in hell.

Wouldn’t it be better to repay them in this life so that you will not be burdened with karma in your next life?

Credit: Page Link