Friends:
Prior or later good
action dilutes & delays effects of present evil action!
The Blessed Buddha once explained:
Regarding the effects of actions, Ananda, as to the person here who kills
living beings,
who takes what is not given, who misconducts himself in sensual pleasures, who
speaks
false, who speaks divisively, who speaks aggressively, who speaks idle & empty
gossip,
who is envious & jealous, who is of ill will, and who holds wrong views, yet who
at the
breakup of the body, right after death, reappears in a pleasurable & happy
destination,
maybe even in the divine dimensions: Either earlier - prior to this -
such one also did
good actions to be felt as
pleasurable, or later - after this - such one
did quite good
actions to be felt as
pleasure, or at the death-moment such one entered &
maintained
right views! Caused by that such one is reborn in a happy
destination, even in the heaven!
But since such one - here & now in the present - has also killed living
beings, taken what
is not given, misconducted himself in sensual pleasures,
spoken false,
spoken divisively,
spoken aggressively, and spoken idle & empty gossip, &
since such one has been envious
& jealous, been of ill will, and held wrong views, such one will experience the
result of
that either here and now, or
in the next rebirth, or in some subsequent later existence...
Comments: Behaviour (kamma) is almost always mixed:
Sometimes good, sometimes bad!
The later effects are therefore similarly mixed: Sometimes pleasure, sometimes
pain...
Good begets good and dilutes & delays evil. Evil begets evil and dilutes &
delays good!
For details on the mechanics
of Kamma = Intentional Action see:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Kamma_is_intention.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Buddha_on_Kamma.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Good_Action_dilutes_Evil_Kamma.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Kamma_leading_to_short_&_long_life.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Kamma_leading_to_Health_&_Sickness.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Kamma_leading_to_Low_or_High_Birth.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Kamma_leading_to_Wealth_or_Poverty.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Kamma_leading_to_Beauty_&_Ugliness.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Effect_of_Action_(kamma)_is_Delayed.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Kamma_leading_to_Power_or_Disrespect.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Evil_Kamma_enhances_other_Evil_Kamma.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Good_Action_enhances_other_Good_Kamma.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Kamma_leading_to_Stupidity_or_Intelligence.htm
Source:
The Moderate speeches of the Buddha: The great speech on Action. MN 136
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=25072X Full Text:
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/sutta/majjhima/mn136.html
Updated:
22 Nov 2009
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Good_Action_dilutes_Evil_Kamma.htm