Friends:

     Phenomena are either Causes, or Effects or Neither:

The blessed Buddha said:
1: There are States, which are Causes...
2: There are States, which are Effects...
3: There are States, which are neither Causes, nor Effects...

Unintentional (=kiriya) action (=kamma), being neither advantageous
(=kusala) nor detrimental (=akusala), falls in the third category 3, as
neither effected themselves, nor causing any effects (=vipāka)...

Other phenomena in this third category are all inanimate Forms
such as stones, plants, mountains, instruments, oceans, trees, etc,
and the unconditional & unconstructed element of Nibbāna...
They are all inactive, passive and neutral as they are neither a cause
nor an effect and they are neither advantageous nor detrimental!

Some Examples:
Unintentionally killing an ant by stepping on it carries no bad effects.
Why not? It was not caused by any evil intention by anybody!
A knife or even an atomic bomb is not evil or bad in themselves, since
they are merely unconscious inanimate forms lacking any intention.
The evil use of these instruments, however, entails pain caused by
the bad intention motivating such evil actions. Kamma is the intention!

Core Causality rules:
If the intention is evil, then the later karmic effect will be pain.
If the intention is good, then the later karmic effect will be pleasure.
If the intention is neutral, then the later karmic effect will be neutral.



Mind (Mano) is an ever renewed cycle sequence of this chain of 5 events:
Sense Contact1 => Feeling1 => Perception1 => Intention1 => Attention1=>
Sense Contact2 => Feeling2 => Perception2 => Intention2 => Attention2=>
Sense Contact3 => Feeling3 => Perception3 => Intention3 => Attention3=>
Etc. Frequency ~ millions per second. Just an automate, a mental robot...
An impersonal 'roll out' of conditions. Neither 'I', nor 'me, nor 'mine'...



Systematic Details here:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/g_m/karma.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/g_m/kiriya.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/g_m/kusala.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/a/akusala.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/u_v/vipaaka.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/n_r/nibbaana.htm

Source:
The 1st AbhiDhamma Book: Dhammasanghanī: The Classification of States.
The Enumeration of Ultimate Realities. Tr. by U Kyaw Khine. 1999.
Sri Satguru Publications. Delhi.

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/III/Kamma_and_Fruit.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Kamma_is_improvable.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Inevitable_Consequences.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_kammic_Action_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

Intention causes the karmic effects!
 

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Updated: 19 December 2011 http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Unintentional_Action.htm