Chapter 7 - Right And Wrong Good Kamma

Some good deeds are right but some are wrong. The so called good deeds that some people do are harmful and as such they are evil kammas. For example, some people believe that it is a good deed to put an end to the suffering of some animals by cutting short their span of life. Every living being is afraid to die or suffer pain and it is certainly wrong to cause pain and death to animals.

Some people also consider it a good deed to bring about the speedy death of a person who is suffering from an incurable, painful disease. But the patient does not want to die although he wants to be free from pain. Even if he expresses the desire to die, it is wrong from the Buddhist point of view to cause the death of a living being and if one directly or indirectly causes the premature death of a parent by “mercy killing”, it is a grave kammic offence that leads to hell.

“Craving for the sensual pleasures of the human and deva worlds, and misled by false teachings, etc., some people do misdeeds such as killing for the attainment of their object. But as a result of their evil kamma, they land in the lower worlds after death.”

According to the commentary, misconceptions of those people arise from false teachers, lack of good kamma in the past and the failure to guard oneself. Reliance on evil teachers leads to evil kamma, much evil kamma in the previous life makes it easy to acquire evil views and evil habits, and lack of self vigilance makes one an easy prey to temptation.

True religion is called saddhamma “the religion of the good man”. Those who follow the true religion hear good teachings, avoid evil deeds, evil words and evil thoughts, hold right views about the future life, kamma and its fruits, etc., cultivate good thoughts and practise dana, sila and bhavana for their welfare.

The practice of alms giving, morality and mental development is true and good dhamma because it is harmless and acceptable to everybody. Nobody will blame a man who avoids killing, stealing, abusing and other misdeeds. The good deeds which we do for our welfare here and now or hereafter are wholesome kammas that stem from upadana in the sensual sphere. These kammas lead to rebirth in the human or deva worlds. So the Visuddhimagga says: “Those who hear the true teaching believe in kamma and the efficacy of good deeds as passport to better life in the sensual worlds of rich men, aristocrats or divine beings. So they do good deeds under the influence of kamupadana and are reborn in the human and deva worlds.”