ทุกสิ่งที่เกิดขึ้นในปัจจุบัน แม้แต่การถูกคนใกล้ตัวทำให้เสียใจ ล้วนเป็นผลของกฎแห่งกรรมที่หลีกเลี่ยงไม่ได้ ทางรอดทางเดียวคือการดำรงอยู่ในระบบกุศลธรรมทุกขณะ ยอมรับผลที่มาถึงโดยไม่สร้างเหตุฝ่ายอกุศลขึ้นใหม่Every present experience — even being hurt by someone close to us — is an unavoidable fruit of the law of karma. The only way through is to keep abiding in a wholesome state in every moment, accepting the result without creating new unwholesome causes.
Someone asked Phra Ajarn: when we encounter a person close to us who makes us feel hurt, is the root cause entirely our own past actions from previous lives? Or does it come from that person being overtaken by an unwholesome state, which then makes them hurt us? How can we know whether it is the result of our own past karma or new karma being made right now — is there a way to check?
Every Moment Is the Fruit of Karma
In every present moment, whatever appears is entirely the result of the law of karma — there is no escaping it. Consider this: the devas in the heavens are experiencing the fruit of the law of karma at every moment, yes. The Brahmas enjoying their bliss are the same — it is entirely the fruit of the they have made, which they must draw on continuously, like living expenses, never free from the ripening of that merit for even a moment. On the other side, the hell-beings, asuras, and animals are likewise experiencing the fruit of their unwholesome deeds at every moment. Human beings are no different — in the round of rebirth, moment after moment, the law of karma is giving its result in the present, and there is no way around it.
So yes — when we meet someone close to us who makes us feel hurt, the root cause is entirely our own past actions. The unwholesome karma within us pulls, like a sense-base drawing that person toward us, and it binds together with karma within them to make them act toward us this way. However harshly they treat us depends on how strongly the unwholesome karma within us compels them to do it. Moment by moment, the present is the fruit of the law of karma.
The Only Way Out: Abiding in a Wholesome State
But if we abide in wholesome states — this is — whatever result comes to us, we have to accept it. Yet even as we receive that result, we do not create new unwholesome causes. Abiding in a wholesome state is our one and only way out. If we do not abide there, we will only suffer more, because once we drift into any other state, that other state cannot help us. And if we slip the wrong way into an unwholesome state, the unwholesome will only pile onto us more heavily. So we have to abide in a wholesome state in every present moment. The law of karma will give its results as it will — but we will abide only in a wholesome state, moment by moment.
Being this way, in every moment we have to bring together with the mind, giving it a clear, firm base. Merit will then flow through continuously, and we will abide in a wholesome state. Heavy karma becomes light, light karma fades away, and what is bad turns good — because once we are in a wholesome state, that state draws in new merit, and new merit draws in the old merit we have accumulated as well. All of it then works for our own benefit.
Can We Teach Them?
A follow-up question: once we have met a person like this, how can we know whether it is the result of our own past actions or their own karma? Is there any way to check both? And how can we teach them from within?
Phra Ajarn answered briefly: we can always teach ourselves. As for teaching them — whether they will understand or not, we simply have to try and see.