To Obtain a Straight Destination and Rebirth

Monks, beings are the owners of their Kamma, the heirs of their Kamma; they have Kamma as their origin, Kamma as their relative, Kamma as their resort; whatever Kamma they do, wholesome or unwholesome, they are its heirs.

Here, having abandoned the destruction of life, someone abstains from the destruction of life; with the rod and weapon laid aside, dedicated and kindly, he resides compassionate toward all living beings. He is not secretive by body, speech, and mind. His bodily Kamma is straight; his verbal Kamma is straight; his mental Kamma is straight. His destination is straight; his rebirth is straight.

But for one with a straight destination and rebirth, I say, there is one of two destinations: either the exclusively pleasant heavens or influential families (in the human realm), such as those of affluent Khattiyas, affluent Brāhmins, or affluent Householders, [families that are] rich, with great wealth and property, abundant gold and silver, abundant treasures and belongings, abundant wealth and grain.

Thus a being is reborn from a being; one is reborn through one’s deeds. When one has been reborn, contacts affect one.

It is in this way, I say, that beings are the heirs of their Kamma.

(The Tathāgata spoke of ‘abandoning of taking what is not given’ and ‘abandoning of sexual misconduct’ with discourses similar to that of ‘abandoning taking life’.)

(Reference: AN 10.216)

In this Teaching from Gotama Buddha, he shares Teachings connecting the practice of the first three precepts to rebirth.

First, he makes it clear that any decisions one makes either wholesome or unwholesome, you will experience the results of those decisions. The Buddha shares that “beings are the owners of their Kamma, the heirs of their Kamma; they have Kamma as their origin, Kamma as their relative, Kamma as their resort; whatever Kamma they do, wholesome or unwholesome, they are its heirs”.

Essentially, one is unable to run or hide from the results of their decisions. Not as punishment and rewards but instead, just the results of our decisions. It is not possible for another person to create unwholesome results for you but instead, it is your own decisions that lead to the results you experience in this life and potentially future lives. The more readily and actively a Practitioner realizes this accepting full responsibility for everything that has happened, is happening, or will happen in their life, the more readily and active a Practitioner can be in learning, reflecting, and practicing these Teachings to improve their decision making to improve the results they are experiencing in life.

If a Practitioner continues to believe that it is not their own decisions that are leading to the outcomes and results they experience, then with this “wrong view”, one will continue to experience difficulties and struggle through life because they are resigning to the belief that there is nothing they can do to improve this life because everything is a result of someone else, not their own decisions.

Through practice of Precepts 1-3 and with the elimination of “secretive by body, speech, and mind”, The Buddha explains that one’s bodily, verbal, and mental “Kamma is straight” or in other words, “clean” and “wholesome”.

The meaning here is that one is walking the straight way, the upright way, the clean way, or the wholesome way, through learning and practicing good wholesome moral conduct. Virtuous conduct ensures that one is not causing harm to others and the mind can be at ease knowing that because one is not causing harm, no harm will come to you.

The Buddha does share the potential rebirth for one practicing these Teachings as “one of two destinations: either the exclusively pleasant heavens or influential families (in the human realm), such as those of affluent Khattiyas, affluent Brāhmins, or affluent Householders, [families that are] rich, with great wealth and property, abundant gold and silver, abundant treasures and belongings, abundant wealth and grain”.

Keep in mind that the goal of a Practitioner who is on The Path to Enlightenment is to attain Enlightenment and no longer experience any rebirth whatsoever. The Buddha is sharing the truth of what will or will not occur through one practicing these Teachings. He is in no way attempting to motivate or encourage one to practice these Teachings in order to attain these more favorable rebirths but instead, just sharing what will happen if one is practicing these Teachings, does not attain Enlightenment, and needs to be reborn.

A Buddha does not fear, guilt, or shame anyone into learning and practicing their Teachings. And, a Buddha also does not motivate one to learn and practice their Teachings through dangling desirable aspects of a future rebirth. Instead, a Buddha has discovered the truth and is sharing that wisdom with all those who choose to learn, reflect, and practice the Teachings so that they can independently observe the truth for themselves as the condition of the mind gradually improves.

A Buddha’s mind is already liberated experiencing complete peace, calm, serenity, and contentedness with joy. They are accepting the responsibility to share what they have discovered with others out of loving-kindness and compassion for all beings in the entire world. They know that not all beings will learn and practice their Teachings during their lifetime but it is what they do during their lifetime that will make The Teachings available for countless generations in the future to experience the same liberation of mind.

A Buddha is not interested in fame or fortune of any type. They have transcended these aspects of life realizing they do not bring any sort of lasting fulfillment or satisfaction of mind. They are not sharing their Teachings to become famous or to gain anything for themselves. Instead, they attained the mental state of Enlightenment by “letting go” of everything that the mind was holding on to and they are disinterested in holding on to anything in the mind.

They are not sharing their Teachings for their own pleasure. They are not seeking pleasure through sharing their Teachings. Instead, they have a goal and objective to ensure that as many people as are interested to learn and practice their Teachings, that those Practitioners have the opportunity to gain the needed wisdom to experience liberation or Enlightenment.

With a Buddha knowing that the entire world will not learn and practice their Teachings during their lifetime, their goal is not to persuade people through corrupt means but instead, to ensure the full and complete truth they discovered during their own independent awakening to Enlightenment is well known by all those who seek to understand and will carry their Teachings forward after their death.

It is only through countless beings learning, reflecting, and practicing a Buddha’s Teachings that they will continue in the world for the benefit of all beings. But, a Buddha is not attached to a specific number or quantity of beings who should learn or practice his Teachings. Instead, a Buddha is more interested in the quality of his Students ensuring that they deeply understand and are deeply practicing prior to his death. This will ensure the most longevity and ability for their Teachings to continue into the world for the benefit of all beings.

A Buddha’s dedication and effort towards accomplishing the goal and objective of sharing the truth and wisdom of The Natural Laws of Existence is tireless. They have transcended any interest in worldly affairs or the trappings of any cravings/desires/attachments to things such as material gain, wealth, fame, or sensual desire. Instead they only have one goal, which is to guide all those who choose to learn and practice to freedom of strong feelings, liberation of mind, or Enlightenment where the mind is completely peaceful, calm, serene, and content with joy - permanently.

A Buddha’s success cannot be realized through fearing, guilting, or shaming people into learning and practicing his Teachings. His Teachings are to train the mind to eliminate discontentedness such as fear, guilt, and shame so a Buddha would not use fear, guilt, or shame to motivate people into learning and practicing their Teachings.

Likewise, their Teachings are to eliminate the unwholesome quality of craving/desire/attachment to such things as “sensual desire”. A Buddha’s Teachings explain how through longing with a strong eagerness for pleasant feelings, the mind causes itself to be discontent. Therefore, a Buddha would not attempt to motivate people to learn and practice his Teachings through developing a longing with a strong eagerness for the pleasantness of a future destination. Instead, they are applying tireless effort to help guide Students to train the mind to be in the present moment so that they can experience liberation and Enlightenment.

Dangling a pleasant future rebirth in front of a Student’s mind would not produce the results of an Enlightened mind because it could produce craving/desire/attachment inhibiting Enlightenment, therefore, a Buddha would not employ this approach to sharing their Teachings because their goal is to produce Enlightenment not hinder it.

If a Student has been part of a community or tradition where pleasant future benefits were dangled as a way to motivate and encourage adherence to Teachings or Teachings were used to fear, guilt, or shame them into certain beliefs, this conditioning of mind will need to be eliminated as they approach The Buddha’s Teachings to produce Enlightenment.

When you observe that he is discussing potential rebirths in the lower realms or favorable rebirth in the human or heavenly realms, the conditioning from your past experiences may ignite reluctancy to learn and practice The Buddha’s Teachings to experience the results of a liberated mind. Therefore, a Practitioner will need to set aside and ultimately eliminate all conditioning of the mind, including the conditioning that Teachings such as these might be used to control a group of individuals or otherwise work towards corrupt objectives.

The Buddha’s Teachings are not based on belief and therefore, one can independently confirm the truth in his Teachings to observe the wisdom. The acquired wisdom will improve the condition of the mind and the way one functions in the world through improved decision making. Rather than being motivated to learn and practice through corrupt means with promises of future benefits, a Practitioner who is actively learning and practicing these Teachings will see the benefits to the condition of their mind and life, right now.

It is common for Practitioners who are learning and practicing these Teachings to observe improvements in a matter of days or weeks as they observe the condition of the mind improve in situations that once produced anger or other discontent feelings. The Practitioner no longer experiences the same results based on the same situation. The Practitioner can observe their learning and practice is culminating into the mind functioning differently than it did prior to learning and practicing these Teachings.

As you see this progress, it is an indication for you that these Teachings are working to produce improved outcomes and results for your life. Continuing to learn and practice these Teachings will further develop the mind to experience less discontentedness and eventually if Enlightenment is attained, one will have completely and entirely eliminated 100% of all discontentedness in the mind experiencing peace, calm, serenity, and contentedness with joy - permanently.