One is Reborn through One’s Creeping Deeds

Monks, I will teach you a discourse of The Teachings on creeping.

Listen and attend closely…

And what, Monks, is that discourse of The Teachings on creeping?

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, someone destroys life; he is murderous, bloody-handed, given to blows and violence, merciless to living beings. He creeps along by body, speech, and mind. His bodily Kamma is crooked; his verbal Kamma is crooked; his mental Kamma is crooked.

His destination is crooked; his rebirth is crooked. But for one with a crooked destination and rebirth, I say, there is one of two destinations: either the exclusively painful hells or a species of creeping animal. And what are the species of creeping animals? The snake, the scorpion, the centipede, the mongoose, the cat, the mouse, and the owl, or any other animals that creep away when they see people.

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 ‘taking what is not given’ and ‘engages in sexual misconduct’ with discourses similar to that of ‘taking life’. He also spoke of ‘the fourfold misconduct of speech and the threefold misconduct of mind' in the same way.)

(Reference: AN 10.216)

In this Teaching from Gotama Buddha, he shares the opposite of Chapter 32 focusing on unwholesome bodily, verbal, and mental conduct that would lead to an unwholesome rebirth.

The Buddha is once again focusing Practitioners development of their life practice on improving their decisions leading to improved results in this life or future lives. Through acquiring the wisdom of what is wholesome and unwholesome, a Practitioner can then make wise wholesome decisions that lead to wholesome results (i.e. wholesome Kamma).

The Buddha provides guidance on unwholesome bodily, verbal, and mental conduct throughout his Teachings. Specifically, you can see Chapter 6 of this book for detailed explanation of these Teachings.