Crooked Destination and Rebirth

Monks, I will teach you an exposition of The Teachings on creeping. Listen and attend closely. I will speak.

And what, Monks, is that exposition 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 cases of ‘Someone takes what is not given...’ and ‘Someone engages in sexual misconduct...’ are expounded in repetitions as the above discourse of ‘Someone destroys life...’. The ‘four unwholesome verbal actions’ and the ‘three unwholesome mental actions’ are shared with the same phrasing.)

(Reference: AN 10.216)

In this Teaching from Gotama Buddha, he connects The Ten Courses of Unwholesome Kamma from Chapter 14 of this book to rebirth in the lower realms of hell and the animal realm. Specifically, he discusses being reborn as a creeping animal such as a “snake, scorpion, centipede, mongoose, cat, mouse, and owl, or any other animals that creep away when they see people”.

He explains 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”.

This helps a Practitioner understand that all of our deeds whether body, speech, or mind (i.e. bodily, verbal, or mental) will have results that we need to experience in this life or some future life. Knowing this wisdom, it can provide the extra motivation to improve our conduct so that we can experience improved results in this life and, if needed, future lives.

While Gotama Buddha never used rebirth as a motivator or incentive towards the attainment of Enlightenment, we can choose to use it as a motivator if we’d like.

While there does not need to be guilt, shame, or fear related to the unwholesome conduct of the past or present, we can choose to learn, reflect, and practice these Teachings to improve the results that we experience through a determined, dedicated, and diligent approach to developing our life practice. We can choose to clean up our life practice now, during this life, to then experience improved results in this life and, if needed, future lives.

The unwholesome Kamma that we produce through harmful bodily, verbal, and mental conduct is being experienced and will be experienced in this life or a future life. There is no way to avoid the consequences of our past conduct, but we can improve what we are doing now so that we improve the condition of our mind and life eliminating and cleaning up the difficulties and struggles we face through acquiring wisdom.

With the wisdom of these Teachings, we can make wiser decisions leading to wholesome outcomes.