AboutAnandapanyo Bhikkhu Expertise I can answer questions about Buddhist practice, Buddhist understanding and how to apply Buddhism to daily life. I can help analyze Buddhist sayings and teachings. In addition, I can help with questions Buddhism stories, fables and Vinaya(rules). I have meditated for over 10 years and can help you start with meditation. In addition, I can help provide insight into what to do when you feel that you have hit a wall with your meditation. My main area of expertise is how to think in accordance with Sammaditthi (the right view - and number 1 in the Buddha's Noble Eightfold Path. If I cannot answer your question, I have many able teachers with over 20 years experience to help me, so chances are I will be able to find an answer for you.
Experience I have been practicing Buddhism for over 13 years. I started studying under various famous Thai Theravada masters. Finally, I met and studied under Phra Acariya Thoon Khippapanyo who has recently passed away on Nov 11, 2008 and is widely accepted as a great Arahant (fully enlightened) teacher of our time. In addition, I have personally read and studied much of the Buddhist scriptures and popular literature available. I have recently undertaken the ordination vows and have become a Buddhist monk in the theravada forest monk tradition. I reside at a temple with many dedicated practitioners and great teachers. I have been practicing training my mind to be aligned with right view (sammaditthi) for over 10 years. I have also been meditating for over 10 years. In my time spent with Acariya Thoon, I learned many things and was able to incorporate them into my life. In addition to practicing Buddhism within temples and my home, I used to own two restaurants and managed commercial real estate. I had to deal with many different and problems. I learned how to use Buddhism to fix my problems, both externally (my environment) and internally (within me).
Organizations Wat San Fran Dhammaram Temple
KPY - a non-profit religious organization
Publications none
Education/Credentials Electrical Engineering Degree from the University of California Santa Barbara
MBA from San Francisco State
if im a generally nice and good person why have i not gotten a balanced out karmatic effect? I mean I sometimes get treated badly for doing good and other times i just simply have nothing good happen so im left with a neutralness or sadness. If your answer is a past life or something then I dont understand why the past cant be just left to the past? Not all there is in the world is unforgivable. Would that just mean my life now is some sort of punishment for something i didnt even know i did? :(
Also remember hearing something on love in relation to Buddhism but i cant remember. I know that your not supposed to get attachment right? but if your not attached then how can there be love? Also i love a girl deeply in a way that i just want to do things for her and always be there for her in a way that i fit the definition of true love and yet i am not loved back, at least not right now. So i wonder, why wouldnt karma have it come back to me so i can actually make use of my love instead of it being just a feeling and if i do fall under the category of attachment then wouldnt it be a good thing considering i choose to not mind the suffering from things because i would want to sit it out till i can be with her eventually so i can give her happiness or protect her happiness?
sorry if the things i said didnt make sense i cant seem to think straight lately.
Answer Dear Mark,
Thank you for the opportunity to answer your question.
First of all,
"I feel stupid for asking but"
You should never feel stupid for asking. Asking is a sign of intelligence. It is the mark of a person on a quest for information. Without asking questions, you can't arrive at answers. The important thing is to ask the "RIGHT" question in order to get the right answer. So, we should never feel stupid about asking, we just have to make sure we ask the right question.
"if im a generally nice and good person why have i not gotten a balanced out karmatic effect?"
A similar question to this was asked to my teacher, the Arahant Acariya Thoon Khippapanyo. The question was, (translated from Thai)
"Why is it that sometimes people do good, but do not receive the benefits of their good actions.
Also, why is it that sometimes people do bad, but are not punished for it?"
The answer was as follows, (paraphrased)
For the person who did good but is not immediately receiving the benefits of their good actions, this is because the results of bad actions done in the past have not fully worn off. Once the bad karma is paid off, they will definitely receive the benefits of their good actions.
As for the person who did bad, but is not immediately punished, this is because the karmic fruits of past good actions have not worn off yet. Once they are worn off, they will most definitely receive the results of their bad karma.
This might seem to be hard to understand. But allow me to give you an example. Let's say you are in jail for a crime. You are serving a 5 year sentence for a bad crime. While in jail, you are a model citizen. You do not argue, listen to all instructions, are respectful to others, clean and maintain your areas in a respectable manner, do no harm to others, and continuously practice compassion and kindness. While in jail, you have cultivated much positive karma, however, all of it cannot bear fruit, since you are in jail. Therefore, it SEEMS like your good karma is being wasted. However, this is not the case. Good karma is NEVER wasted. Once you are released from prison, you will get recommendations, praise, assistance in finding employment, kindness from others, protection from people you helped and/or other things.
We as humans, have a VERY VERY SHORT MEMORY. We do not even remember the things we did to people, our karma from last week, last month, last year, last...However, we remember the short term. We usually take the short term and evaluate whether something is fair or not. However, this type of evaluation is NOT FAIR. Let's say you hurt others all the time, but you fail to notice it, then one day, someone does something to you, and you cry injustice. However, if you remember to take in consideration EVERYTHING we have done, this life AND others, we will see that everything that happens is FAIR.
"If your answer is a past life or something then I dont understand why the past cant be just left to the past? Not all there is in the world is unforgivable. Would that just mean my life now is some sort of punishment for something i didnt even know i did?"
I'm sorry, but nothing in the past can be left in the past. You spoke earlier of balanced karmic effect, but how can something be balanced if we ignore past actions? If you did good and it hasn't come to fruition yet, would you still want to ignore it? Leave it in the past? If you put money in the bank, would you just want to ignore it? Leave it in the past? You are not being fair to yourself. We want to ignore bad actions (but do not stop committing them) and only receive good results.
In order to get good results, we must do good actions. No good result can come from a bad action. Just because you were not aware or do not remember your past actions, it doesn't take away from the fact that it happened. How do we know it happened? you are receiving the results now. We might not like the fact we are overweight or have developed high blood pressure. However, we cannot ignore the cause, we ate improper food, did not exercise sufficiently and did not check your blood pressure regularly.
If we think of bad things as punishments, and good things as rewards, then we look to karma as an EXTERNAL force. The truth of things is that Karma is an INTERNAL force. Your Karma is the result of YOUR decisions, YOUR actions, and YOUR choices. This is a double edged sword. You could either
a) Blame yourself and feel sorrowful
b) Feel Empowered and know that you have more control over what you want to happen to you than you think
If you can understand this, you will be able to make better choices. You will learn that making a bad action has bad consequences and that you won't get away with it. This way, you should be more reluctant in doing bad things. You will also realize that doing good will result in good. And if it didn't result in good, then most likely the action wasn't as good as you think.
In regards to your love situation, I would recommend this. Look to yourself and see what you have done. Try to look at it fairly and from a big picture standpoint. Do not blame your not being loved back on Karma, because that is externalizing. You must look within yourself and see what YOU have done, what YOU have said, and what YOU have acted. Then you will see that you have more control than you think. If you want to work out, you must be decisive and see how you have acted and are acting. Then you can see that in order to put yourself in the best situation to succeed, you have to make better choices and decisions.
For example, lets say that you want to call her everyday. However, you do not realize that this is what YOU want and not what SHE wants. If you want to put yourself in the best possible situation for her to love you, you have to do what SHE wants, not what YOU want.
The best thing to do is reevaluate your Speech and Actions. See how they have resulted. Have they made her uncomfortable, irritated or even sad? If so, you should look to changing those words or actions.
You cannot "give her happiness or protect her happiness" until you realize two things:
1. What happiness means to you and what it means to her (not necessarily the same)
2. What actions and sacrifices must be made in order to accomplish "happiness"
If you want help analyzing your actions, I would be willing to help. If you give me a detailed example of a situation that actually happened, I can help you analyze the situation.
I hope I have helped you in our inquiry. I apologize if anything I said offended or caused you discomfort. My intention was to help you see the truth and thereby help you help yourself. May you obtain the understanding necessary to work through your problems and see the truth.
