Chain
Reaction: Healing Your Mind, Body and World
KARMA
IS OF THREE VARIETIES — that
of thought, speech, and action. To say that after the
decomposition of the body nothing is left is very unscientific.
Antoine Laurent Lavoisier, the eighteenth century chemist, said,
“Nothing is born, nothing can die.” What will happen after your
body disintegrates? The answer is you are continued by your
thoughts, your words, and your physical actions.
When we go back to ourselves and we know what’s going on, we
have the power to shape our continuation. Our continuation will
not be something in the future. Our continuation takes place
right here and right now. That is why you still have the
sovereignty to determine your future. If you have done something
good, you are glad. You say, “I can continue to produce more
thought, more speech, and more action of the same kind. I am
assuring a good future for myself and my children.” And if you
have by chance produced something negative, you know you are
capable of producing things of the opposite nature in order to
correct it, in order to transform it. Free will is possible in
the here and the now.
Suppose yesterday I said something not very nice to my younger
brother. That is something already done. It has created damage
within me and within him. And today I wake up and realize that I
have produced a karma, an action that was destructive. Now I
want to rectify that. I am determined that today when I meet
him, I will say something different. From my insight, my
compassion, my love, I utter a sentence. This sentence is
produced now, not yesterday, but it will touch the sentence I
said yesterday and transform it and correct it. Suddenly I feel
healing taking place in me and taking place in my brother.
The Buddha proposed that we practice right thinking, thinking
that goes in the direction of nondiscrimination, compassion and
understanding. We know we are capable of producing a thought of
nondiscrimination. Every time we produce such a thought, it will
have a good effect on our body and on the world. A good thought
has the effect of healing your body, your mind and the world.
That is action. If you produce a thought of anger, hate, and
despair, that is not good for your health or the health of the
world.
We can conceive of our thought as a kind of energy that will
have a chain reaction in the world. That is why it’s good to
take care that we produce many good thoughts of compassion,
understanding, brotherhood, and nondiscrimination. And they each
bear our signature, they are us, they are our future, they can
never be lost. It is very clear that a thought of compassion, a
thought of brotherhood, understanding and love has the power of
healing—healing
your body, healing your mind, and healing the world. Free will
is possible, because you know that you can produce such a
thought with the help of the Buddha, with the help of your
brother, your sister in the community, with the help of the
Dharma you have learned.
Your speech may express understanding, love and forgiveness. As
soon as you use right speech, it has a healing effect. Right
speech has the power of healing and transforming and can be used
at any moment. You have the seed of compassion, understanding
and forgiveness in you. Allow them to manifest. You can stop
reading right now and call someone, and using right speech,
express compassion, empathy, love and forgiveness. What are you
waiting for? That is right action. Reconciliation can be
obtained right away with the practice of loving speech. Right
speech is in the direction of forgiveness, understanding and
compassion. Pick up the phone and do it. After you do it you
will feel much better, the other person will feel much better,
and reconciliation will occur right away. The thoughts you
produced and the words you have spoken will always be there
as your continuation.
What can you do to relieve suffering? What kind of action can be
taken every day to express compassion? Physical acts are the
third aspect of your continuation. And we know we are
capable of doing something to protect people, to protect
animals, to protect the environment. Each day we are in control
of our karma, in little ways and big ways. And yet so often we
feel as if we have no free will or control.
~
Writing:
Buddha
Mind, Buddha Body
By:
Thich Nhat Hanh
Letter
to God