Buddhism and thought crime

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Accepted answer

It is the intention that has the karmic effect in this life or future ones. This is made clear in the Abhidhamma, and by the Buddha

There are three unwholesome roots. Which three?

  1. Greed
  2. Hatred
  3. Delusion

There are three wholesome roots. Which three?

  1. Non greed
  2. Non hatred
  3. Non delusion

For example: A blind monk, without intentions of any of the six intentions listed above, killed a bug when he was walking. And he was a thera. The fellow monks noted he squashed a bug, and were displeased with it because it is against the first precept to kill and to harm another living being. That is one of the ten unwholesome actions:

"Here someone is a killer of living beings: he is murderous, bloody-handed, given to blows and violence, and merciless to all living beings." -The Buddha (Saleyyaka Sutta)

Later the Buddha became aware of what has happened. He told the monks that Cakkhupala's actions of squashing the bug will bear no karmic potency since he had no intention to kill it.

Here is an excerpt of the story:

"One day, Venerable Cakkhupala who was blind came to pay homage to the Buddha at the Jetavana monastery. While he was pacing up and down in meditation, he accidentally stepped on some insects. In the morning, some bhikkhus visiting him found the dead insects. They thought ill of him and reported the matter to the Buddha. When questioned by the Buddha whether they had seen Cakkhupala killing the insects, they answered in the negative. The Buddha then admonished them, 'Just as you had not seen him killing, so also he had not seen those living insects. Besides, being an Arahant he had no intention of killing, and was not guilty of committing an unwholesome act.' On being asked why Cakkhupala was blind, the Buddha revealed the following story to explain the nature of kammic effects."

This is the Dhammapada Story that gives an explanation to the first verse of the Dhammapada:

"All mental phenomena have mind as their forerunner; they have mind as their chief; they are mind-made. If one speaks or acts with an evil mind, 'dukkha' follows him just as the wheel follows the hoofprint of the ox that draws the cart." The Buddha, Dhammapada verse 1

The Dhammapada Stories for the explanation of the Dhp. verses

Upvote:1

Karma means action and refers to actions of your body, speech, and mind. The effects of karma are related to your intentions in these actions of body, speech and mind. Regarding your question:

"If there are "unwholesome" (since i don't know what are wholesome or unwholesome aside from causing direct harm with no ill intentions) thoughts, is this considered thought crime in Buddhism?"

We don't have control over what thoughts arise in our minds. We only have control over what we do with a thought once it's arisen. Do we act on that thought? Or discard it as unwholesome if we recognize it as being connected to greed/desire, hate/anger, or ignorance/delusion? Do we dwell on it? Or move on?

Here is how the Buddha explained it in Dvedhavitakka Sutta: Two Sorts of Thinking:

The Blessed One said, "Monks, before my self-awakening, when I was still just an unawakened Bodhisatta, the thought occurred to me: 'Why don't I keep dividing my thinking into two sorts?' So I made thinking imbued with sensuality, thinking imbued with ill will, & thinking imbued with harmfulness one sort, and thinking imbued with renunciation, thinking imbued with non-ill will, & thinking imbued with harmlessness another sort.

"And as I remained thus heedful, ardent, & resolute, thinking imbued with sensuality arose in me. I discerned that 'Thinking imbued with sensuality has arisen in me; and that leads to my own affliction or to the affliction of others or to the affliction of both. It obstructs discernment, promotes vexation, & does not lead to Unbinding.'

"As I noticed that it leads to my own affliction, it subsided. As I noticed that it leads to the affliction of others... to the affliction of both... it obstructs discernment, promotes vexation, & does not lead to Unbinding, it subsided. Whenever thinking imbued with sensuality had arisen, I simply abandoned it, dispelled it, wiped it out of existence.

The sutta goes on to describe the process of similarly abandoning thoughts of ill will and harmfulness in the same way for the same reasons, that it "leads to my own affliction or to the affliction of others or to the affliction of both. It obstructs discernment, promotes vexation, & does not lead to Unbinding.".

Upvote:1

It is not physical actions that create seeds for karma. It is volition that creates seeds for karma.

When volition arises, thoughts arise. When thoughts arise, physical actions can arise.

Thus, all physical actions are volitional. All thoughts are volitional.

Physical volitional acts arise because thoughts arise. Thus physical volitional acts can bear the seeds of karma. Thoughts arise because of volition. Thus thoughts can bear the seeds of karma.

Unwholesome thoughts create bad karma, thus it can be said that unwholesome thoughts are considered thought crime.

Nonetheless, an aspirant striving to attain liberation, should not see unwholesome thoughts as "thought crime" and neither unwholesome actions as "crime". Unwholesome thoughts should remain "unwholesome thoughts", without touching our hearts and giving rise to aversion or negative emotions. Unwholesome actions should remain "unwholesome actions", without touching our hearts and giving rise to aversion or negative emotions.

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