The teachings of Ajahn Suchart
7 September 2023
“I am the owner of my kamma”.
Question: “The 5 khandas are not-self. But why are we the owner of our kamma?”
Than Ajahn: “Kamma and khandas are two separate things. Kamma is our actions. We are the owner of our kamma means, ‘Whatever action we do, we have to pay for it.’ If we do good kammas, we will reap the benefits from the good kammas. If we do bad kammas, then we reap the consequences of the bad kammas. So, no one takes up your consequences. It’s you who do the kammas and who have to accept the consequences of your kammas. This is the meaning of, ‘I am the owner of my karma'.
The khandas are the things that the mind has and comes involved with, like the body – the mind comes to possess the body. This is only temporary ownership because the body is impermanent. After a while, the body will die and then you can no longer claim that the body belongs to you anymore.
The nāma-khandas are part of your mind but they keep changing, keep evolving. They keep rising and ceasing. Like your thought, it keeps thinking, you keep changing about your thoughts: you think about this thing and then you think about that thing.
If you don’t have mindfulness, you cannot control them. If you have mindfulness, you can control them temporarily but not all the time. If you have wisdom, you can guide your thinking to think correctly. You can do this using the nāma-khandas.”
Q&A, May 31, 2017
By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
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