‘What We Are Today Comes From Our Thoughts Of Yesterday, And Our Present Thoughts Build Our Life Of Tomorrow: Our Life Is The Creation Of Minds’
To What Extent Do You Agree With This?
‘What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: our life is the creation of minds.’ This statement was said by the Buddha in the Dhammapada, a book of his early teachings. The Buddha also says, ‘If a man speaks or acts with an impure mind, suffering follows him as the wheel of the cart follows the beast that draws the cart … if a man speaks and acts with a pure mind, joy follows him as his own shadow’.
I agree with some parts of this statement however, I do not agree with all of it. This quote is Buddha’s way of explaining Karma. The Buddha does this by saying that ‘If a man speaks or acts with an impure mind, suffering follows him as the wheel of the cart follows the beast that draws the cart …’ The man has done something wrong and now has bad Karma following him like the cart follows the horse that draws it. But Buddha then says, ‘… if a man speaks and acts with a pure mind, joy follows him as his own shadow’. Here the man has done nothing wrong and good Karma now walks along side him like his shadow. I do not agree with this as I do not believe that there is such thing as Karma. It is my opinion that if a person has done something wrong, the only entity that follows them isn’t Karma but is their conscience, telling them that what they have done is wrong. Therefore I do not agree that bad Karma follows after you or that good Karma walks beside you.
