The Bad Karma Contest

It’s always good to start the day with thoughts of goodwill. Ajaan Mun used to begin his day when he woke up, first thing: thoughts of goodwill for all beings. When he woke up from his afternoon nap: thoughts of goodwill for all beings. Before he went to bed at night: thoughts of goodwill for all beings. He created the context, the framework of his practice.

We’re trying to find a happiness that harms nobody: doesn’t harm us, doesn’t harm anybody else. When you take the well-being of other people into consideration, they may not be satisfied with the fact that you’re practicing, but that’s not harming them. When you think that what we’re doing here is for the good of all beings, it gives you more energy. Sometimes you say, “Well, that’s enough for tonight, that’s enough for this afternoon.” But when you think that you’re doing this for others as well, give a little extra. There’s so much ill will in the world right now. It seems like there’s a contest to see who can generate the most wrong resolves: resolves for sensuality, the resolves for ill will, the resolves for harmfulness. So the world needs an antidote.

We may be a small group, but at least we’re doing our best to counteract those tendencies. After all, wrong resolve pulls the world down. Just because there’s a back and forth of who can harm the other side the most, it never comes to an end unless somebody decides, “Okay, it’s time to pull out. Whatever bad karma other people are doing, I’m not going to try to up the ante, to do more bad karma than them.” After all, that’s what most contests are in the world: bad karma contests.

So we’re going to go in the other direction, to pull out of that game. Whatever other people may do, that’s their business. Our business is the state of our mind and the attitude we bring to the practice, an attitude that we want to be responsible in our search for happiness. And wise: looking for happiness that doesn’t change, doesn’t turn on us, doesn’t cause us any harm, doesn’t cause anybody any harm.

So frame your day with goodwill—that you would like to see all beings be happy, realizing that whether they’re going to be happy or not is going to depend on their actions. But the fact that you’re putting out good energy creates a happier environment for the world. The better your energy is inside you, the better it is around you.

Then you have something to measure your thoughts against when you find that you do have resentment for other people, anger at other people. Ask yourself: Why? What does it accomplish? Whatever the issues are, you can let them go because you have more important work to do. Look for happiness in a way that pulls you out of the contest. That creates a better place for you in the world and for the world at large.