No.298 - Having done an action

Having Done an Action

“Also, Rahula, after you have done an action

with the body, you should refl ect upon that same

bodily action thus: ‘Does this action that I have

done with the body lead to my own affl iction, or

to the affl iction of others, or to the affl iction of

both? Was it an unwholesome bodily action with

painful consequences, with painful results?’

“When you refl ect, if you know: ‘This

action that I have done with the body leads to my

own affl iction, or to the affl iction of others, or

to the affl iction of both; it was an unwholesome

bodily action with painful consequences, with

painful results’;

“Then you should confess such a bodily

action, reveal it, and lay it open to the Teacher or

to your wise companions in the holy life. Having

confessed it, revealed it, and laid it open, you

should undertake restraint for the future.”

“But when you refl ect, if you know: ‘This

action that I have done with the body does not lead

to my own affl iction, or to the afflliction of others,

or to the affl iction of both; it was a wholesome

bodily action with pleasant consequences,

pleasant results’;

“You can abide happy and .glad, training

day and night in wholesome states.”

The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, A Translation of the

Majjhima Nikaya, by Bhikkhu Nanamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi, The Pali

Text Society, Oxford, 2001, p.524-525.