Whether we are born in a peaceful place or a war-torn place is the result of either abandoning killing or killing. Whether we are born in a place where there is material wealth or whether there is poverty, depends upon whether we have abandoned stealing or have stolen. Specific actions like this will bring specific environmental results. It is quite interesting when you read the environmental results. Creating disharmony with our speech causes you to be born in a dangerous place, like where there are a lot of thorns. A result of harsh speech is being born in an area that is very bumpy, uneven and jagged.

It is very helpful to do some meditation on this, look at actions we do now, and think of what results we are going to get from them in the future. If we do this, it helps discourage us from doing harmful actions but encourages us to keep doing positive ones. That is one way to do it — go from our present actions to the future. Another way to meditate on this is to see what kind of situation we have now, our human rebirth, what kind of things happen to us, what tendencies we have, what kind of environment we were born in, and then trace back to the kinds of karmas we must have created in a previous life that have ripened into our present circumstances, both conducive ones and the ones that are not so conducive. Doing this really gives us a much better understanding of how karma works. It also serves to encourage us to be more mindful of our activities and our thoughts because we realise that we are creating our experience. When we are responsible, it can motivate us to create positive karma. It also helps us to develop more compassion for others because we see often that their habitual actions or the situations they are born into are due to karma, not because the people necessarily did something non-virtuous in this lifetime. Reflecting on this also encourages us to purify and to make strong dedication prayers.

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