Don't Waste Your Good Karma - Make a Resolution! | Ajahn Dhammasiha

In the material world, if we want anything, it usually takes two things:

1. We need to have sufficient money to buy it.
2. We need to have the desire/intention to spend our money on it, and not onto something else.

If we really want some material object, but we have no money at all, we're unlikely to get it. But even if we have plenty of money, we would still not acquire it, if we prefer to spend our available money on something else instead.

Karma is similar.

Our future is determined by two things:

1. Our accumulated good and bad karma.
2. Our aspirations, what we really want to be like in future (often subconsciously).

If we want to be attractive, rich, successful, healthy and long lived, we're not going to get that if we're lacking good karma, however much we desire it. But even if we have plenty of good karma, we should be careful how we "spend" it:

Is being rich, good looking, famous and so on really the most beneficial way of "spending" one's good karma?

Is it not much more important to rather be virtuous, calm, generous, compassionate and wise?

Therefore, whenever we make good karma, we should accompany it with a resolution: "May this good karma support my development of virtue, samādhi and wisdom; may it be a cause for my attainment of Nibbāna!"

Otherwise, whatever good karma we have may get wasted on natural, subconcious desires for excessive beauty, wealth and fame, which are spiritually unimportant or even obstructive. Much better to channel our good karma towards wholesome qualities in our mind, that support our practice of the Noble Eightfold Path and help us to attain release.

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