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Hi, this is Margaret Maloney and welcome to the Death Dhamma Podcast. In a series I used to read, occasionally one character would say to the other, may you live in interesting times. It was understood that this was a curse, where interesting times meant chaos and difficulty. Well, we do live in interesting times. I mean, don't we always? So this season, together we'll explore equanimity and chaos, recognizing that many aspects of life are beyond our control. Let's find a sense of balance and peace amid external chaos. Today, while on my walk, I thought about regret, not because I was necessarily experiencing regret, rather, I was contemplating some statements I had read from others who were currently experiencing remorse. One was a friend who was having some second thoughts about moving into a relationship too quickly. And another was someone who felt let down by someone he had relied upon. It seems pretty normal for each of us as human beings to look at choices we make. And I think that's a great way to look at choices we make. You can look at things we have made in our lives and think that perhaps we could have done things differently. As I share thoughts with you today, in some ways I'm using regret and remorse interchangeably. This is mostly because I started this thought process with the word regret in mind, but then the suttas I have looked at translate as remorse. But there can be a difference. Regret leads a person to avoid punishment in the future, while remorse leads to avoiding hurtful actions towards others in the future. On that note, here are some suttas that touch on remorse. This was said by the Blessed One, said by the Iron Haunt. So I have heard. There are these two things that cause remorse. Which two? There is the case of the person who has not done what is admirable, has not done what is skillful, has not given protection to those in fear, and instead has done what is evil, savage, and cruel. Thinking I have not done what is admirable, he feels remorse. Thinking I have done what is evil, he feels remorse. These are the two things that cause remorse. Having engaged in bodily misconduct, verbal misconduct, misconduct of mind, or whatever else is flawed, not having done what is skillful, having done much that is not, at the breakup of the body, the undiscerning one reappears in hell. That comes from the Edi Butaka 2.3, passage 2.3. And the passage that follows, talks about two things that do not cause remorse. This makes sense, as in the teachings from the Pali Canon, we read, the Buddha provides both sides of a discussion, right? He'll go through a list of what action or concept is, and then also what it is not. He's very thorough. And so here we go. And this is Edi Butaka 2.4. This was said by the Blessed One, said by the Iron Haunt. So I have heard. There are these two things that cause no remorse. Which two? There is the case of the person who has done what is admirable, has done what is skillful, has given protection to those in fear, and has done nothing that is evil, savage, or cruel. Thinking, I have done what is admirable, he feels no remorse. Thinking, I have not done what is evil, he feels no remorse. These are the two things that cause no remorse. Having abandoned bodily misconduct, verbal misconduct, misconduct of mind, and whatever else is flawed, not having done what's not skillful, having done much that is, at the breakup of the body, the discerning one reappears in heaven. Okay. Now, to add to that, I'm going into Angunakkara Nikaya 11.1, Kema-tta-sutta. What is the purpose? I have heard that on one occasion, the Blessed One was staying near Savatthi in Jeta's Grove, Anathapindaka's monastery. Then Venerable Ananda went to the Blessed One and on arrival,
**Speaker 00**:
What is the purpose of concentration? What is its reward? Concentration has knowledge and vision of things as they actually are as its purpose. Knowledge and vision of things as they actually are as its reward. And what is the purpose of knowledge and vision of things as they actually are? What is its reward? Knowledge and vision of things as they actually are has disenchantment as its purpose, disenchantment as its reward. And what is the purpose of disenchantment? Disenchantment. What is its reward? Disenchantment has dispassion as its purpose, dispassion as its reward. And what is the purpose of dispassion? What is its reward? Dispassion has knowledge and vision of release as its purpose, knowledge and vision of release as its reward. Thus, in this way, Ananda, skillful virtues have freedom from remorse as their purpose, purpose, freedom from remorse as their reward. Freedom from remorse has joy as its purpose, as its reward. Joy has rapture as its purpose, as its reward. Rapture has serenity as its purpose, as its reward. Serenity has pleasure as its purpose, as its reward. Pleasure has concentration as its purpose, as its reward. Concentration has knowledge and vision of things as they actually are. Knowledge and vision of things as they actually are is its reward, as its reward. Knowledge and vision of things as they actually are has disenchantment as its purpose, disenchantment as its reward. Disenchantment has dispassion as its purpose, dispassion as its reward. Dispassion has knowledge and vision of release as its purpose, knowledge and vision of release as its reward. In this way, Ananda, skillful virtues have freedom from remorse as their purpose, as lead step by step to the consummation of arhantship see so thorough right and and repetitive but remember in oral tradition so the repetition helps us to understand and remember but in this sutta we go from skillful virtues leading to freedom from remorse and then we go from freedom from remorse step by step to ultimately dispassion and release to become an arhant and from all of this we can see the challenges we face if we have unresolved regrets or remorse the obvious answer don't do things that will lead you to try and stay away from punishment perhaps here is where we think about our karma don't do things that create bad karma also don't do things that will harm others great now what about what I have already done what about what I could have done and neglected to do the opportunity I had to protect others from harm or the opportunity I had to avoid creating negative karma the more time you spend dwelling on the past the less time and energy you might be spending on your current and future thoughts and actions remember your karma is made up of your past plus your current plus your future you do not know exactly when and how things will ripen you know that they will you know the best answer is to have good thoughts and perform good acts use equanimity to avoid overthinking what you have done or fail to do this is not to say do not acknowledging your transgressions learn from what you can and move forward if you trap yourself in a place of regret or remorse you could be punishing yourself unnecessarily in your life you have opportunities to decide where and how you will take action what you believe in and what you will or will not do to support what you believe in what you will or will not do
**Speaker 00**: You've been listening to the Death Dhamma Podcast with your host, Margaret Maloney. Thank you so much for being here. Come find me on margaretmaloney.com, M-A-R-G-A-R-E-T-M-E-L-O-N-I.com. And until we meet again, may you be well, may you be happy, may you be at ease, and may you be free from suffering. Bye for now.