Look Carefully at Cause and Effect, and See the Mind Directly
We all want happiness. In Buddhism, it is said that because there is a cause, there is an effect. If we want the result called happiness, we need to create the causes of happiness.
When there are good causes, good results follow. When there are unwholesome causes, painful results follow. In ordinary life, cause and effect clearly operate.
But when we study more deeply, we come to see that even the names and distinctions of cause and effect are attached by the mind. The mind makes names, builds concepts, and holds on to them.
So practice does not stop at creating good causes. We need to make the effort to directly see how the mind gives names and creates distinctions.
Today, first create the causes of happiness through kind words and wholesome actions. Then go one step deeper and calmly look at the mind that gives rise to all those judgments and names.
To be happy, there must be causes of happiness. Good causes lead to good results, and harmful causes lead to painful results. Yet when we look more deeply, even the names and distinctions of cause and effect are made and attached by the mind. Practice moves toward creating good causes and also directly seeing the mind that gives rise to those names and distinctions.
