The Importance of Carefulness in Buddhism : หน้า 176/207

"Bhikkhus,5 my duties that are of benefit and support to you are now complete. I now wish to remind you that the nature of all living creatures is impermanence and degenerat.ion. Thus, you should continue performing your duties with non-recklessness." When we possess carefulness, we can easily train ourselves to be righteous and virtuous. When we are reckless, the chances for misconduct through physical, verbal, and mental means will be high. Consequently, our own virtues will automatically decline. A careful person must train himself to be mindful all the time. As human beings, we have a limited lifespan. We should make the most out of it by diligently accruing wholesome deeds. To train ourselves to be careful is to train ourselves to be constantly immersed in merit. Readers may ask, why? In Buddhism, each individual performs both good and bad actions throughout his life. However, the manifestation of his kammic fruit will be a function of his state of mind. For example, if his state of mind is filled with evil (he thinks and acts maliciously), his present evil actions will open the doorway for his evil kammic fruit from the past, such as killing animals, to augment his present evil actions and run their course." 5 Buddhists monks