Karma for Today's Traveler
A small book that I worked on with an extraordinary Thai monk, Phra Bhasakorn Bavilai. His approach to explaining karma and the basic framework of Buddhism is new and fresh. He has created quite a stir here in Thailand with his new way of explaining the timeless teachings of Buddhism. Several years ago he wrote up his approach in a Thai book which was quite popular - though it did cause a bit of controversy, as new ideas will. But the content has been vetted at some of the highest levels of Thai Buddhism and academia, and his approach seems to help clear up a lot of concepts for people.We worked on this English version for over two years, rewriting his ideas from scratch for a Western reader unfamiliar with the topic. Many Thai people who had read the Thai version eagerly awaited the English version, and donated money to print 62,000 books (thus far) to be distributed freely.
If you come to Thailand, don't be surprised if you find one in your hotel or guest house, like you might find a Gideon's Bible. If you come up to Chiang Mai you can pick up a copy at Wat Suan Dok, at their Monk Chat program. Soon (hopefully) an international version should be available. When it is, I'll post a link.
One of his basic concepts is to view the karmic situation as it relates to our inner mental world, and our outer worldly environment, separately. For example, donating money to a good cause would be looked at as:
- worldly - the amount of change, the size of the ripples you make, on your external world depends on how much you give, and how good the cause is.
- mentally - the amount of change, the size of the ripples you make, on your internal world depends on the quality and power of your intention in the giving.
