The Ten Unwholesome Actions

Dhamma Talk No. 6
September 10, 2000
By Ajahn Suchart (Abhijato Bhikkhu)
Translated by Chantaporn Gomutputra
Edited by June Gibb

The Buddha teaches that we all have our kamma, intentional acts that result in a favorable or unfavorable outcome, as our possession. Whatever we do we are the recipients. Through his enlightenment he could see that our joy and sorrow are the consequences of our actions done through our body, speech and thought. If we do good, wholesome and meritorious kamma, happiness and prosperity, would follow. On the other hand if we do bad, unwholesome, and demeritorious kamma, sorrow and deprivation would follow. Knowing we all desire happiness and detest pain he therefore exhorts us to do good and avoid doing evil because good kamma generates joy and peace, while doing evil creates stress and pain for both ourselves and others.

If we cannot do good, at least we should abstain from doing bad kamma. Our mind may not be cool, but at least it’s not on fire. Unwholesome actions can be committed in three ways, through body, speech and mind that would result in sorrow and pain.

The ten unwholesome actions consist of three actions committed through the body - killing, stealing and committing adultery; four actions by way of speech - lying, foul mouthing, inciting hatred, and frivolous talk; and three actions by way of thought are greed, anger and delusion.

We should refrain from these ten unwholesome actions because they would only hurt others and ourselves, like killing for example. To lose our lives is excruciatingly painful because we all value life very dearly, whether we are human or the tiniest animal. All living creatures large or small are the same in this regard. If we don’t want to be killed then we shouldn’t kill others. We should also abstain from stealing because it hurts the people we steal from, and also from committing adultery, which causes us to worry about getting caught and punished.

To resist these unwholesome actions we must develop and deploy metta or loving-kindness because when we have metta we know how to forgive and forget. By forgiving we eliminate hatred and vengeance and save others and ourselves a lot of trouble and pain. We should therefore develop lots and lots of metta by treating others as our brothers and sisters, as friends in aging, sickness and death, and as fellow travelers in these ceaseless rounds of rebirth and suffering. We all already have enough suffering on our hands; we shouldn’t therefore inflict any more on each other.

Stealing can be avoided by getting a job. If we have a job and earn our own living then we won't have to steal.

To avoid committing adultery, we should be satisfied with what we have, with our own husbands and wives. If we are satisfied, then we will not want more. Wanting more is delusion. We think that it will be better if we can just have this person. But instead of getting better, many problems follow. The best way to prevent sufferings caused by adultery is that we must restrain our desires. If we let our desires lead the way and do what we want, we will never feel that we have enough and will never be satisfied.

Some men have hundreds of wives because they lack mind control. They think that they have money and can use it to buy whoever they want. But they are not really happy because they feel they need more. Therefore, please be satisfied with your own husbands and wives. One is enough. It is happier than having dozens because you will not have problems with mistresses quarrelling and fighting. The husband who is in the midst of all these will not be able to eat or sleep because he will have to choose one or the other, and he cannot make that decision easily. Therefore, restrain your desire. Have only one love, one wife. This will bring the real happiness.

Unwholesome speech like telling lies can be prevented by striving to tell only the truth. Always tell the truth. Do not tell lies or deceive others. Before saying anything, make sure what we say is true. If not, then do not say it. Better to keep quiet. When you want to say something, it must be true. Then there will be no lies. If you are used to telling lies, then your words become worthless. When Rahula, the Buddha’s son, was ordained as a novice, the Buddha taught him that his integrity is measured by his truthfulness.

The Buddha gave an example by filling a bowl with water then pouring it out little by little. He then told Rahula that every time he told a lie, his integrity decreased just like the water that had been poured from the bowl. If he continued to speak falsehood, his trustworthiness would entirely disappear just like the water from the bowl. Lies destroyed our integrity. Every time we told a lie, our credibility diminished. If telling lies became our habit, then no one would ever believe what we say. We would become worthless.

It is like the story of a shepherd who yelled for help. The first time that he yelled wolf, people rushed to help only to discover that they were deceived. Then when the wolves really came, no one came to help because they no longer believed him. His words carried no weight. Therefore, please value truth, value your words, know the consequences of telling lies, and refrain from telling them. If you cannot tell the truth, just keep quiet or talk about something else such as the weather, the rain, the sky, the sun or the storm. It’s better to be evasive than to tell lies.

Next, don’t use foul language because it’s not nice. There are two kinds of beauty: beautiful looks and beautiful words. No one will want to be with girls who look beautiful but have foul mouths. Boyfriends and husbands will soon leave them because of their vulgarity. When they get angry, they swear. How can husbands live with them? Even being as beautiful as a Miss Universe cannot obscure their rudeness. If you want to be loved and cherished by others, then you must be beautiful both in your looks and your words. If you don’t look beautiful, you can still be beautiful by what you say. Words are more important than looks. Everyone wants to hear nice things and be near such speakers. Listening to the Buddha’s Dhamma talks brought joy and contentment because they were beautiful from the beginning to the end. Hearing them brought happiness and wisdom. Therefore, please check your words the same way you check yourself in the mirror to see how you look before leaving the house. Think before you speak. Be mindful when you speak; make sure you speak politely.

Next, do not incite people to hatred by saying things that will cause them to misunderstand each other. For example, do not drive a wedge between a loving couple by telling the husband that his wife was with another man, and vice versa. This causes people to break up and brings them sufferings. If people find out the truth afterwards, no one would want to associate with us.

When we say something, say it with kindness. Make sure it benefits others. If what we say is not useful, then do not say it. When a wise man says things about himself, he only talks about his faults even though he has very few. He does not talk much about his achievements although he has plenty. On the other hand, when he talks about others, he only concentrates on their good side even if they do not have many. Saying something good about others can only be beneficial while saying something bad can only be damaging. There are good and bad in all of us. Why talk only of the bad side? Why not talk about the good side? Saying something nice brings happiness to everyone, including the speaker and the one being talked about. Therefore, be careful of what you say. Say only good things, nice things. Do not destroy each other with your words.

Next, abstain from frivolous talk. Talking for the sake of talking is useless. Gossiping is a waste of time. We should talk about things that impart knowledge and benefits like talking about our work, about maintaining the moral precepts or about the Dhamma teaching.

There are three unwholesome actions committed by the mind namely, greed, hatred, and delusion. When greed arises, suffering follows; we become restless and agitated. When we see things, we want them immediately. If the desire is so strong and we cannot obtain these things in the proper way, we will resort to dishonest ways such as stealing. But if we are satisfied with what we have, this greed will diminish or may even disappear. If we have no greed, we shall be happy because no kilesa remains in our mind.

Likewise, the same is true with hatred because it strokes the fire of revenge in our mind. When we are very angry, we may want that person to die a thousand deaths. We must forgive and have kindness. If we can always forgive, we shall be able to conquer ourselves. When we vanquish others, they would hate us. When they beat us, we would hate them. But if we conquer ourselves by subduing our anger, our mind will be cool and calm. For example, now you are sitting here without any anger, you are comfortable and at ease. But if you were angry, how would you feel? You would be agitated and ill at ease.

Therefore, when we become angry with someone, try to stay calm and tell ourselves to leave him alone. Whatever he said or did has already happened. Nothing could be changed. It is impossible for him to do things that would please us every time. What can be done now is to forgive him. Once we forgive, we become peaceful because the poisonous elements have been driven out of our mind. It is as though nothing has happened. But if we swear at him or constantly think of him, we become hateful and unhappy. When we get angry, it is like banging our head with a hammer. When we get angry, others don’t suffer with us. The person who makes us angry knows nothing of the pain we are going through or suffers the pain with us. The ones who suffer are ourselves. Therefore, when we get angry, try to forgive, then we will be calm and cool.

Finally, we must get rid of our delusion. What is delusion? It’s the misperception of the truth such as seeing wrong as right, bad as good, doing good as a waste of time, or doing evil as profitable. Why is this so? It is because we haven’t yet experienced the consequences of our good deeds. After making merits and not seeing the immediate results, we have no incentive to do good deeds and prefer to do bad deeds. For example, instead of giving to charity, we spend money on alcohol, on parties, on having fun, which make us instantly happy. But we fail to see the pain and anxiety hidden behind this happiness when we run out of money to spend on having fun.

Therefore, we must listen to the Dhamma teaching in order to see that wholesome actions are meritorious, and unwholesome actions are harmful. Doing good deeds bring happiness, doing evil deeds brings suffering. When we experience the result of our skilful actions in our mind, we will want to do more. Bad people prefer to do evil deeds and do not like to do good deeds because they do not believe in the consequences of good and bad kamma. Good people like to do good kamma and abstain from doing bad kamma because they believe in the results of kamma. The way to understand the consequences of kamma is to constantly listen to the Dhamma teaching. We should seek after enlightened teachers and study Dhamma from them in order to become wise and enlightened ourselves. Then we will see that doing good kamma is beneficial and doing bad kamma is harmful for us. We should therefore do only good kamma and abstain from doing bad kamma. Then we will always be happy and prosperous.

Translated 1/9/48