important fun pali vocabulary: kamma, wise selfishness and wise revenge.

A great example of the meaning and implications of kamma,

is this passage examined here:

 kamma-s-saka: It's karma, sucka!

1. First pali learner tip: 

Mnemonic for remembering the meaning of kamma-s-saka: 

Note the pronunciation, of that word, sounds like, rhymes with "karma, sucka!", and by amazing coincidence means something very similar. 

2. Interesting connection between Dharma (Dhamma)  and Karma (kamma)

The image I used in that article above, is the comic book character Judge Dredd.

In that world, he's the judge, the jury, and executioner. 

His most famous catchphrase is, "I AM the Law!" He frequently says that while catching and swiftly dispensing justice on criminals. 

In the Chinese Agamas, they translate "Dhamma" everywhere as "fa", meaning "Law". 

So when Judge Dredd says, "I am the LAW", in the context of the article about kamma, in real life there is no Judge Dredd, but there is a natural Law (Dhamma) called Karma that follows everyone around and eventually dispenses a karmic fruit/result that's commensurate with the action/cause that it followed. It's just that karmic fruit is not exact, and it can sometimes take lifetimes before it ripens. For example, if you stab someone with a pencil, the karmic fruit is probably not going to be someone else stabbing you with a pencil. But you caused some mental and physical pain, and sometime in the future, you can be sure you're going to also experience some mental and physical pain as a result of that causal action. 

3. Wise selfishness and wise revenge.

So knowing that everyone has the law of kamma-s-saka following them around like an invisible Judge Dredd, how can we exploit this property to our advantage?

If someone does you grave injustice, does you serious wrong, don't wish for revenge, and more importantly don't commit the heavy karmic action of actually going about taking revenge. Don't commit harmful actions in the name of justice. The more you understand Dhamma and kamma, the more you realize you don't need to seek revenge, the invisible judge dredd following each and everyone of us is going to take care of it for you.  That's wise revenge. Note this advice is meant as a stop gap measure, it's not the pure or ideal way of "Dharmically" behaving. 

But it's a brutally effective strategy, especially when coupled with the insight I call  'wise selfishness.'

You want to be happy, you want to avoid pain and suffering. Engaging in taking out revenge and dispensing justice yourself, will lead to pain and suffering for yourself, most likely even greater than the amount you dished out. So if you're smart, and wisely selfish enough to prevent harm to yourself, you immediately cease actions towards taking revenge, or any thoughts of entertaining vengeance.

Have confidence in the law of Kamma. It works! It can take fruit trees 5 years or longer before they start bearing fruit.

Instead, do yourself some good, focus on Karuna, compassion for the evil doer who Judge Dredd is going to put the smack down on, if they don't make amends for their evil. 

wise selfishness and wise revenge: 

Instead of doing harm to yourself by seeking vengeance, you end up making lots of merit by instead doing karuna and letting kamma-s-saka take its natural course.