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Intention is more important than the act itself

In Buddhism, I think the most important thing to consider in any kind of situation is the intention. There are times in our lives when we mean to do something but people see it differently. A pure Buddhist wouldn’t care about what other people think, the only thing he or she would care about is carrying a pure, good heart intention.

To give a real life example, a parent gets rid of cable television at home so that the child could focus more on their education, which in the future would help this child achieve a successful career. On the other hand, the kid’s friends and the neighbor might consider the parent’s act as a way to save money or worse make the child’s life less entertaining and enjoyable. But see the parent doesn’t care what others are saying because their intention is for the betterment of their child.

I once heard this old story from cwmenturies ago where a Buddhist guru killed a bug. Now we might accuse him of committing a sin and having to face that karma in the future live, but his intention was a pure one. Because of his high spiritual achievement he could tell that bug was his mother in one of his past lives; and he was so bothered about this bug suffering that he killed her to make her free of this suffering. What a pure compassionate intention for he didn’t care about him committing a sin as long as he was able to help get rid of someone else’s suffering.