If I remember correctly do the suttas teach that there is no good or bad beings only good and bad actions ? And if so where specifically. Thank you Dhamma family
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MN12:
He understands how sentient beings are reborn according to their deeds.
âThese dear beings(bhonto sattÄ) did bad things by way of body, speech, and mind.
âŚ
These dear beings(bhonto sattÄ), however, did good things by way of body, speech, and mind.
I think itâs more Ajahn Brahmâs teaching.
In the sutta, we do see labeling being used. Buddha scolded some monks as foolish person.
Of course, the underlying principle that label is not permanent, whatever a personâs characteristics are impermanent, also is true. So itâs just a way that we misunderstand labels, which makes Ajahn Brahm teach the way he did.
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For example SN12.19âs title is:
BÄlapaášá¸itasutta
âThe Astute and the Foolishâ
BÄla and bÄlassa are the words used.
Some definitions from Sanskrit Dictionary:
- Young, infantile, not full-grown or developed (of persons or things);
- Newly risen, young (as the sun or its rays);
- New, waxing (as the moon);
- Puerile.
- Ignorant, unwise;
Addressing someone as âfoolâ in a way to offend, denigrate, glorify oneself is not the teaching.
MN98 teaches that one is farmer, bandit, etc based on deeds.
âŚ
Youâre a farmer by your deeds,
youâre a bandit by your deeds,
âŚ
Deeds make the world go on,
deeds make people go on;
sentient beings are bound by deeds,
like a moving chariotâs linchpin.
MN145:
âThe people of SunÄparanta are wild and rough, Puášáša. If they abuse and insult you, what will you think of them?â
âIf they abuse and insult me, I will think: âThese people of SunÄparanta are gracious, truly gracious, since they donât hit me with their fists.â Thatâs what Iâll think, Blessed One. Thatâs what Iâll think, Holy One.â
Labeling someone good or bad would equate to judging them.
If one does not wish to be judged, let them not judge others!
We are told to not judge others beings - rather we are instructed to cultivate kindness, love, good-will,equanimity towards all. On the other side we are also told to see what fruit the deeds of other beings bring - good or bad, skillful/unskillful, blameworthy/blameless. Based on this we can make decisions: eg. to associate with them or not. Or we can use words to describe and label deeds.
In short: If a label would get in the way of cultivating love towards a being, give it up. If a label would give rise to unskillful thoughts for a being, give it up.
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No, itâs not the label that one should give up. It is the hatred and unskillful thoughts we should give up. Not that complicated.
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That is well said - and that indeed is said to be given up!
If the label is a fetter - as mentioned, then the advice to give it up is sound! Or would you not give up a fetter or advise not to give it up?
Not convinced? Refer to:
MN114: What Should and Should Not Be Cultivated
âI say that there are two kinds of sights⌠ideas⌠robes ⌠almsfood ⌠lodging ⌠village ⌠town ⌠city ⌠country ⌠person: that which you should cultivate, and that which you should not cultivate.â Thatâs what the Buddha said, but why did he say it? You should not cultivate the kind of person who causes unskillful qualities to grow while skillful qualities decline. And you should cultivate the kind of person who causes unskillful qualities to decline while skillful qualities grow. âI say that there are two kinds of person: those who you should cultivate, and those who you should not cultivate.â Thatâs what the Buddha said, and this is why he said it.
âGood, good, SÄriputta! Itâs good that you understand the detailed meaning of my brief statement in this way.â
MN66:
So, UdÄyÄŤ, I even recommend giving up the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception. Do you see any fetter, large or small, that I donât recommend giving up?â
âNo, sir.â
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All labeling is wrong in my opinion.
Every label attached to a person becomes part of an identity (and most people beyond Buddism believe the label).
Tell a child/adult that they have âautismâ for example and theyâll straight away believe something is wrong with them. This is made worse by the internet where people can read all about the label thatâs been as good as stuck to them.
Even names are a label given by parents to everyone. This might not be wrong, but I wonder what name would people choose for themselves if it was left to them?
And when I look at this from natures view it makes no sense at all. Cats and dogs donât understand their name, you can call them âPotatoâ and as long as theyâre familiar, with you theyâll still come over.
So Good and Bad are just more labels to describe people who donât meet our expectations.
People around me may think Iâm bad because I donât join in with Birthdays and Xmas etc.
Birthdays and Christmas are just labels which so far have never been explained to me in a way I can understand.
I often walk around Graveyards reading the names and dates, many of these people have been dead well over 200+ years. I donât see anybody around celebrating their birthdays anymore.
I think the world would be a calmer place if words were taken away all together, theyâre taught to millions of kids all over the world, by millions of adults who havenât got a clue what they mean either.
And Iâm in the category of not having a clue what they mean.
I disagree here. Itâs actually better to get early diagnosis. I havenât got diagnosed yet, but only a few years ago, someone told me I might have Aspergerâs. And the more I researched into it, the more my life experience growing up makes sense. The bullies liking to pick on me, me having difficulty passing some interview during university, not getting contract renewed at work, the weird behavior I exhibit in school, my stimming using finger as if calculating things, shaking of legs, etc.
Labelled or not, these things exists because the brain of a person with autism is different from neurotypicals. A label allows one to explain to new friends why we behave the way we do, and then there can be more social acceptance rather than having to mask ourselves to fit in with the rest of society.
The dhamma is taught in words. Be careful what you wish for. For that could be a cause for rebirth to periods of history where language is not yet evolved. And there cannot be dhamma learning and practice there.
Even the label of Bhikkhu vs novice is an important distinction, on how many rules one follows. The label of monastic vs lay person perhaps is more understandable for most people.
Labels are needed, and are by themselves no issue. The thing to be mindful of is our perception, attitudes, likes, dislikes.
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[quote=âNgXinZhao, post:9, topic:35821, full:trueâ]
I disagree here. Itâs actually better to get early diagnosis. I havenât got diagnosed yet, but only a few years ago, someone told me I might have Aspergerâs. And the more I researched into it, the more my life experience growing up makes sense. The bullies liking to pick on me, me having difficulty passing some interview during university, not getting contract renewed at work, the weird behavior I exhibit in school, my stimming using finger as if calculating things, shaking of legs, etc.
Labelled or not, these things exists because the brain of a person with autism is different from neurotypicals. A label allows one to explain to new friends why we behave the way we do, and then there can be more social acceptance rather than having to mask ourselves to fit in with the rest of society.
I tried to get diagnosed when I was 18, it was my mums idea, I was asking so many awkward questions, and had skipped school from 14 years old. In the end she said, âwould you like to go and see somebody to speak tooâ and I said yes.
That would be my first trip to the psychiatrists.
Over the years I have visited many more, even had a spell in the local hospital. Given medication that stops you thinking, medication to make you sleep and medication that I didnât feel any effects from.
So I continued for years speaking with these people, and I wanted a label, so I could understand what was wrong with me, I wanted to fix whatever it was that stopped me fitting in with people, doing what they do, be a part of a system everyone is so attached too. Employment, houses, cars, money etc, all of which I have noneâŚ
But when I finally asked the last psychiatrist (and he was the one in charge of the whole hospital) what was wrong with me, he replied he simply didnât know.
So some years later a family member who experienced Autism within a friends child, told me I show the same traits as Autistic people.
Whatever those traits are supposed to be?
So the label has not served me at all, itâs a good excuse though for getting out of a family get together lol. An excuse labeled to me by another family member! 
Sorry to hear about your experiences at school, I wouldnât of stood there and watched bullyingâŚ
The dhamma is taught in words. Be careful what you wish for. For that could be a cause for rebirth to periods of history where language is not yet evolved. And there cannot be dhamma learning and practice there.
Even the label of Bhikkhu vs novice is an important distinction, on how many rules one follows. The label of monastic vs lay person perhaps is more understandable for most people.
Labels are needed, and are by themselves no issue. The thing to be mindful of is our perception, attitudes, likes, dislikes.
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I wouldnât call it a wish, Iâm not even sure what a wish is?
Nature teaches me the words, I just have almighty trouble translating them. Itâs like trying to explain a painting Iâve seen in some art gallery somewhere. Words just wont workâŚ
I will add one thing though, Iâm not on about any of the Buddhist words here, Iâm not as far ahead as you!
Think back to your very first day at school, thatâs where I am regarding Buddhism! 
Sorry for the bad experience, but it seems more like you got misdiagnosed and thus cannot really say that the fault is with labelling, but it is with ignorance of those who misdiagnosed you or couldnât diagnose you.
Now with the internet, you should be able to google up what are the traits of autism or youtube them easily. Youtube might be the best for it is people directly talking and educating and it should be in digestable form.
Oh bullying is not so much how to stop it, the dhamma is good on that. Itâs that people who assume we are Neuro typical doesnât know that certain weird behavior we do that violates unwritten social rules which everyone else seems to get it without being explicitly taught, we violate.
Itâs like being socially blind. We hit the social lamp post and then got scolded in social settings as our pain. Everyone else doesnât need to be told the lamp post is there because they can see the social cues. We have to be told explicitly where each lamp post is. And Neuro typicals maybe too used to certain lamp posts that they have trouble themselves explaining why certain social violation we did was socially inappropriate and have a hard time formulating a general rule for such situations in the future.
Some people who assumed that we are neutrotypicals then thought that we violate these social rules on purpose and then pick on us as the victim of their social punishment because they think we did those violation on purpose.
Without knowing the diagnosis, itâs not really possible to explain to the bully why we violate certain things for the first time. But when we know the specific social rule, we might still bump into the next lamp post. Because without the diagnosis, we ourselves do not know why this keeps happening to us.
Even after diagnosis, it is a trouble to communicate to certain bullies as when the situation is that communication broke down already and they cannot listen, are disrepectful and actively hurting whenever we try to establish communication. So is it up to us to educate people? Then we have to know very well whatâs the traits of autism is ourselves first.
If you have the ability to see a movie or story, then can Aladdin is a good way to see what a wish is. A genie grants 3 wishes in the disney version.
Or just search using online dictionary.
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Itâs Sunday morning here now, as I write this, 02:07 to be precise.
I wasnât going to reply and just thankyou for your time in sharing this conversation.
But I sat outside for a while and reflected over this conversation, trying to translate the words you have spoken, and wondering if mine were understandable.
As I was pondering how hard English is to actually word for myself, itâs also difficult to translate what comes back.
In the distance I noticed a flash of light, being totally dark here the skies lit up miles away on the horizon.
I know it is miles away as a rule of thumb Iâve used for many years, is to see the lightening, and then count in seconds until I hear the thunder.
The seconds counted then relate to miles, and Iâve found it to be an extremely close calculation.
The odd thing is even though the lightening was flashing, there was no sound of thunder. This puts the storm so far away it could only be seen and not heard.
An extremely rare occurrence for myself to experience!
It kind of summed up a lot for me, and itâs natures way of communication, one I try so hard to put into words, yet one that I doubt is easily translatable!
Iâd like to say thankyou for chat, itâs the longest Iâve ever chatted with anybody online. Normally peoples attention are pulled away by other things going on, but yours has held all night.
Have a Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening where ever you are in the world, itâs been a pleasure speaking with you!
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Labels are a raft.
Some of them can be useful for a while, until they arenât.
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As is all of the Buddhaâs Dhamma.
We just have to be sure not to abandon the raft till we cross the stream.
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