If the same action exists in a consciousness that is rooted differently, does the Kammic effect change as well?
Example:
Your boss asked you to solve a bureaucratic process, but, for some reason, you are feeling a lot of anger toward him. Since he’s your boss, you do what he asked, but you do so with an angry mindset. You acted with a mind immersed in anger, so the work was bad Kamma, right?
Now, let’s suppose you were to solve the same bureaucratic process with equanimity and mindfulness. Would your work become good Kamma since you did it with consciousness rooted in wisdom?
The work was the same, so the intention was the same thing. The only thing that changed was your consciousness at the time you were working.
If what I said is right, then it means that merely changing our mindset can allow us to generate good Kamma frequently even as we perform daily habits or common work.
I’m aware of that sutta. However, what can determine whether an action is good or bad? AN 3.69 says:
“What is the cause, sir, what is the reason for doing bad deeds, for performing bad deeds?”
“Greed is a cause, Mahāli, greed is a reason for doing bad deeds, for performing bad deeds. Hate is a cause of bad deeds … Delusion is a cause of bad deeds … Improper attention is a cause of bad deeds … A wrongly directed mind is a cause of bad deeds … This is the cause, Mahāli, this is the reason for doing bad deeds, for performing bad deeds.”
As the sutta that you quoted says, without intention, we can’t speak of Kamma. However, isn’t the quality associated with the intention (greed, hatred, delusion, generosity, loving-kindness, or wisdom) that determines whether the action is good or bad?
It would be bad kamma internally (because your body & mind are stressed with anger) but not necessarily bad kamma externally (because you may do good work). For example, when I used to work, if I had an evil client, my anger towards them would help me to better work because i wanted to punish them, like I was King Yama.
It would be good kamma internally (because your body & mind are not stressed with anger) but not necessarily good kamma externally (because you may do negligent work due to non-attachment). Due to your equanimity, you may lose your job due to doing bad work due to thinking about Buddha too much and radiating too much metta & forgiveness.
The precise working out of the results of kamma is an unconjecturable (Anguttara Nikaya 4.77), however in the type of case presented, the effects in this lifetime would be able to be observed.
Views are the basic factor:
"Right intention claims the second place in the path, between right view and the triad of moral factors that begins with right speech, because the mind’s intentional function forms the crucial link connecting our cognitive perspective with our modes of active engagement in the world. On the one side actions always point back to the thoughts from which they spring. Thought is the forerunner of action, directing body and speech, stirring them into activity, using them as its instruments for expressing its aims and ideals. These aims and ideals, our intentions, in turn point back a further step to the prevailing views. When wrong views prevail, the outcome is wrong intention giving rise to unwholesome actions. Thus one who denies the moral efficacy of action and measures achievement in terms of gain and status will aspire to nothing but gain and status, using whatever means he can to acquire them. When such pursuits become widespread, the result is suffering, the tremendous suffering of individuals, social groups, and nations out to gain wealth, position, and power without regard for consequences. The cause for the endless competition, conflict, injustice, and oppression does not lie outside the mind. These are all just manifestations of intentions, outcroppings of thoughts driven by greed, by hatred, by delusion.
But when the intentions are right, the actions will be right, and for the intentions to be right the surest guarantee is right views. One who recognizes the law of kamma, that actions bring retributive consequences, will frame his pursuits to accord with this law; thus his actions, expressive of his intentions, will conform to the canons of right conduct. The Buddha succinctly sums up the matter when he says that for a person who holds a wrong view, his deeds, words, plans, and purposes grounded in that view will lead to suffering, while for a person who holds right view, his deeds, words, plans, and purposes grounded in that view will lead to happiness.[16]"
So how can we know what quality associated with the intention is? Is it just the quality in the mind of the person while the have the intention? Is it the quality present at the moment the intention is conceived? Or is it something else entirely?
I’m sorry, but I don’t really understand your question. Are you asking how can we know the difference between good and evil?
This, quoted above from Ven. Bodhi’s book on the Noble Eightfold Path may be helpful:
“Thought is the forerunner of action, directing body and speech, stirring them into activity, using them as its instruments for expressing its aims and ideals.”
Kinda. Sorry if it was confusing. Let me try to clarify my question. Some actions are clearly bad kamma, like killing or stealing. However, some other actions aren’t that clear. In my post, I gave the example of filling in a form because it apparently doesn’t have any moral significance, but once a person takes that action with a mind of hatred, does that make the action of filling in bad kamma? Because the consciousness that is present while the person is acting is actually rooted in hatred in the case the person is angry at their boss.
In general terms, if an angry person has an intention, is that intention automatically bad kamma?
I would say that if one were doing paperwork with a mind of hatred, resentment, anger, etc. it would be an unwholesome mind and unwholesome kamma. Which could reach fruition in a bad way.
Suppose someone decides to hold a door for another person. This could be seen as a kind gesture, friendly. But if one holds the door open with the thought of “what a pathetic person” directed to the person passing through, this would be bad kamma. Why? Because the mental state was an unwholesome one.
It is true, however, that sometimes we don’t even realize a bad mental state is occurring. So mindfulness and ‘clear comprehension’ are valuable things to cultivate. With them we can better understand what is happing in our own minds in real time.
and radiating too much metta & forgiveness. 