A person who has done wrong is grieved in this world and grieved in the next world, grieved together in two places - listen to the words of the Buddha.
(xv) He who has done wrong is grieved in this world and grieved in the next world; they are grieved together in two places. He is grieved and distressed when he sees that his deeds are defiled.
(16) He who has done good rejoices in this world and rejoices in the next; they rejoice together in the two places. He rejoices and enjoys himself when he sees the purity of his deeds.
Iwanami Shoten, Nakamura Gen's translation, Buddha's Words of Truth and Inspiration, p. 12
The words this time are also very simple, aren't they?
If you do wrong, you will go to hell. We hear this all the time.
But the Buddha says that if we do wrong, we will be grieved not only after death, but also in this life. The key point is that he states, "When he sees that his deeds are defiled, he is grieved and distressed." The point is stated as follows.
He is not saying that he will suffer some kind of damnation, but that he will suffer from his own guilt.
Of course, there may be external punishments and calamities, but above all, the Buddha states that we will be rewarded by ourselves.
And this is also true in reverse.
A person who has done a good deed, whether in this world or in the next, "rejoices and enjoys himself when he sees that his deeds are pure."
Happiness and suffering are felt by one's heart," and that principle holds true here as well.
Now, some of you may think the following after reading these words.
No, no, no, the bad guys are having a lot of fun and getting a good deal. Besides, we don't know that there is an afterlife. They do bad things, but they don't feel any pain.
This is certainly true.
It doesn't seem to me that they are being punished for doing something wrong. If they were arrested or something, I can see that they are being punished, but "evil" is not just about whether something is legal or not.
There are many evils such as taking advantage of people, cheating, bullying, exploiting, etc.
The more you do that, the more wealth you accumulate. This is one aspect of the reality of the situation.
So will those people be punished and suffer? No, it doesn't look that way. We wonder why they seem to be enjoying their lives so much.
But it is indeed the Buddha.
In a later section of this "Word of Truth," we will find the answer to this question.
The blog will introduce this issue a little further down the road, but I would like to consider this issue again. (*That will be the following article, added in May 2022)
The above is "Those who have done wrong will grieve in this world and in the next, and will grieve together in two places - listening to the words of the Buddha.
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