Secret of karma - Deeds affecting large group of people

Secret of karma - Deeds affecting large group of people

Deeds that may look small but weight very heavy

Once there was a high ranking official named Zhong-Da Wei, who was led into the underworld to be judged for his good and bad deeds.

The judge ordered his records of good and bad to be brought out. When the records arrived, Zhong-Da was astounded at the courtyard filled with his bad records and at the single scroll, which contained his good deeds.

The official then ordered the two to be weighed. Surprisingly, the bad records, which had filled the courtyard, were lighter than the single scroll of good deeds, which was as thin as a chopstick.

Zhong-Da asked the judge, "I am barely forty years old, how could I have committed so many wrongdoings?"

The judge answered, "When you give rise to a single thought that is improper, it is considered a bad offense there and then, it does not have to be carried out through action to be counted as a wrong".

Zhong-Da then asked him what was recorded in the single scroll of good deeds. The judge replied, "Once the Emperor planned to build a great stone bridge but you proposed against the project due to the hardship and toil it would cause the tens and thousands of people needed for the work. This is a copy of your proposal to the Emperor".

Zhong-Da said, "I did make the proposal, but the Emperor dismissed it and proceeded with the project anyway. My proposal had no effect on the matter at all. How can it bear so much weight against my numerous offenses?"

The judge replied, "Although the Emperor did not accept your suggestion, that one thought of kindness you bore for the tens and thousands of people was very great. If the Emperor had listened to you, then the good performed would have been even greater".

Therefore, when one is determined to do good for the benefit of all people, a small deed can result in great merits. If one thinks only about benefiting oneself, then even if many deeds of kindness were performed, the merits would still be small.

In my opinion this single deed was very powerful due to the fact it was made 1) sincerely, he did not think of any benefit for himself even karma wise 2) potential benefiting a large group of people 3) he was in a position that could potentially have a good chance of having his proposal approve

Therefore the deed of helping a helping some old lady carry her bag vs helping to pass a law such as teaching meditation in school will have very different effects.

Teaching meditation in school like a subject in our example will bring huge benefits not only to the countless student in his lifetime but also affecting his family, friends, colleagues.  It might make him or her more calm, discipline, understand themselves, focus and gain insight.