Question

Is wanting good Kamma, and wanting to do good, also a form of greed? If so, what is the Kammic result?

Answer

I feel it would be a wise, compassionate action, hopefully motivated by the wish to heal Dukkha. Greed is normally associated with sense desires, and the wish to end Dukkha is not a sense desire. This is about understanding the different levels of the self. While understanding that, on the ultimate level, we may go beyond all ignorance and being bound to Kamma. As unenlightened beings, we are still caught in the realm of Samsara. That is the realm of cause and effect, and we are subject to receiving the results of good and bad actions.

It is good Kamma that helps us develop the mind, following the dependant origination of things. It helps us develop the 7 Factors of Enlightenment, and the 10 Paramis, which form the basis for understanding the highest level.

Whereas, indulging in the Hindrances, and the problems that arise dependant on the sense doors, and all these other things, hinder that development. So, if we would like to be free of Dukkha, it's very helpful to develop good Kamma so that we have all the foundations for the arising of the higher wisdom, where we can go beyond Dukkha.

It's like we have a boat and we want to go to Koh Samui. When we're in the middle of the sea, and we haven't arrived at Koh Samui yet, we don't jump off the boat. We stay on the boat until we reach Koh Samui and then we no longer need the boat, because we've already arrived. But we leave it for others to use. We need to make good Kamma in order to develop the mind or even have the beneficial conditions to meet with and practice the Dhamma. Understanding we need good Kamma, we have compassion for who we are going to become.

Our apologies if there are any errors in the above text. If anything seems to be wrong or confusing in any way, please feel free to contact the teachers for further clarification.