Question

Concerning the example with the millipede from yesterday. You said the person stepping on the millipede would receive no bad Kamma since they had no intention of killing. But isn't the act of killing in itself due to a lack of mindfulness and unbeneficial actions, which will bring unbeneficial results?

Answer

A lack of mindfulness by itself may actually bring unbeneficial results, that's true or may not be true, we can't always say. But still, that's not what we are looking at in regards to our intention. Intention is where we make our Kamma, not just in the lack of mindfulness. I also said that, by definition, even a fully-enlightened person can have a lack of mindfulness. So whether we have mindfulness or not is not actually what determines the degree of Kamma that we produce. But indeed, yes, if you lack mindfulness, you may cause more problems than if you don't. That's why developing mindfulness is so helpful. But again, the intention is where we make our Kamma.

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.