Question

There are people with psychological problems that make them do harm to others without knowing or recognizing it. But they might not be able to change because of their ignorance. Are these people responsible for the Kamma they create?

Answer

Definitely. Whether we know about the Law of Cause and Effect, the Law of Kamma or whether we are ignorant of it doesn't mean that we are still not responsible for everything we think, say and do. Because we are conditioning our mind with certain thoughts, certain influences. These are the choices we make. It may be due to Kamma that we are influenced by other people with unbeneficial intentions, etc., but everybody is the owner of their own Kamma.

An example I often here give is; suppose you enter into a country and there are certain laws in the country but you don't like the laws. So you think, "Oh well, I will not going to follow the laws because I don't like them." Or maybe you're just ignorant of the laws. So you do something that is against the law, you are arrested and put in jail. Usually people don't take much notice of whether you like the law or whether you're ignorant of the law. They are more interested in whether you did something that was against the law.

Whether we know about the law or whether we agree with it doesn't matter. Sometime, yes - our emotions don't agree with this Law of Kamma. But that's the law.

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.