Song: Act for Goodness Inspired by The Kamma Patha Vagga in the section not arranged as a Paṇṇāsaka of the Aṅguttara Nikāya
[Verse 1]
Do not kill, do not cause harm,
Do not take what others own.
Do not abuse what love should guard,
Do not make wrongdoing known.
Do not lie, divide, or wound,
Do not speak with words of pain.
Do not fill the world with noise,
Let truthful kindness speak again.
[Chorus]
Act for good, encourage good,
Take joy in what is right.
Praise the good and spread its light,
Help the world walk toward the light.
Do not harm, do not encourage,
Do not celebrate the wrong.
Lift the good and strengthen truth,
Help the wholesome path grow strong.
[Verse 2]
Let not greed control the heart,
Let not hatred rule the mind.
Let not wrong views lead the way,
Let wisdom make the truth defined.
With no greed and no ill will,
With right understanding clear,
Thought becomes a wholesome word,
And wholesome action follows near.
[Verse 3]
The digital world is in our hands,
One word can influence a crowd.
One share can spread a message far,
One voice can make the good more loud.
Before we share, before we praise,
Ask what consequence may be.
Is it true? Is it helpful?
Will it bring more harmony?
[Chorus]
Act for good, encourage good,
Take joy in what is right.
Praise the good and spread its light,
Help the world walk toward the light.
Do not harm, do not encourage,
Do not celebrate the wrong.
Lift the good and strengthen truth,
Help the wholesome path grow strong.
[Final Verse]
Kamma begins within the heart,
Kamma lives in what we do.
Choose the path of wholesome action,
Let our words be wholesome too.
Body pure, and speech made kind,
Mind awakened, views made right.
Step by step, together walking,
We can turn the world toward light.
The Fourfold Path of Kamma: Act, Encourage, Approve, and Praise
Tipiṭaka, Volume 21; Suttanta Piṭaka, Volume 13; Aṅguttara Nikāya, Cattukka Nipāta, Kamma Patha Vagga
The Kamma Patha Vagga presents a systematic teaching on moral responsibility. The Buddha explains that unwholesome conduct does not consist only of committing an harmful act oneself. It also includes encouraging others to do it, taking pleasure in it, and praising or promoting it.
Conversely, wholesome conduct involves refraining from harmful actions, encouraging others to refrain, taking joy in what is wholesome, and praising the value of goodness.
Four Dimensions of Moral Responsibility
The Buddha first gives the example of killing living beings. A person who kills, encourages others to kill, approves of killing, and praises the value of killing is described as heading toward an unfortunate destination.
The opposite person refrains from killing, encourages others to refrain, takes pleasure in nonviolence, and praises the value of abstaining from killing. Such conduct leads toward a fortunate destination.
The same fourfold pattern is applied to stealing, sexual misconduct, false speech, divisive speech, harsh speech, and idle or meaningless speech.
The teaching therefore expands moral responsibility beyond physical action. It includes what a person does, what a person encourages, what a person approves of, and what a person praises.
Wrongdoing Can Spread Through Support
The Kamma Patha Vagga offers an important perspective for contemporary society. People influence one another not only through direct actions but also through words, approval, encouragement, and public recognition.
A person may not personally commit a harmful act, yet may encourage others to do it or present harmful behavior as something admirable. In this way, support can help expand the consequences of wrongdoing.
In the age of social media, this teaching can be applied to sharing, endorsing, promoting, or celebrating content that encourages violence, deception, hatred, harassment, or other harmful conduct.
Building a Culture of Goodness
The Buddha places wholesome conduct alongside every form of unwholesome conduct.
Non-killing is paired with encouraging nonviolence. Refraining from stealing is paired with discouraging theft. Refraining from sexual misconduct is paired with refusing to promote such misconduct. Truthful speech is paired with rejecting falsehood. Avoiding divisive, harsh, and idle speech is paired with encouraging speech that is constructive and beneficial.
The teaching therefore goes beyond the instruction not to do evil. It calls people to create an environment in which harmful behavior is not admired and wholesome behavior is actively supported.
Greed, Ill Will, and Wrong View
The teaching also addresses the inner roots of harmful conduct: greed, ill will, and wrong view.
A person who is consumed by greed, encourages greed in others, enjoys greed, and praises greed reinforces an unwholesome path.
The wholesome alternatives are non-greed, non-ill will, and right view.
This shows that Buddhist ethics begins not only with external behavior but also with the mind. Thoughts influence speech, speech influences action, and repeated actions can shape both character and society.
Right View as a Turning Point
The distinction between wrong view and right view is especially significant because view provides direction for life.
Wrong view can cause people to regard harmful things as beneficial and beneficial things as harmful. When such views are encouraged and praised, they can produce consequences far beyond the individual.
Right view, by contrast, provides a foundation for wholesome choices in thought, speech, and action. It also enables people to encourage others toward constructive and ethical behavior.
A Buddhist Ethical Framework for the Digital Age
The Kamma Patha Vagga can be understood as a powerful ethical framework for the digital world.
Online society contains not only creators of content but also sharers, supporters, commentators, and people who amplify particular messages.
Before sharing or promoting something, a person can ask:
Is it true?
Is it beneficial?
Could it cause harm?
And will my support make society better or worse?
These questions transform an ancient teaching on kamma into a practical discipline for modern communication.
Kamma Is More Than Action
The central lesson of the Kamma Patha Vagga can be remembered through four words:
Act. Encourage. Approve. Praise.
When a person acts harmfully, encourages harmful action, approves of harmful behavior, and praises it, the cycle of unwholesome conduct becomes stronger.
When a person acts beneficially, encourages goodness, takes joy in wholesome conduct, and praises what is good, the cycle of wholesome action expands.
The Buddha therefore presents human beings not merely as individual actors but also as influencers of one another's conduct.
In a society where everyone can create, share, and amplify information, this teaching remains highly relevant. Every action, every word, every expression of approval, and every viewpoint contributes to the direction of society.
The Kamma Patha Vagga ultimately offers a clear message: A good society is not created merely by preventing wrongdoing. It is created by people who refuse to do harm, refuse to encourage harm, refuse to celebrate harm, and actively support what is wholesome.
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