Question:  People say that when we make merit we should dedicate the kusala to the master avengers.  What do the words master avengers mean?  When we meditate could we dedicate it to the master avengers? How?  (jao kam nai wain literally translates as lord of kamma, master of vera)

There seems to be much mention of the master avengers, and much fear that if we did not dedicate kusala to them we would not escape various misfortunes.  Has anyone ever believed that?  In reality when we make merit we should dedicate the kusala to all who are able to know about it and anumodana (have empathic joy).  But the word jao kam nai wain seems to be a poetic rendition of the words 'kamma vera', and 'jao nai' (lord and master).  As to whether we have master avengers, in reality, who caused us to be born in this lifetime?  What made us patisandhi (born) in this world?  Did the master avengers do it?  Or was it one of our own individual past kamma that was paccaya (cause) for the patisandhi citta to arise in this bhumi (world)?  Therefore there is no certain person who is the master  avengers to anyone, since each has his own kamma.  Even the patisandhi citta which is the first citta that arises in this world is the result of our own past kamma, not caused by any master avenger.  A passage in the Anguttaranikaya Dasakanipata Dhammapariyayasutta the Buddha said:  'Behold, Bhikkhu, I shall manifest the dhamma-pariyaya that is the cause of struggle and strife to you.  Listen and attend, I shall speak.'

The bhikkhu assented and the Buddha said:  'Behold, Bhikkhu, what is the dhamma pariyaya that is the cause of struggle and strife?  Behold, Bhikkhu, entities have their own individual kamma, they are the receivers of the result of kamma.  They have kamma as birth, as companions and as supporters.  They would receive the result of whatever past good or bad kamma they have done.'

Therefore no one is the master avenger of anyone else.  Or how do you see the master avengers?  Has anyone ever dedicated kusala to them?

Audience:  I raised my hand because I have done so but I do not know about them.

Sujin:  When you did so you did not know whether they existed, did you?

Audience:  We believe that whatever we have done to displease or cause trouble for others, we would both forgive each other.  It is believed that to spread kusala and metta is a good thing which would at least make us feel good.  We do so because we believe this and continue to believe without studying that the Buddha could have said it somewhere, it is a Buddhist teaching.

Sujin:  But you have never seen master avengers, have you?

Audience:  Not physically.  I regard my parents as master avengers, they have done so much for me, so I dedicate kusala to them, as well as my teachers, always.

Sujin:  In that case in this sense it means people who have kamma towards one another, no matter kusala or akusala would constitute master avengers.

Audience:  I do not know how it is in fact for others.  For me I consider whomever has kamma towards the other, so we would dedicate kusala to them.
 

Sujin:  That concerns dedications of kusala, the development of metta.  But this is about the understanding about master avengers, I don't know what you make of this, since it seems to be the conventional dedication of kusala to master avengers.

Audience:  Being an ordinary person who has not studied, I believe that if we had ever done anything bad and caused anyone displeasure, that kamma could also turn against us.  Therefore if we ahosikamma (forgive) one another it might be good.  This is a belief, and also I met someone who said that illnesses is said by the bhikkhu to come from several causes, such as byadhi, utu, kamma and also things like kamma that we did in former lives, which would make the persons come and demand gratitude or the retribution to the kamma the we had done to them.  This is why I believe so.  When I make merit I dedicate it to them, when I become ill I would not forger to offer food and pour water in dedication to those who might be master avengers, and ask ahosikamma.  I do so because of what I believe, I do not know if it is correct according to the teachings or the dhamma of the Buddha.

Sujin:  I would like you to consider carefully the dedication of kusala and the development of metta.  To dedicate kusala, once the kusala done, we could dedicate it to whoever could know about it in order that they might have kusala citta arise to anumodana, no matter whether they are alive or dead.  As to the understanding about master avengers, I would like you to truly consider that each individual has their own kamma, therefore the master avengers do not exist.  No one could miraculously make you unhappy of happy, since the happiness and unhappiness of each person must be the result of his own kamma.  To dedicate kusala, at that instant the person who does must have metta citta to be able to dedicate kusala to each of the others.  Without metta citta towards any individual, there would not be any dedication of kusala to that person.  Therefore to dedicate kusala would be the development of metta; there must be metta in order to dedicate kusala in that instant.  In comparison, to think of the master avengers whom we cannot see and to think of people you dislike, instead of waiting for the occasion to have metta and dedicate kusala to invisible master avengers we could never know, while those whom you see and dislike, who could also have been like a master avenger, who in reality do not exist?  Each person has his own kamma.  If, however, we thought of our kamma done to others, whom we call master avengers, and we wish them happiness, letting them escape our anger at that moment, then there should be metta for someone you can see.  This is something we should consider.  The development of metta could only be done with live people.  To have metta for the dead is useless, without results, therefore we should consider the truth that the person who has died has lost the state of being that person who has been involved, had relationships, liked or disliked.  All is over.  Therefore to have metta to the person one does not love at this instant is possible, while they are still alive.  This would be the real development of metta, with the strength of metta that could be developed, even towards someone we do not love.  Once the person has lost the state of being that person, it is impossible for us to have metta towards them knowing that the person does not exist any more.  The same applies to master avengers: since the kamma is past and it was your own doing, and you don't know whom people you did them to in any of the past lives are in this present one, just that there are master avengers without knowing who is whom, it would be mogha (fruitless) because we don't know who or where they are.  If we were mindful that we should have metta, dedicate kusala to others that are able to know, no matter whom, we would be able to develop metta by dedicating kusala to even those whom we do not like.  It would be better that dedicating them to master avengers without knowing from which lifetime and for what kamma and to whom, to call them your master avengers.

This is because we could not even recall the kamma of past lives, nor what we did to have master avengers, or from which lifetime.  In this lifetime, who is the master avenger of whom, and is the person one has done kamma towards now living or dead?  If passed away one could dedicate kusala to him, but not as vaguely a master avenger, without knowing whom and from which lifetime.

Realities must be considered with exact reason, otherwise one might do things without understanding whether it were really kusala.  Just to dedicate kusala to master avengers without knowing whom they are usually comes from fear, from thinking that master avengers could make your life difficult and problematic.  Instead of correctly understanding that the akusala kamma you have done which arose from kilesa as hetu (cause) for the vipaka or the result of the kamma, to arise for you yourself.  Since you still have akusala kamma, kilesa that caused the akusala action, the akusala kamma that arise would yield results that cause vipaka to arise as result of the kamma later on.  Therefore we should see the harm of kilesa and akusala kamma rather than fear not to dedicate kusala to master avengers.

Audience:  Would those who hold grudges and vengefulness towards one another be considered master avengers?

Sujin:  In what way?

Audience:  There is a dhammapada about a yaksini with many lifetimes of vengefulness

Sujin:  When there is vengefulness, what is the way to end the vera?

Audience:  The story of the end of the vera is in the end the yaksini wanted to take and consume the child of the woman whom it is vengeful of and the woman ran into the temple and placed the child at the Buddha's feet.  The Buddha then called both the yaksini and the woman and taught them the dhamma so that they ended their vengefulness.

Sujin:  Therefore what must one do to end the vera?

Audience:  It should be the kusala citta that arise.

Sujin:  Which is not to be vengeful, not to be angry, at which instant there is no more vera towards others, kusala citta would arise in both parties.

Audience:  If one of the parties make merit and have good intentions to let the other receive the result of the puna (merit) that one has done also, would it be possible that the other party might stop feeling vengeful? 

Sujin:  A living person, having done kusala and wishing others might have kusala also, would tell others of the kusala, so that they might anumodana.  But for master avengers, after the person has done kusala, how would they know?

 Audience:  When we dedicate kusala to people with whom we are angry, we do so by telling them that we have made merit and that they should receive the result also.

Sujin:  We tell them in order that they should know so they could anumodana, but not with the thought that they are master avengers from you don't know when nor for what.  And still you are afraid so you dedicate kusala to them in order that they don't cause you trouble.  It seems as though they could cause you trouble even though we are the ones who performed the kamma, we are the ones who have our own individual kamma, others cannot do our kamma for us.

Audience:  I believe so.

Sujin:  Therefore while we are still alive, we should not have rancor.  But don't think of kamma in the past, not knowing which kamma, nor where the master avengers are.  If one thinks that whomever we don't like is the master avenger we used to think of we would not be angry with them, instead of having to dedicate kusala to them, we should have metta for them right away.

Audience:  The dispersing of metta is practiced by many not only to friends and family but to opapatika as well.

 Sujin:  When one has preformed kusala one should dedicate kusala done to those who could know about it, so that they might have kusala citta arise to anumodana.  But one should not think that opapatika are master avengers.  I would like you to understand the word master avenger correctly.  Everyone has their own individual kamma, when one has performed kamma towards others and wish to end the kamma, one should have kusala citta instead of anger and rancor.

Audience:  I would like to know about, in the dhammapada, the lady and the minor wife in a past life.  She made the minor wife abort her babies three times, the third time costing her life.  Would the minor wife become a master avenger?

Sujin:  What does master avenger mean?

Audience:  When the minor wife died she vowed to avenge herself by eating the first wife's child in every future rebirth.

Sujin:  How does that make her the master avenger?

Audience:  I am asking you this because I don't understand.

Sujin:  This is not being master avenger but having rancor.  Each one of us might be in danger from or have enemies in someone of this lifetime.  Whether one calls it master avengers from the past or to be born with rancor towards one another in this lifetime, the persons would not be able to harm others if the others' kamma has not reached the time of producing results.  For someone who has perfectly good kusala accumulated, whether gati sampati, kala sampati upadi sampati or payoga sampati, no matter how others would be angry or rancorous, they would not be able to harm him.  This is because each one of us have our own individual kamma.  With kusala kamma as hetu, kusala vipaka citta would arise.  Therefore no one could do them any harm in the least.  But the person who is angry at us could keep being angry over the days, months, years, as well as from this life to the next.  It concerns the rancorous person himself, but it does not mean that he would become a master avenger able to make things happen.  It is only that whenever your own akusala is ready to give rise to akusala vipaka, that would be occasion for the akusala vipaka to arise as result of your own akusala kamma.

Audience:  What you say about kamma is correct.  But in this case after having rancor and vengefulness, in the next lives when the minor wife was born a cat and the first wife a chicken in the same household, whenever the chicken laid eggs the cat would eat them.  Then was it the chicken's kamma or the cat's doing?

Sujin:  If we did not have its own kamma, could others harm us?

Audience:  This was the cat's doing, not the chicken's.

Sujin:  If the person did not have his own individual kamma, could the cat harm her?

Audience:  Would it be the kamma in the past life as first wife giving the other abortive medication until the child was lost?

Sujin:  Other than the Buddha, none could tell the exact kamma.  If anyone dared to tell that this instant this person is receiving the result of that kamma from that lifetime it would be amazing, for how could the predictor tell since he does not have the dasabala nana such as that of the Buddha.  Therefore it is not the province of others to be able to know.  The important point is that the Buddha said that:  Behold, Bhikkhu, what is the dhamma pariyaya that is the cause of struggle and strife?  Behold, Bhikkhu, entities have their own individual kamma, they are the receivers of the result of kamma.  They have kamma as birth, as companions and as supporters.  They would receive the result of whatever past good or bad kamma they have done.'

This is individual kamma.  Therefore do not be mistaken about master avengers, believing that others really are master avengers who could cause you unhappiness.  Rather the kamma that you yourself performed would cause you to receive the results of the kamma.

Audience:  The more I hear, the more confused I am.  I am afraid it is a matter of words or language.  But the common understanding is that there are such and such happenings which you say is our own kamma, and not that there are master avengers.  What is generally believed is that it was our kamma to have killed them, so the next lifetime they killed us, which is called master avengers.  That is to say we have done something to others but not that it is the others' kamma but our own kamma, including how the venerable Moggalana in the end past away because of kamma.

Each of us has his own proper kamma.  In this present lifetime, do we remember what kamma we have done, or of whom we are master avengers?

Audience:  Sometimes we do.  We have hurt others and we have asked ahosikamma.

Sujin:  When the person has died and is reborn as another person, is he considered the same master avenger still?

Audience:  That I do not know.

Sujin:  Each individual has not performed only one kamma but many.  Having killed, are the entities killed master avengers?  And would they remember by whom it was killed?  For example, a chicken was killed and is reborn a human, would the chicken remember that it was a master avenger to you?

Audience:  Surely not.

Sujin:  None could remember.  The people who performed the kamma would not remember to whom, since they themselves were reborn, thus they have forgotten what they have done nor to whom in their last life.  Nor could they remember for whom they are master avengers since they could not remember former lives at all.  Therefore master avengers are only thoughts, each of us are the master avengers for the others in samsara, as said earlier.

Audience:  That is right, we could never know since we could never achieve the omniscient jhana the Buddha did.

Sujin:  How should we consider the matter of master avengers?  For example one of the chickens killed and reborn would not know that it was someone's master avenger from the last life.  Even we ourselves do not know whose master avengers we were in our last lifetimes.  Therefore if anyone were dedicating us kusala whom we might have been master avengers to in former lives, we would not know since we could not remember that life at all.  In this life if someone has committed akusala kamma towards us, say that he was our master avenger, we would nor remember from when.  He would not remember the kamma done, neither party would remember the kamma done in past lives.  So how could they be master avengers each for the other?

Audience:  That is why I say that it could be a language problem.  For me I think we can't remember what we have done anyone, but now we have the pure citta the think about dedicating kusala to anyone whom we think are master avengers.

Sujin:  Has anyone in this room ever been the master avenger to the questioner?

Audience:  I could answer for everyone that none could know this.

Sujin:  Still you dedicate kusala each day.  And they do not know this since they could not remember past lives.  While you are still in this lifetime, you wouldn't know when you meet someone whether they have ever been your master avengers.  Instead of having vera or rancor towards one another, we should have metta immediately, to end vera.  There is no need to make merit and dedicate kusala to the master avengers without realizing that someone sitting here might be our master avenger, or that when we dedicate kusala we still could not know who is dedicating to whom.

Audience:  If someone were jealous of us, how do we make them understand that what they think is wrong?  If we performed puna and tell people so that they could anumodana but we don't tell those who have jealous citta, is there a way to tell them?

Sujin:  How could you tell that they were jealous?

Audience:  From the combination of several events, which others would not be able to know about but we could tell it is so.

Sujin:  Who could change another's mind except for the person himself?

Audience:  Suppose we have made merit and want them to anumodana?  How do we tell them?

Sujin:  The most important thing is that the person with akusala citta would know whether there is akusala citta or not.  No matter who has akusala citta, do they realize that they do?  Or do they think that it is always other who are jealous?  One should examine our own citta whether the citta at that instant is kusala or akusala.

Audience:  It must be akusala.

Sujin:  Therefore instead of hoping too much by wanting to change others, we should all examine our own citta.  An intelligent person would change their own citta by examining whether it is kusala or akusala at that moment.  Some might want to change others' jealousy while in reality they should first examine their own citta whether the citta that thinks others are jealous is kusala or akusala.

When we speak of the citta of the person who dedicate kusala, it would be kusala citta, and kusala kamma; the person who knows about it and anumodana would have their own kusala citta as well as kusala kamma.

One must not forget that when one thinks of master avengers one thinks of people one sees right now, without knowing from which rebirth we were ever master avengers for one another.  We should then have metta for those we meet instantly instead of waiting to perform puna and then dedicating the kusala to master avengers whom we don't know the identity of nor where they are, and whom we can't see.