Every human being has, at some point, become a cause of suffering for others
Whether one is Thai, Asian, European, American, or from any other part of the world,
one difficult truth remains: every human being has at some point caused pain to another.
Some do so through physical action, some through speech, and some through inward states of contempt,
envy, hatred, or silent delight in another person’s downfall.
Once pain enters another heart, it rarely ends at the level of a single event.
It often deepens into anger, resentment, vengeance, and a continuing desire to retaliate.
What appears finished in the outer world may still be very much alive in the inner world,
because karma leaves traces in the mind.
“Beings are owners of their actions, heirs of their actions,
born of their actions, related through their actions,
and live dependent upon their actions. Whatever actions they do,
good or bad, of those they shall be the heirs.”
— A Buddhist canonical rendering from the Cūḷakammavibhaṅga Sutta (MN 135)
Karma is not superstition, but a moral law of cause and effect
In Buddhism, karma is not fate imposed from outside, nor a mystical punishment system.
It is the lawful unfolding of intentional action. Intention leaves impressions.
Repeated intention builds tendencies. When supporting conditions mature,
results appear.
This is why ordinary people often fail to see the full structure of karmic entanglement.
Human perception usually sees only fragments of a story,
but the Buddha’s teaching sees continuity: arising, persistence, and consequence.
It sees that actions may bear fruit later, indirectly, and in ways not immediately visible.
Thus, when someone harms another and appears to escape immediate consequences,
that does not prove karma is absent. It may only reveal that conditions for visible results
have not yet ripened.
The core insight
Buddhism does not ask people to fear blindly. It asks them to understand that every action
is a seed sown into the field of life. Seeds do not vanish merely because the world falls silent.
If the mind still burns, suffering can continue to reproduce itself.
How cycles of vengeance are formed
One person injures another. The injured person carries pain, anger, and memory.
Then comes retaliation, or at least the transmission of that pain to someone else.
One family resents another. One group hates another. One nation preserves wounded memory for generations.
Distrust is handed down long after the original event.
Seen deeply, this is like fire spreading from one field to another.
Each side believes it is restoring justice,
while in reality it may simply be manufacturing a new layer of suffering.
That is how karmic bondage tightens.
“Hatred is never appeased by hatred in this world.
By non-hatred alone is hatred appeased.
This is an ancient law.”
— Dhammapada, Yamakavagga
Non-retaliation is wisdom, not weakness
Many people mistake forgiveness or non-retaliation for surrender.
But in the Buddhist sense, not seeking vengeance does not mean approving wrongdoing.
It means refusing to let one’s own mind be dragged into the same fire of hatred.
Forgiveness, in this deeper moral sense, does not erase truth, deny injury,
or cancel social responsibility. It means stopping the chain of hatred within oneself.
It means refusing to turn received suffering into a new cause of future suffering.
Retaliation
It binds the mind to the person one hates,
often producing new karma while pretending to end the old wound.
Non-retaliation
It does not erase justice, but it stops the reproduction of poisonous anger
and begins the freeing of the heart.
Buddhist forgiveness is not moral carelessness
In modern society, we must distinguish between non-vengeance and irresponsibility.
A person who causes harm may still need to face consequences in law, society, or relationship.
Yet the injured person can still train the mind not to become enslaved to hatred.
Buddhism does not teach passive victimhood.
It teaches the protection of truth and justice without feeding the flames of hostility in one’s own heart.
This is difficult. Precisely for that reason, it is noble.
When truth is not seen, people keep throwing unwholesome karma at one another
Because people do not understand that anger-driven reactions become fuel for further suffering,
they answer injury impulsively. If insulted, they insult back. If betrayed, they betray back.
If wounded, they wish for greater destruction upon the other.
Then these impulses are renamed as satisfaction or justice.
Yet Buddhism points out that pleasure built on another’s ruin never liberates the heart.
It may give temporary emotional intensity,
but it also deepens bondage and often returns to burn the one who carries it.
A teaching for Thai men and for the international community
For Thai men especially, who are sometimes raised to equate dignity with never backing down,
or strength with retaliation, Buddhist teaching proposes a different standard.
Real strength lies in mastering one’s own mind, not in overpowering another through rage.
For the international community, now fractured by political conflict, ethnic resentment,
religious hostility, identity struggle, and historical trauma,
this principle is equally urgent. A civilization built on revenge cannot sustain peace for long.
Real peace does not begin when everyone thinks the same way.
It begins when enough people refuse to answer hatred with hatred,
and instead stand on truth, compassion, and disciplined awareness.
Practical ways to loosen karmic bondage
1) Acknowledge that you too have erred
Seeing one’s own wrongdoing is not self-hatred.
It softens arrogance and prevents the illusion that one alone is innocent.
2) Stop extending evil through evil
Before reacting, ask whether your next act will end the cycle or enlarge it.
3) Cultivate wisdom-based compassion
Compassion is not softness without discernment.
It is the recognition that those driven by greed, hatred, and delusion are already burning within them.
4) Forgive to free your own heart
Forgiveness does not always require an apology from the other side.
Often the one imprisoned longest by resentment is oneself.
5) Live by virtue and mindfulness
Virtue restrains new harmful karma. Mindfulness detects the rise of defilement.
Wisdom sees the long arc of consequences.
A sentence to remember
One who defeats others through anger may gain a temporary victory,
but one who conquers one’s own mind is the one who truly begins to leave karmic bondage behind.
Conclusion
If humanity understood karma in a genuinely Buddhist sense,
we would stop glorifying resentment as if it were always righteous energy.
We would see that vengeance is a rope binding both the doer and the sufferer.
Those who commit wrongdoing do not escape the moral weight of their own deeds.
Yet those who keep hatred alive also continue to burn within it.
The nobler way is therefore not revenge,
but the refusal to manufacture further layers of suffering.
Hatred ends only when someone is brave enough to stop.
In the eyes of the Buddha, that stopping is not defeat.
It is a victory deeper than ordinary victory.
English: Every human being has caused suffering in some way,
yet what matters more than accusation is seeing clearly that as long as we answer harm with harm,
we continue tightening the knot of karma for ourselves and for others.
English: Buddhism does not teach us to escape truth.
It teaches us to face truth with mindfulness, wisdom, and compassion.
The one who stops the cycle of vengeance is not the loser,
but the one who begins to loosen the chains of suffering.
“เวรย่อมไม่ระงับด้วยการจองเวร … Hatred is never appeased by hatred.”
English: When even one person stops retaliating, stops hating,
and stops sending suffering back into the world,
the whole world may not change at once, but one knot of karmic bondage has already begun to loosen.
Open Your Mind, Gen Z: The Attitude That Gets You Fired Within Months
A semi-academic wake-up call for Thai Gen Z and all stakeholders in today’s fast-changing workplace
In a workplace that spins as fast as TikTok slides, many have heard complaints from executives or seen posts on social media about Gen Z employees (born 1997-2012): “bad attitude, lack of responsibility, hard to adapt.”
What used to be just complaints has now become real actions.
Shocking Statistics in the Hiring World
6 in 10
employers have fired fresh Gen Z graduates within months of hiring them
1 in 6
executives are now hesitant to hire new graduates again
1 in 7
may avoid hiring recent graduates entirely next year
75%
of companies say their new graduate hires have problems that prevent them from meeting expectations
The Problem Is Not “Skills” — It’s “Attitude”
The main reason companies decide to let go is not technical skills, but behavior and attitude. 50% of leaders point to “lack of motivation and enthusiasm” as the biggest issue.
Lack of professionalism
Poor time management
Unclear communication
Arriving late or missing meetings
Inappropriate dress code
Using language unsuitable for the workplace
“Many fresh graduates are simply not ready for the real working world.” — Over 50% of managers in the Intelligent survey
Advice for Gen Z: Open Your Mind Before Your First Step
Start by “observing” before speaking
Observe the company culture: How do people communicate? What behaviors are appropriate?
Ask questions and seek advice from seniors according to the organization’s style
Take responsibility, meet deadlines, and volunteer for extra work when opportunities arise
These actions will help your manager clearly see your “willingness to develop yourself.”
Insights from Global Leaders
“A lot of early career success depends on attitude. Managers want to work with people who have positive energy and are eager to learn.” — Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon
“Learning from real-life experience is just as important as a degree.” — Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin
A Wake-Up Call… Not Blame
This article does not claim that all Gen Z are bad, or that older generations are always right. It is a wake-up signal that both sides should listen to.
For Gen Z: Adapting is not surrendering — it is upgrading yourself to compete in the real world.
For executives and seniors: Mentoring with understanding will reduce the generation gap and build stronger teams.