[Three sounds of the bell.]

The rain. The rain is one of the wonders of life.

Good morning, dear Sangha. Today is the seventh of November in the year 2008. We are in the Lower Hamlet, in the meditation hall called the Assembly of Stars. We are stars.

Dear friends, we have spoken about Right Thinking. Thinking is already action. To think is already to act. We can change the world with our thinking. If it is a violent thought, a thought of resentment, then the world will be violent and full of resentment. But if it is a thought of compassion, of brotherhood, then the world will be made of compassion and brotherhood.

So, thinking is already acting. In Buddhism, we speak of thinking as the foundation of speech and action. In Buddhism, there is the word karma. Karma means action. Action as cause and action as effect. Karma is action. Action can be action-as-cause, karma hetu. Or it can be karma-fruit, action-as-fruit, action-as-effect, karma phala. It is the seed, and it is the fruit.

So, when we think, that is already action. Thinking is a tremendous energy. And that energy is action-as-cause. It will produce action-as-effect. Once we have produced a thought, we know that the thought is already on its way to act in the world, in us and in the world.