We should be careful when making assumptions or conclusions in life.
If we make the wrong move, it will bring bad karma to our next life.
SKEPTICISM
It was said that Cao Cao (a Chinese warlord) once fled from his enemy and was hosted by a family. They warmly welcomed him and let him stay the night at their house. At midnight, Cao Cao heard the sound of knife sharpening. He thought the host only pretended to welcome him, and when he slept soundly, they would kill him for the bounty. Thus, Cao Cao killed the whole family leaving no one alive. When he saw a pig tied up, he realized they only wanted to kill the pig to treat him. He felt a little bit regretful. However, he justified his skepticism by the famous words (that are also harmful to many generations later), “I'd rather do wrong to others than allow them to do wrong to me!”.
A father and his daughter were playing together in a park. Suddenly, someone (who might be Cao Cao's great-great grandson) saw them and shouted “child abduction!” Another so-called hero ran to stop the father. Scolded by the father, the enraged “hero” then took out a knife and stabbed the father to death.
We usually infer, must infer, and know how to infer things from a few initial data. It is human nature, with intelligence, to think like that. If you don't, you're not human. But inferring is different from jumping to conclusions. To draw conclusions, more complete data are needed.
For example, if there is a quadrilateral with a pair of equal opposite sides, then we have 5 inferences in all. Either it is an isosceles trapezoid because there is bound to be a pair of equal opposite sides; or it is a parallelogram that will have two pairs of equal opposite sides; or it is a rhombus with four equal sides and two pairs of equal opposite angles; or it is a rectangle that will have two pairs of equal opposite sides and four right angles; or it is a square with four equal sides and all 4 square corners. However, we don't know which conclusion to choose because the initial data is not enough. Just knowing that at least one pair of opposite sides are equal is not sufficient to come to the next conclusion, we have to find more data. Only then can we conclude what exactly the quadrilateral is.
Likewise, when we see a woman hurrying into a deserted alley at night, there are at least 3 deductions in our mind. She may be trying to do something bad. This is a negative deduction that always attributes bad things to others, a new version of Cao Cao's suspicious thoughts. Or, we can think differently, that the woman has an emergency such as her loved one getting ill, so she has to go buy medicine or get help. This is a positive and benevolent deduction that attributes good things to others. Or, we can reason innocuously, that she must have something to do late at night, that's all.
Most people will have one of three deductions: good, bad, or neutral. Then they immediately jump to a conclusion without taking more information. And that conclusion is usually a bad one. Women who go out at night like this are spoiled and indecent.
When we jump to the bad conclusion without enough evidence, the bad karma is formed as well.
Unintelligent people assume only one reason and come to a conclusion right away. Smart people deduce in three separate ways, then depending on their morality, will decide on a conclusion. Wise people, on the other hand, will wait for more information before drawing their conclusion.
We should be careful when making assumptions or conclusions in life. If we make the wrong move, it will bring bad karma to our next life.
Written by:
Janna
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