Understanding the Effects of One’s Actions. In Theravada Buddhism
generally, but in Myanmar in particular, the analysis of karmic effects
is often limited to consideration of the intention driving one’s action;
thus, if an action or its result is not intentional, there is no moral or
karmic culpability. Indeed, when one of the authors pressed U Wirathu
and others to consider the linkages between certain speech (what in the
West we might call “hate speech”) and violence, and the karmic consequences
on the speaker for violence that is motivated by this speech,
there was rarely recognition of a karmic connection. One scholar, who
identified this as a lack of “structural awareness,” has been working
with Burmese monks to develop a greater understanding of how to
situate this notion within Burmese Buddhist discourse (Arai 2013).