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Buddhism is completely summarised in the following verse.

"Not to do evil actions,
To develop what is good,
To purify ones own mind,
This is the teaching of all the Buddhas."

If you reflect on the meaning of this verse you will see that it also outlines the Buddha's meaning and purpose in life. To use our lives to become good and pure beings.

This verse is also based on the Buddha's teaching that our actions (kamma) are the cause of whatever happiness or suffering that we experience in our lives. To show this more clearly we have another two verses to demonstrate this principle.

"Mind is the forerunner of all actions. Mind is their chief and they are mind made. If one speaks or acts with a pure mind, then happiness follows like a shadow that never leaves one."

"Mind is the forerunner of all actions. Mind is their chief and they are mind made. If one speaks or acts with an impure mind, then suffering follows one like the wheel follows the hoof of an oxen drawing a cart."

To prove whether the teaching of Kamma is correct and whether you will reap the rewards of your own actions you will have to look in your own life and experience. Sometimes it is not that obvious, but if you experiment by doing some good actions and give yourself time and observe your life you will see that your own actions by body, speech and mind do have a huge impact on the quality of your own life.

But lets go back to our first verse again because it raises more questions. A lot of people would have no difficulty accepting the verse as a good principle to live ones life by, but the next questions should be:

What are evil actions? What are good actions? How does one purify ones own mind. We can also see that Buddhism is all about the mind and what we do with it.

Each person will have their own innate view on what they think is good and what is bad, and the people of the world have been trying to define these since history began.