Neither Judge, Jury, nor Executioner

Question: You mentioned in an earlier posting about the Buddha saying that we are not to go teach other people or point out their mistakes. Yet, when I meet a bad encounter (e.g someone being racially discriminating to me, or seeing someone do something bad to another person, which makes me want to raise the issue to the someone/the authorities so that this may stop in future, etc), I am so tempted, in my anger, to do something to that person. I tell myself that this thing I am doing to them, is the effect of the bad 'deed' they have just committed. What is your take on this?

Response: When we react out of anger, we are not benefiting anyone because we are merely planting more seeds for anger. Anger—righteous or otherwise—always makes a situation worse. It might seem to help for the moment, but we will have merely postponed the acrimony through our failure to act wisely. Acting wisely occurs when we are calm and thinking logically and intuitively.

While our reaction may be the effect of their cause of getting angry, if we choose to "deliver" the cause, especially out of anger, we will become further tangled in the karmic situation. It is not our place to dispense justice. The wrongdoer will receive the retribution for what he or she has done as cause and effect is a natural, universal law. So the question in casualty is not "if" but "when."

Also, your compulsion to become involved likely comes about because you are already involved in the karmic situation from a past lifetime. So if you do consciously choose to intervene now, you need to do so out of right intentions and wisdom or you yourself will suffer more in the future. If you are able to act wisely and calmly, you have the possibility to settle this karma link.