Humans are funny creatures in that they concern themselves with questions of what is right and what is wrong. Other animals seem perfectly content to live however their instinct instructs them to. They eat, sleep, kill, have sex however they feel like. Humans, on the other hand, often suppress their desires in order to "do the right thing."
How do we know the right thing to do? Situations can be very complicated and have many unexpected outcomes. It's often impossible to make everybody happy. Sometimes people turn to religion to tell them what is right and what is wrong. But we can see many examples of moral, upright people living against the principles of a particular religion, and they live happily and peacefully. Who can really say which dogmas of a religion are true and which are false?
Since knowledge of the right way is so uncertain, it is unwise to enslave oneself to any fixed set of moral principles. More important than what Buddha said or what Jesus said or what Muhammed said, is what your very own heart says. It doesn't matter what anyone else says: if you do something that your heart feels is wrong, then it is wrong. You should always ask your heart what it feels, and use it as a guide.
Of course, the heart's instincts can be mistaken from time to time, and it's possible to train the heart to ignore things that are wrong. That is why it is important that we strive each day to develop our moral instinct, and not lead it astray. Give your heart light and a compass so it can find its way through this great big dangerous ocean of life. Then you are sure to find your way home.
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There is an old Chinese saying, “Never do anything that goes against your conscience.” I think that is very true. Actually, we can distinguish good from evil in many situations. We should revere the Buddha’s teaching, follow his moral standards and have a clear conscience with every deed we do.
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