Buddhist ethics are based on intention or volition ' Kamma is volition, ' says the Buddha. Yet Buddhist ethics does not maintain that a person may commit what are conventionally regarded as ' sins ' provided that he does so with the best of intentions. Had this been its position, Buddhism would have confined itself to questions of psychology and left the uninteresting task of drawing up lists of ethical rules and framing codes of conducts to less emancipated teachings. The connection between thoughts and deeds, between mental and material action is an extension of thought. It is not possible to commit murder with a good heart because taking of life is simply the outward expression of a state of mind dominated by hate or greed.
Deeds are condensations of thoughts just as rain is a condensation of vapor.
Deeds proclaim from the rooftops of action only what has already been committed in the silent and secret chambers of the heart. A person who commits an immoral act thereby declares that he is not free from unwholesome states of mind. Also, a person who has a purified and radiant mind, who has a mind empty of all defiled thoughts and feelings, is incapable of committing immoral actions. Buddhist ethics also recognizes the objectivity of moral value. In other words, the kammic consequences of actions occur in accordance with natural kammic law, regardless of the attitude of the individual or regardless of social attitudes toward the act.