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Discovering Buddhism

All About Karma

We all want to be happy.

When you think your destiny
is in the hands of God

or everything happens randomly,
then you feel you have no control.

There is no chance
to create your future.

In Buddhism, the recognition
of the law of cause and effect,

also known as karma,
is a fundamental key

to understand how
you've created your world

with actions of your
body, speech and mind.

When you truly understand karma,

then you realize you are responsible
for everything in your life.

It is incredibly empowering to know
that your future is in your hands.

In this program we will
learn the basic laws of karma

and how to change your world.

MOTIVATION

In this sixth program of our series

you'll learn about karma and
the law of cause and effect.

You'll begin to understand
how your own actions of body,

speech and mind actually
create your life experiences.

And what actually determines
the nature of any action,

positive or negative, is
our underlying motivation.

Therefore it becomes
especially clear at this point,

the essential importance of
the practice of motivation.

Therefore, before listening
to these teachings,

in order to plant the
most powerful seed we can

in our mind streams,
for our own happiness

and for the happiness of
all other living beings,

let us generate an especially
strong motivation of bodhicitta,

the highest intention possible,

in order to be able to reach
enlightenment as quickly as possible

to liberate other sentient
beings from their sufferings

and bring them to the perfect
happiness of enlightenment as well.

TEACHERS

A native Australian, Venerable Robina Courtin has practiced
as a nun in the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition for twenty-six years.

She is well-known worldwide for
her dynamic teaching style and depth of knowledge.

She's been the editorial director of both
Wisdom Publications and Mandala, a Buddhist magazine.

Today she runs the Liberation Prison Project,
which provides support for Buddhist practitioners in prison
in the USA and Australia.

Well, Christians and the rest
say you came from God.

Western materialists say you
came from Mummy and Daddy,

Buddha says you came from previous
moments of your own consciousness.

So the implication here is
central to all practicing Buddhism,

it is the concept of
karma, cause and effect.

This defines a creative
principle in Buddhism,

this is where it is,
this is what you'll find.

If you want to find who am I?
Why am I? Who made me?

Where do I come from?
Why is the world the way it is?

Why is there suffering?
Why are there suns and moons?

The answer in Buddhism is karma.

So if you ask the
question, who made me?

Buddha says, very directly, you did.

This consciousness of
ours, it's not physical,

doesn't come from God or Buddha,
doesn't come from mother or father,

your body did because
of the egg and sperm.

They turn into this
nice body of yours,

how kind of mother and
father to provide the body.

But who you are, your
personality, your characteristics,

your propensities, your love,
your hate, your anger,

your jealousy, your
pride, your craziness,

your intelligence, whatever,
doesn't come from mother father.

Just because we're like them,
doesn't mean that they gave it to us.

So consciousness, it's
beginningless, not created,

doesn't just come from no where,
it's not some random event,

that just pops up out of the sky,
isn't physical, not created,

these are the central
points about mind.

In a way, for a Buddhist, or a person
even wanting to understand Buddhism,

to at least hear these words, is
kind of crucial to an understanding

of how you practice,
and how you develop.

And all of Buddha's teachings
are based on this concept.

Everything we say, do or think, in
Buddhist terms, is a karma, if you like.

Like everything you do, say or think,

is like a seed that you're
planting in your consciousness

that will bring a fruit
similar to that seed.

But all karma is, is Buddha's
explanation of why. That's all.

It's simply his technical
explanation of why,

you get harm, you get love,
whatever the story is.

I mean it's a heavy-duty idea,
but it's very empowering.

Because it says, I can change it.

Krama helps you remember

there is no separate mind

outside of yours
that creates your life.

- Lama Zopa Rinpoche

The Four Principles of Karma

1. Karma is Definite
2. Karma Increases

3. You Have To Do The Action To Experience the Result
4. Karma Will not Disappear;
To Change It You Have to Purify it

Venerable Ribur Rinpoche was born
in Eastern Tibet in 1923.

At the age of five, he was recognized
by the Thirteenth Dalai Lama as the sixth
incarnation of Sera-mae Ribur Rinpoche.

He entered Sera Monastic University in Lhasa
and became a Geshe at age twenty-four.

He meditated and taught Dharma until 1959,
after which he suffered under intense Chinese
oppression for twenty-one years.

In 1980 he was allowed to perform
some religious activities and he helped build
a new stupa for Pabongka Rinpoche at Sera.

What we call karma,
actions and their results,

possess four main characteristics.

The first is that whatever
action has been created,

it will definitely bear
its corresponding effect.

The second is that whatever
action has been accumulated,

its results will be experienced
on an increased level.

It means that it increases and bears

wider and larger results
than the action itself.

Then the karma or the action
that has not been created

cannot be experienced.

Whatever action has been created,

it's effect will be experienced,
it's not going to be lost.

Therefore, this is why

it is extremely important for us

not to let even a single day go by

without purifying
the negative karmas,

the negative actions we
have accumulated that day.

This is why I keep advising that

before you're going to sleep
at night, review the day.

Check what you have done.

Recognize the negative actions
and the positive actions

you have accumulated and
rejoice on the virtues.

So you keep multiplying
the virtues by rejoicing.

Make a strong
determination that again,

you're going to do like that
also the next day, and so forth.

And also recognize the negative
actions that you have accumulated

and apply the four opponent powers.

Make sure you purify,
you attempt to purify,

those negative actions
accumulated that very day

to stop the multiplying
force, the increasing force,

and you generate
a strong determination

that you're not going to engage
in those actions again the next day.

So this is a very important
practice to be taken in your heart.

In brief, what should
be done all the time

is to practice awareness of the three
doors of the body, speech, and mind.

When you are alone practice
the awareness of the mind.

What's going on in
my mind right now?

Is my mind going into
virtues or non-virtues?

While recognizing that the mind
is going into non-virtues,

apply the opponent powers
to that particular non-virtue

and bring back the mind to virtues.

And while you find
yourself with others,

you should mainly apply
awareness to your speech.

Actually, for those
who want to be happy,

even while experiencing
great mental hardships,

all they have to do is
place confidence in karma

then you know that sufferings comes

as a result of previously
accumulated actions.

If I have accumulated this
particular action myself,

nobody else is going to
experience the result but myself.

Therefore, by experiencing
this particular result right now,

I'm actually getting rid of
a huge load of negative karma

that I have accumulated
in the past.

And that itself serves to
clear completely the mind

from any hardships, even
at times of incredible difficulties.

The Four Opponent Powers

1. Power of Refuge
2. Power of Regret

3. Power of Applying Antidotes
4. Power of the Determination Not To Repeat

Venerable Thubten Dhondrub is a fully ordained
Australian monk with over twenty-six years
of experience in Tibetan Buddhist practice.

He has taught at FPMT Centers in thirteen
different countries around the world.

He is well known for his accessible
teaching style, extensive knowledge,
sincere heart, and tangible humility.

If we investigate what is the
essential teaching of the Buddha,

what is the single most
important teaching of the Buddha?

Some people say it might
be a teaching on compassion,

which, in its highest form,
is the teaching about bodhicitta.

Some people might say that the most
important teaching of the Buddha

is the teachings of the true
nature of self and phenomena,

the wisdom teachings of the Buddha.

Some people may say something else

but I think what
we have to say is that

the single most important
teaching of the Buddha

is the teaching on the law of
cause and effect, about karma.

This is the single most
important teaching of the Buddha

because it contains within it
all of the other teachings.

By understanding the law of cause and
effect and practicing it in one's life,

it is the way to develop
loving-kindness and compassion

and eventually bodhicitta.

By practicing the law of cause
and effect in our daily life,

it is being wise and it is
the way to develop wisdom.

And by practicing and giving
central importance in our daily life

to observing the law
of cause and effect

as the single most important
thing moment by moment,

by doing that, we
develop renunciation.

There is the chance for
some momentary happiness.

We are very attached
to momentary happiness.

But then we remember the teaching
on the law of cause and effect

and we remember that if I do something
to get this momentary happiness,

maybe I have to lie to get it,

maybe I have to steal
to get it or do something,

certainly I at least have to follow
my attachment, follow my desire

and, therefore, I
create negative karma.

It's a negative action, puts
a negative imprint in my mind.

In order to get this little
moment of worldly happiness,

I create the potential for
suffering in the future.

Practicing the law
of cause and effect

is the key to
developing every quality

on the path to liberation
and enlightenment.

So that is the fundamental refuge.

Understanding the law of cause
and effect, developing faith in it,

putting emphasis on being mindful

on the law of cause and
effect in our daily life

so that we can observe it.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche
makes this joke:

this ordinary mindfulness
is not good enough,

now I'm picking up a knife,
now I'm stabbing this person,

now I'm stabbing this
person, very carefully.

That kind of mindfulness
is not helpful.

Real mindfulness has this moral
connotation of knowing, being aware,

that what one is doing is
either virtuous or non-virtuous.

Knowing that this thing is
going to produce suffering

now and in the future, or this
action of body, speech and mind

is going to produce some
happiness now and in the future,

we need that kind of
mindfulness, mindfulness mixed

with an understanding and faith
in the law of cause and effect.

And the stronger the faith,

the stronger the energy to
withhold from doing negative things,

thinking negative things,
saying negative things

and doing negative things.

And also the more we understand
the law of cause and effect

we develop a deeper
understanding of what is negative,

what is harmful to
our self and others.

So that is the key
teaching, the key practice.

All Worlds Arise

As A Result Of Karma

Master Vasubandhu

STUDENTS

What does Karma mean to you?

I was working in Washington
D.C., in politics,

in a very fast paced environment.

When you're in Washington, D.C.

part of your work and in
politics is people lie,

and that's part of your
business, is to lie.

In fact, you are encouraged to lie,
and you are rewarded for lying.

And bosses will come up to you
after you've lied to somebody,

a client or a customer,
or someone and say:

"That was great, it was
great how you did that deal.

Fantastic, you got five thousand
dollars from them and, great".

And so, and so we would
tell lies all the time.

And, I never thought
it was any problem.

I thought that was how
it was supposed to be.

So, then in my late twenties,

when I came in contact with the
Buddhist teachings, in Nepal,

and I heard the teachings on karma.

And these teachings were,
they were hard to listen to,

I mean, they were
teachings that, if you lie,

then you're going
to create the cause

for no one to ever
believe you in the future.

And, if you steal, you will create a
result that people will steal from you.

And you will loose valuable
things, things that you value.

And, there were
all these teachings,

that if I did these bad things, then
bad things were going to happen to me.

And when you get
angry at somebody,

you're creating the cause for someone
to get angry and yell at you,

and I didn't like to get yelled at,
I don't think anybody does.

So, I left the teachings with
what we call the ten non-virtues,

and sometimes called the ten
ethical guidelines of not stealing,

not killing, not creating sexual
misconduct and things like that.

Not lying and gossiping, and
I started to work with those.

I started to just try one,

because lying in my work had been
a big thing, I was really used to that.

So, I got a new job when
I came back to America,

and I was trying to be
really careful not to lie.

And I did have some experiences

in some work places where
I didn't think people listened to me.

And, for two years, I very
seriously went after the lying.

I was very careful in my
relationships not to lie,

and I was very careful in work,

in business conduct with
people, that I wouldn't lie.

And after like 2 or 3 years,
something started to change,

and I felt people were listening,
and people did believe me.

It started to really change my world.

They say that sometimes when
you change your ethical behavior,

by speaking the truth,
by cultivating life

and helping to save lives,
and freeing animals,

and being respectful in my
relationships with people,

particularly intimate relationships
and cultivating harmony in them,

and trying to practice,
taking care of my possessions,

and treating other possessions
with respect, if I borrowed something.

And all these things of right
speech, of speaking the truth,

and really trying to use
my speech meaningfully,

not gossiping all the time, and not
criticizing people and judging people,

and not dividing people in speech,

and trying to have positive
thoughts about things.

I noticed things changed.

When you wake up in the
morning you have two choices,

you can have a good day,
or you can have a bad day.

And even when bad
things happen to you,

depending on your reaction to them,

you could say a bad thing
happened to me today.

But you know, I'm not going
to get angry at my friend

because that's just going to create

the situation of anger
to come back at me.

You know, when you start to understand
it that way, then you stop reacting.

Why did they do this to me?
This is not fair.

With karma
there's no more injustice,

things might look
like it's not fair,

but basically it's
something you've created.

So, the nice thing with karma
is it puts you at the controls.

There isn't anybody doing it
to you, you're not a victim.

You're basically in charge

of what kind of seeds you'd
like to plant from here on out.

So by watching my activities,

the activities of my
body, speech and mind,

I feel like that's going to create a
good chance for me the next time out.

For me, the Buddhist instructions were
similar to that of a business plan.

If you're forecast, your plan, if
it doesn't have a proper foundation,

then all your forecasting
is going to go off.

It's just not going to succeed.

I realize then,

I better look at what are the
problems I'm facing in the company,

and then I better look at what
seeds I've planted in the past

because, all my suffering
has come from a cause.

The major problem we had was
inventory stock pilferage and losses,

and so every year
merchandise, clothing,

people steal them from our
warehouse, from our shops,

and we don't know about it
until the end of the year,

when we look and we say, oh my
god, so many goods are missing.

So then I realized by
looking at the teaching,

that through investigation I realized
that the cause of that was stealing.

Now you say, now how does stealing
have to do with losing inventory?

But then stealing can
mean many things also

and I realized that sometimes
our company did not pay on time,

so by delaying payment, could
be considered also stealing.

So when I realized that, I said
to myself, this must change.

So we had to renegotiate with our
suppliers to get longer credit terms,

and then honor those due dates
that we said we would meet.

You see? So that was what we
had to apply that antidote,

so that we could stop the cause of
more loses and further pilferage.

Something had to be done,
we had to do it straight away.

So this was the answer we
thought we would have to do.

The result of that,
since two years ago,

is that our inventory
loses have come down.

So this really shows me that
Buddha's teachings do work.

The more that I see that happening,

it really inspires
me to study Dharma,

because, you know what,
you can change your life.

I could change my life,
if I didn't like the causes,

if I didn't like what's going on,

Buddhism is kind,
it allows you to change

so that you can create
your own happiness.

But you need to understand, that
you're creating your own suffering

and I needed to understand that
I was creating my own suffering.

Nobody was doing it to me.
It was myself, my causes, from the past.

And I could say, well, I don't think
I did that, I don't think I did that.

If my memory cannot even
remember six months ago,

then how can I remember
all the bad deeds

I've done 10 years ago,
20 years ago, I don't.

But the point is,
I've created this garden,

it's got a lot of weeds, so I
have to spend my time weeding,

purification, collecting
merit, studying teachings,

and devoting myself to the lama, all
things that will create more happiness.

And then, by me being happy, then
I can benefit sentient beings,

because they are happy
to be working in the company.

They're happy, because they
say things are going well.

And they will be rewarded too.
So everybody benefits.

Please dedicate the positive energy generated
by listening to these teachings,

so you can quickly attain Enlightenment
for the benefit of all beings.