The following notes have been excerpted from the book, The Essential Nectar: Meditations on the Buddhist Path, by Geshe Rabten.
Watchfulness to Avoid Unfortunate Rebirth
We need to examine how we use our three doors, watching always lest our thoughts, speech and actions of body be directed by wrong motivations.
If, for example, we eat too much of some food we are particularly fond of, we make ourself sick – this is just the result of our own greed and was not forced upon us by anyone else. To avoid making ourself sick the same way again and again, we must become strongly aware that eating that food leads to sickness, and try to stop eating it.
In the same way, we must be watchful of our actions, in order to avoid unfortunate rebirth.
Need for Observing One’s State of Mind
What we must observe is our state of mind, since this is what determines whether our actions (karma) are positive or negative, “white” or “black”.
If we can give a positive direction to the mind, then the actions of body and speech will follow. So, if we discover our mind is in a positive state, we should rejoice as if we had found a precious jewel and resolve to keep it that way as much as we can.
If we fall into mistaken conduct, we should feel regret, recognizing we have made a mistake, and put our mind back in the right direction. Also, we should try to purify the mistaken action.
In short, then, we should try to develop right actions of body, speech and mind and diminish wrong ones.
Mindfulness, Awareness, and Watchfulness over One’s Motivation
In a worldly activity such as business, if we make a mistake, we immediately start to worry about the problems it will cause, such as running out of money.
But if we fall into mistaken actions while practising Dharma, we are less likely to feel like that. In fact, the situations are very similar, but in the former case we can see the results of the mistake in this life, while in the latter we cannot, so we tend not to believe in them very strongly.
So, we should train in mindfulness, awareness and watchfulness over our motivation.
One Alone Is Responsible for One’s Actions and Results
The practice of religion is not like a worldly task, where you can ask someone else to help.
We are born alone and we die alone; we alone are responsible for our actions, and we alone experience the results.
All the suffering we experience, in this life and in future lives, is the direct result of our own mistaken actions.
Hence by guarding our motivation with mindfulness and awareness, and so stopping mistaken actions, we can avoid suffering in the future.
If we keep our mind properly oriented, the worst any one can do to us is kill us, but even a whole army cannot make us take an unfortunate rebirth.
If on the other hand we fail to keep our mind positively directed, and constantly engage in unwholesome actions, we are accumulating the causes for rebirth in a realm of woe.
Therefore, we must keep a check on our motivation, rejoicing when it is good, and feeling regret and purifying it when it is bad.
Perhaps we become depressed when we think we are close to death and have accumulated many negative actions that will result in an unfortunate rebirth.
There is no point in this. We are completely free to practise Dharma and eliminate the imprints of our negative actions – we do not have to pay anyone for this.
Karma Is Definite
If we sow different sorts of seeds in a field, such as wheat, barley and peas, each will develop into its own kind of sprout. A barley sprout arises only from barley, and so on.
Just as a seed cannot grow into a plant of a different type, so our actions can produce only results of their own type.
An unvirtuous action can only give rise to suffering, and a positive action can only give rise to happiness. This order can never be mixed up.
In more detail, also, a particular type of positive (or negative) action will give rise to a particular type of happiness (or suffering).
An action may come to fruition by “throwing” us into a particular state of existence [e.g. man, pig, etc.], or it may act as “completing karma”, determining some detail of one’s body, surroundings, or experiences in the new existence. Every detail, such as each colour in a peacock’s tail, has its karmic cause.
The throwing karma of a life is analogous to the outline drawing of a deity when one is painting a thangka, and the many completing karmas correspond to the various colours with which the outline is filled in. In this way our actions shape our next existence.
Therefore, if we want a better existence in the future, we must be mindful of our actions now.
Of course, we have to engage in some worldly work, to eat, look after our family and so forth, but we must also try to give part of our mind to the Dharma.
We should contemplate together the certainty of karma and our mortality: we are sure to die, but we cannot tell when, therefore in the time we have left we should use this body for the practice of Dharma. Combining the two topics is very beneficial for one’s practice.
The Great Increase of Karma
We may think that if we have done something wrong, it will indeed lead to some unpleasant experience for us but it will probably not be too bad. But this is not so.
From one cherry seed grows a big cherry tree, which every year produces thousands of cherries, besides leaves, blossoms, and the rest.
Likewise, a single action, positive or negative, can produce many fruits of the corresponding type of experience, over a very long time.
From one negative action can come an extremely long existence in hell, experiencing very intense suffering.
Conversely, from the positive action of taking Refuge, as was stated above, accrue merits so limitless that one could empty the ocean by taking a spoonful of water each day sooner than one could exhaust them. This is because the positive karma of taking Refuge increases.
Therefore, we should be aware that karma increases, and understanding well that even a small positive action can bring a great positive result for a long time, we must try to accomplish even the most trivial virtuous action whenever we have the chance.
Also, since a single bad action can bring a heavy and long-lasting painful result, we must try, with constant watchfulness, not to let our actions become negative for a single moment.
One Does Not Meet Karma One Has Not Created
The principal cause of the cherry tree is the seed. If there had been no seed, no tree could have grown.
However, the seed alone cannot grow into a tree and produce fruit – co-operative conditions are also needed. The seed must be planted in a fertile field with warmth and moisture. If any one of these conditions is lacking, if for example the field is dry, the seed cannot give rise to a sprout and eventually a tree.
This applies also to the spiritual life: to allow our virtuous actions to come to full fruition, we must provide them with the right conditions. A good way to do this is to dedicate all our merits towards the Enlightenment of all beings.
Created Karma Is Inevitable
If the seed has been sown and all the conditions for its growth are complete, then it will certainly grow.
However, there can arise obstructive conditions which destroy the potential for giving fruit: if the cherry seed is burnt, it will never grow into a tree; or, if the cherry tree is burnt, it will produce no more fruit.
The power of virtuous karma can be destroyed by anger and by wrong views about the spiritual Path, such as denying Liberation and Enlightenment. We must therefore be careful to avoid these states of mind.
Therefore, we should spend this life in worthwhile activities, dedicating our merits to provide them with the conditions they need to bear their maximum fruit as fortunate rebirths, and avoiding the mental states that prevent their ripening.
On the other hand, we should avoid all unvirtuous actions, and try to create the conditions that destroy their power to ripen as unfortunate rebirths.
One such method is to develop regret for one’s past wrong actions, being strongly aware that they are negative.
It does not matter if thinking of one’s wrong actions makes one feel depressed and guilty, the important thing is to recognize them as wrong.
Another method is to recite at least twenty-one times the mantra of Vajrasattva. Even if this does not eliminate completely the imprints of negative actions, it can stop them increasing.
Unlike a seed, which once it has been sown may rot, be eaten by a bird, dry up, or be blown away by the wind, the traces of negative actions can never be made powerless by accidental circumstances – we have to do it ourself.
To sum up, we must try to turn towards virtue, to increase the power of virtue we already have, to turn away from non-virtue, and to purify the imprints of non-virtue we have already created.
As we shall die alone, we ourself must do these things, by the methods explained above. It is very beneficial to combine our study of the Dharma with meditation on the Lam Rim. Lam Rim is the essential ingredient that gives flavour to the whole practice. If one just studies, without applying the Lam Rim to one’s mind, one will just become more and more inflated with pride. (For information about the Lam Rim, see https://www.lamrimpath.org/)
The Law of Karma and Its Effects
These beings who engaged in misconduct of body, speech, and mind, who reviled the noble ones, held wrong view, and undertook actions based on wrong view, with the breakup of the body, after death, have been reborn in a state of misery, in a bad destination, in the nether world, in hell; but these beings who engaged in good conduct of body, speech, and mind, who did not revile the noble ones, who held right view, and undertook action based on right view, with the breakup of the body, after death, have been reborn in a good destination, in a heavenly world. (The Book of Causation, Samyutta Nikaya)
Four General Aspects of Karma
Karma is intentional action. Such actions leave latencies on our mindstream that influence what we will experience in the future. Karma has four general aspects. Relate each of these to events in your life:
(1) Karma is definite. Happiness always comes from constructive actions and pain from destructive ones. Therefore, it is to our advantage to create the former and abandon the latter.
(2) Karma is expandable. A small cause can lead to a large result. Thus, we should take care to abandon even small negativities, and to do even small constructive actions.
(3) If the cause hasn’t been created, the result won’t be experienced. If we don’t act destructively, we will not experience hardships and obstacles; if we don’t create the cause for realizations of the path, we will not gain them.
(4) Karmic latencies do not get lost; we will experience their results. However, negative latencies can be purified by the four opponent powers and positive latencies can be impaired by our getting angry or generating distorted views.
Conclusion: Determine to observe your motivations and actions so you create the causes of happiness and avoid the causes of suffering.
The Ten Non-Virtues
His action marks the fool, his action marks the wise person, O monastics. Wisdom shines forth in behavior. By three things the fool can be known: by bad conduct of body, speech, and mind. By three things the wise person can be known: by good conduct of body, speech, and mind. (Buddha, “The Fool and the Wise Person,” Anguttara Nikaya)
Doing a life review to take stock of our harmful and beneficial actions enables us to purify the former and develop a strong intention to live wisely and compassionately in the future. To do this, reflect on which destructive actions you have done. Understand how you got involved in them, as well as their immediate and long-term results. The ten nonvirtues are:
(1) Killing: taking the life of any sentient being, including animals.
(2) Stealing: taking what has not been given to you. This includes not paying fees or taxes that you owe, using supplies at your workplace for your own personal use without permission, and not returning things you have borrowed.
(3) Unwise sexual behavior: adultery and carelessly using sexuality in a way that harms others physically or emotionally.
(4) Lying: deliberately deceiving others.
(5) Divisive speech: causing others to be disharmonious or preventing them from reconciling.
(6) Harsh words: insulting, abusing, ridiculing, teasing, or deliberately hurting another’s feelings.
(7) Idle talk: talking about unimportant topics for no particular purpose.
(8) Coveting: desiring possessions that belong to others and planning how to obtain them.
(9) Maliciousness: planning to hurt others or to take revenge on them.
(10) Distorted views: strongly holding to cynical views that deny the existence of important things, such as the possibility of becoming enlightened, rebirth, karma, and the Three Jewels.
Conclusion: Experience a sense of relief because you have been honest with yourself about the past. Remember you can purify the latencies of these mistaken actions. Resolve to direct your energy in constructive directions and to avoid acting in ways that harm yourself and others.
(Source: Based on Chodron, Thubten. Guided Buddhist Meditations: Essential Practices on the Stages of the Path. Boulder, CO: Shambhala, 2019.)