Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 46-minute teaching, Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen establishes the foundation for serious Dharma practice by guiding students through motivation, love and compassion meditation, and then focuses in depth on karma—how our actions, driven by intention, create imprints on the mind that shape future rebirths. Using killing as a concrete example, he walks through the four components of a negative action (object, motivation, action, completion) and then unpacks karma’s four defining features: definiteness, exponential increase, non-experience of uncommitted karma, and non-dissipation of accumulated karma. He concludes with practical guidance on the gradual path: avoiding the heaviest negative actions first while accumulating virtue, training progressively toward freedom from negative patterns.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 03 ALB.mp3
UUID: 0ac1f5cc-f9c9-4863-9483-d33de0a82ffa
Teacher: Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen
Collection: A Look at Buddhism (Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen)
Date: 1995 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 46.0 minutes
Words: ~2,982
So whenever we start meditations, we should bring up good motivation. So because of that, Geshe-la will here explain briefly about motivation. So the motivation here explanation of the motivation is related to Dharma practice. So the motivation of the explanation of the motivation here is related to Dharma practice or for our spiritual practice. So whether from the listener and also from the explainer, both should set up a good motivation.
So any any spiritual practice or Dharma practice, it’s it’s one’s one choice, what one chooses. And what when you choose your spiritual practice, then shouldn’t just listen to it as a his like a story. When if you if you listen it like in like a story, then it won’t benefit you much. So setting up the motivations, there are three levels of motivations. So for the Dharma practice or motivation related to Dharma is that whatever we we practice, it should be aimed for our future life, not to this life.
So with the motivation having the motivation that whatever practice one is doing, one is doing for the sake of our future lives and to gain better or to experience happiness in our future. If one if one does the practice with this motivation, then it becomes a cause for that. So if one motivates us for and practice the Dharma just for this life, then when one dies, then whatever we do also finishes there, ends there. So that’s briefly about motivation. So so the next Geshe la will explain is shortly about briefly about meditations.
And probably some of you may have already heard and did meditation practices. Practices. Some of you might be new. So just go give you like a short explanation here on meditation. So there are like usual practices like breathing meditation related to giving and taking or.
So to to help our practices, whatever we do, will give a short, like, explanations on these different steps. So one should do this visualization, which is just at the level of your eyebrow in this space before you visualize the refuge protector. Whatever whatever what do say? Whoever that might be, you visualize that and the space for you. And then then also visualize.
Once I’m sitting there around one, once in the front, once on the parents, and then And then around one like in front, back, all around one, visualize one’s friend, enemies, and also all the animals, Animals like insects and all those different animals in the form of human being. And, like, I visualize do this visualization, like, very vast. Yes. And just just imagining that all all of So so then when you make these visualizations, as you have visualized your own refugee protector in this space for you, now what you do next step is that you make a request and ask ask make a request for them to help one bring happiness among all of them. And not only bring happiness, but also bring the the cause of the happiness within within those beings.
And and then another request which, again, ask for the blessings. Ask for the blessings that you’ll be able to lead them into happiness. So this practice of of meditation meditation practice known as practice meditation practice on love. And then second step now second meditation is meditations on compassion. So so compassion is meditated upon suffering sentient beings.
So imagining those suffering sentient beings and wishing them be free from those state of suffering and thinking to oneself, may I be able to rid of their sufferings? So one one might think or my own doubt might come within one saying that those sentient beings around around one that one had visualized might not have suffering or might not suffer. One might have or might think that, but in actuality, in reality, we all have sufferings. So so we all we all have sufferings, and that is the body that we have, the aggregates of form. That is a result of delusions.
So the reason that it is the result of delusion is that even if we experience some happiness, that changes that happiness doesn’t last and we experience sufferings. There’s nothing stable. So so so because it changes in the suffering, that’s why we say we have suffering. And that suffering is known as a subtle suffering, and it is known as the pervasive suffering. So briefly mentioned how we meditate on love and compassion.
And if one is interested more on this meditation practices, then in the near future we’ll give more detailed explanation. Tonight, what what the subject that Geshe-la will be explaining here is is about karma, the the law of cause and effect, and and how how one come to create karmas. So the reason why this explanation of karma is brought is that in order for us to do a pure Dharma practice, a pure Dharma practice, The first, like, the post very important point that we should know is the law of karma. So some might be very like, some might like more meditating on emptiness, the the ultimate view or the selflessness of the person. Some might have this some might have more interest on these things.
So so these meditation practice on emptiness and selflessness of the person and so on are are very very very precious or very important practices. But then if one doesn’t trust in law of karma and doesn’t if one don’t know what is to be adopted and what is to be abandoned. Is is the what is to be adopted and what is to be abandoned which is explained in karma. If one doesn’t know these things, then the practice that we do, meditation practice that we do on emptiness and so on, those practices won’t have what is it, that much So knowing what is white karma or positive karma and knowing what is negative karma and avoiding doing negative actions and accumulating doing positive karmas. By doing this, that’s how one experience happiness in this life.
So so some might also do this that how one the way one live is always committing negative actions. And also let who are around one make them also commit negative actions. And that’s how they live. But then sometimes like meditating and beside that sometimes meditating on bodhicitta and emptiness like these these meditations during that meditation, even living in a life with committing negative actions, but doing meditation on love and compassion. This meditation on bodhicitta and emptiness, this doesn’t come together.
It’s two different things. So one should have, what do you call, one should have the in the the faith inner faith in the in the karmic law. So which in order to generate this faith on karma or the interest towards karma, is one has to contemplate about karma. So in order to generate faith or to generate this faith in karma, one first need to know how karma is how karma can be created. So whatever karma that we create, whether it’s a positive or negative, are led by our motivations, and the motivation is forced by ignorance.
So like any actions, any karmic karma that we create, it’s caused out of ignorance. There’s this wish to engage in the action. So so as an example, to commit to like, to to commit a negative action of killing, full negative action of killing. What action has to be completed there is that has to have the object or the basis and has to have the motivation or the intention to do the action. And then thirdly, the actual action, the actual action of killing.
And then fourthly, the completion, the the finishing part or the completion. So so for example, if one is commit committing a karma, killing a human being, then once whoever whichever human being one is going to kill, one one has to recognize that human being. That one is going to one has to one has to recognize the person. So if you if you if you don’t recognize the object and if you happen to kill a cow instead of human with the intention of human killing human being, then you don’t get the full negative action of killing, what do you say, human being? So so so with the with the intention or like, you have to have the intention to kill, and, also, what you need there is you need to, like, recognize the object clearly.
So so if the object is a human being that one is going to kill, then one one has to recognize the person. Mhmm. So then the the the intention or the motivation is you should have the motivation or the wish to kill that person. So with the the the actual action, whatever whatever, what do call, means you use to kill the kill the person, that that that part of the action is the the actual part. So so then on the completion, it completes it the action completes there where as soon as the other person who whom had killed, like, stops breathing or dies.
And that that at that moment, the full negative action of killing is committed. So so the the action that one have created, committed, like, it is it changes moment by moment. So the actual action then like it exists there only for the moment and then it disappears. But then the imprints of that action leaves in our mind. So it leaves the imprint on our mind, the imprints of that negative action in our mind.
And mind, there are many different kinds of mind we talk about. And where this imprint is kept is that the mind that which comes from the past lives to this life and that which continues to to our next life. To that mind, the imprint is left. So so then this this imprint or the predisposition that is kept this mind, left with this mind, it come into existence when it meets with the conditions. Then as a result, one might be reborn in the hell or in hungry ghost realms or in the animal realms or human realms or different levels of beings.
So similar similar to this how how negative action is being we create negative action, similar to that, the the positive actions is also also same. So so within within the mind, we have left many different kinds of imprints or predispositions. That is positive one, negative one or neutral one or mixture one. So there are there are these different imprints that we have left with this mind. So so then that at the at the very time of death, like, at the at the end of death, sorry, when when when the very subtle mind appears, at that very time at that very time, whatever our mind is most accustomed with, whatever our mind is most accustomed with, whatever action, there is a craving arises there and because of the craving it leads towards that action and takes rebirth.
So so with so at present, if one, the reason why we should custom also with the practice of Dharma is that to help one at this very time when the subtle mind appears. So if one have done virtuous karma, if one is most if one if one is very accustomed to doing virtuous karma, then at that very time when the subtle mind appears, at that very time, the the craving to virtuous action appears and then one takes rebirth according to that whether one takes human rebirth or rebirth or takes rebirth into into god’s realm. So same thing with with taking rebirth into god’s realm that every any action that we have done, whatever we are accustomed to. If it’s a if we are accustomed to to a cause which will take the birth to a god’s womb, then there’s a craving at that time appears and that leads one to take the birth into god’s womb. So there is possibility among us that one may have doubt how how it’s possible there’s past life and how it is possible there’s future life.
So so there are are teachings like many logical teachings and explanations which proves and which explains the existing of past and future lives. But today, Geshe la won’t be going into that. So with the with the with the with the karma, there are three three types of karma that one can create. The physical karma or the the karma that is created by our body and the the the verbal karma and then the mental karma. So so how we create the verbal karma is that, for example, the harsh word that we speak or use towards others.
For example, if one to say, you look like a dog or you look like a pig, saying these words, that will take one hundred births as a dog or pig. So so and same thing with the with the with the mental karma is that if one have ill will thought towards others or or wish or what do you call that? The wish to harm others. This out of if one have this towards others, that’s that’s how mentally one creates a karma. So so because of this reason that we not we to stop creating negative karmas that we are always advised to to to have a good noble heart or good heart and and to to benefit others.
So then physically, also one creates a karma. That is like whatever refuge or protectors that one one follow or one one practice. Just just bow bowing in front of them with this gesture that showing a form of respect is is is a physical virtuous karma. So for example, as a as being being a Buddhist, if one is to to to think bad about others’ refuge or or speak bad about others refuge or like physically show some physical signs of disrespecting. Then that’s how you create these three different karmas.
So so even if one, like, doesn’t pay any respect or or think good about those things. Just the best thing one can do instead of thinking bad thing towards it, just to leave it leave it like that so that one doesn’t come to create negative karmas. So so so to to think about karma, the karma are explained as four types, four features of karma. So so the first one first feature is that the karma is what’s it? Definite.
So second, karma multiplies, increases. Increases greatly. So the third third one is if if karma if one haven’t committed a karma, then one one won’t meet with its result. So then the fourth one is that karma accumulated or karma that which is performed will not dissipate. So the first one when we say karma is definite, means that it’s definite in in in bringing forth its own result.
That if you do something if you do something virtue, that that will never, like that will always bring virtue, never bring an non non virtuous result. We never bring a non virtuous result. So virtuous karma will always it’s definite to bring a virtuous result. That is if one is to create virtuous karma then that will lead one to a higher state and that is the result of virtuous karma. So, same thing with the non virtuous karma.
If non virtuous karma only brings about as a result non virtue, there’s no possible that it brings virtue. So so the then the third one is karma multiplies greatly. That is, for example, if you compare the external and internal karmas, then the internal karmas are the increasement of internal karma is much more greater than the external one. So as a as a external cause and result, for example, as a cause and result, that is like a small seed can can can give a big tree, can bring about a big tree with thousands of leaves. So that a very small cause as a seed, but then as a result it produces a big result.
And that is like the increasing of increasing karma. Is known as the increasing karma. And that is with the external things, but the internal the in internal increasing of karma is much greater than the external one. So so that just a moment of a moment of good a moment of meditating good heart. That’s a moment.
That can also become a cause of our, let’s say, our higher for for higher rebirth. That can become higher rebirth too. So so as a as a one example with the human being that we have this body, the the precious human body, this is a result of one virtuous action. So so so then whatever that that person or the human being earns, the place he lives in or he or she lives in, the belongings, the surrounding that is all belong to him are result of that that karmic action. So so the best thing what one can do is that that do perform virtuous action as much as possible and avoid doing negative actions as less as possible.
So so it’s not possible that we can, like, avoid committing negative actions all at once. But then one can train that trying to avoid the most heavy negative actions first and then try to accumulate the slightest, most the most little virtue as much as possible. Like, start in this way and continue with that. Then then later, there will be time when one can do, like, abandoned those negative actions, those all those negative actions. So so then the third one is you are karma, which is not done, will not be experienced?