Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 45-minute teaching, Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen unpacks four cardinal principles of karma: definite in operation, multiplying in effect, never experienced if not created, and never disappearing once created. Through concrete examples—a soldier surviving bullets, an arhat eating earth, two car-crash passengers with different fates—he shows how karma works through imprint and condition. He then teaches the four-power purification practice, which can ripen negative karma in this life as a small headache rather than in future lives as intense suffering. Finally, he establishes morality—abstaining from the ten non-virtues and collecting small virtues—as the foundation for higher rebirths and liberation. For practitioners studying the Graduated Path.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 14 GP 1996 03 10.mp3
UUID: e5ae40f4-68dc-4041-ad47-cf887f9d9987
Teacher: Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen
Collection: Graduated Path (Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen)
Date: 1996-03-10
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 44.6 minutes
Words: ~2,599
So so even if we forgive these reasons, saying that for the sake of my child, for the sake of my parents, or for this purpose, I did that. I did perform these negative actions. Even if we do give these reasons, later when one has to experience result in the in the in the hell or in the lower realms, there’s no no there’s I’m sorry. The suffering that you have the ones the suffering that that one has to experience is you you can’t see share with others. You have to experience all this suffering by by yourself, not that you can share with with your child or your with your friends and so on?
So so whatever because whatever karma that that one perform, it’s performed on the on the basis of this body, out of this body. So one has to experience one self have to experience those karmic result. So so so so because of that, one should, what is it, One should avoid doing negative actions as much as possible. So so that as the third point, is karma which you haven’t done, you will not experience as a result. So so as as example that if we if we go into war and and in the battle, like, many bullets were shot shot.
And even, like, for some when they they are they are shot few times in their body, they they still they’re not still dead. They’re they’re they’re still fine. And when we see someone, that type of person, we we we we we see them as a great person. So so, yeah, we we tend to think something amazing and this happened because one reason it might be is that because the person haven’t done the karma. Or the second reason that even the person have done the karma, the result is not what is it?
Though the person second reason might be maybe maybe the person have had a karma, but but yet he he haven’t he or she haven’t met this result. So so as when when people will go into the into battle, like, Something things that you carry when you go to the battle which which protects your your life. Some some kind of protection. And and in the beginning, even if you got one or two shot, you you are not dead yet. And then later, like, after some time, you you you got shot again and you you die.
And and many people think that this is because the strength of of your protection, it it has has lost, let’s say, weakened. So because of that, the second time I had to die also. Oh, So this way of, I will say, thinking is a fault, which is not contemplating or not thinking over karma, which is not contemplating or not thinking over karma. So all these thing this happened because the first one, you you you haven’t met with you you haven’t done the karma, so you you didn’t met you didn’t experience the result. Second time, you you you have done the karma and you have met with the result.
So so so that cost our life. So that’s because of the karma. So so then going to the fourth one, fourth karma, which is karma karma that is done will not disappear. So so in the in the Sūtra teaching, it says that karma even if you have done if if you have done a karma, collected a karma, then the karma being there for for for very long long time, it won’t what do say? It it won’t it won’t it won’t disappear.
It won’t what do you say? It won’t It won’t won’t like it won’t button. It it won’t So so so it it won’t, like, it won’t just disappear? So so whatever the period is unless one, what is it, one applies the antidotes and that of the four powers, it it will I would say, it will not dissipate or it it will it it won’t disappear. So so then the karma will will happen.
And when it will ripen is that when its causes and conditions are there, when all the causes and conditions are there, then it it I would say it ripens the the karma. So as in the past, I started that there was a area known as. So so this so this I had, in his when when he in his early life, when he go out for for begging food, he he didn’t get any food. He didn’t get any on. And and and sometime when he found some food, it happened that it just disappeared.
Then this arhat had to survive like later eating what do call, the earth on that eating the earth on that, what do say, the arhat survived. Yeah. And this also is because of the arhat’s karma. So our virtuous and non virtuous karma is very vast. So we should well, what do say, perform our practice which is purification and accumulation.
So so which one has to engage in the in the in this practice of of collecting and abandoning or adopting and abandoning. So which is adopting the the ten paths which which Buddha had taught the ten virtuous actions, adopting these. So so then things that that need to be abandoned is the opposite of that. We can non virtuous action. So so, like, engaging in the practice, like abandoning the nonvirtue and and adopting the virtue.
So like keeping one individual each one of these I would say morality and then I would say then one by doing this, one one come to accumulate great amount of merit. So as morality, there are three types. And the first one of that is morality of abstaining from negative actions and morality of abstaining from negative action. And as how to say, as being a Mahāyānist, one should one should live with this morality. So, we have done in our past lives many virtuous actions as well as many negative actions.
And if you remember those of the negative actions, then you should purify them by applying the powers. And even if you don’t remember, like, even if you don’t remember, if you’re not certain, those negative actions that you have done, you to them to purify with applying these four powers. So in short, that of these four types of karma, that of the first two, the karma being definite and karma that multiplies. In these two parts it shows that one should abandon the negative actions from the very least And one, like, the smallest one, one should try to abandon. And from with the virtue, even the most small one, we should collect the virtue.
These are the two that one should understand from knowing these two. So then so then to add the latter two, letter of latter two karma, that is karma which we haven’t done, we will not experience as a result. karma which we have done, we will not dissipate. Of these two, we should understand that whatever negative karma that we have done in the past should purify them with applying the four powers. One point.
And then secondly, one should always be aware or mindful that our virtues never get destroyed by anger. So so as it is, say, said in the in the in the the middle scope, that it says that in the three scopes that have three levels of being and in the three in the three vehicle in all of these explains that morality or observing the pure morality being So so in in all these three, like, in the three scopes and the three vehicle, it explains that morality is the cause of all high states. And this is what is explained in this text. Morality of obtaining ten non virtuous action is the main cause of achieving the highest states for those who haven’t entered in the path? So so then so then and then those who have entered into into the path that of the hearers and Pratyekabuddha and and so on.
For them too, the morality becomes the basis or the cause of their their their, say, their liberation or their their enlightenment. And for bodhisattvas, the morality is the is the basis or the cause for achieving the full enlightened state. So because of this, and for us also, it’s very important to abstain, to have this morality which is abstain from negative actions and I wanna say taking the the positive actions. This is for us too very important. So we stop here for now and do some question and answer.
Okay. Sorry. Can you make a little louder? Mhmm. Mhmm.
You say which one which karma you said the what? The karma done which the third word. Uh-huh. So if if the person if the person haven’t done the karma, then the person will never experience that, never experience the result. And even if the person has created if the doesn’t ripen, then also that person will never will will not experience.
So as an as an example, like like, for example, a car accident. Like, there’s two person in the same car that had an accident. And because of the accident, one dies and one is still alive. That’s that’s possible. And the one who died is because of the person who had met with his karma.
So so the one who didn’t die has only two choice. One is because one reason might be because the person don’t have that karma. Or second reason, though the person have the karma, it’s it’s not as ripened. So if if you don’t have a karma at all to die in accident, then for example if he is like to drive a car and go out and try to get into accident, even he won’t die because he don’t have the karma. Mhmm.
We have all those different kinds of karma which can possibly do that happen to us. Uh-huh. Alright. There’s nothing that can’t happen to you. Okay.
Mhmm. Mhmm. Mhmm. Mhmm. So So, like, to to, what is it, to tell like definitely that we have done we have done such and such karma, like all those different karma, like each individual one, like that’s only possible with with the Buddha.
Buddha can tell, okay, have done this and that. We haven’t done this kind of karma. But but then just to we have done various karma and and all the karmas, how we can prove that we have done those various karma is through those different quoteachings from different teachings and relying on those sources that we can prove or is it saying that we have done all sort of karma. So relying on these sources and giving different reasons that we can prove some of the things that, let’s say, some of common that we haven’t done or some common we have done. So so, like, in this life in the earlier life, later life, all all these changes and all the happiness and suffering that we experience is because of our karma.
We have created the karma. And even just for the day, in the morning and the evening, the changes happen in us. That too is because of the karma. Without karma, this is also not possible. So we we have we create a karma, and when the karma meets with its condition, so so when it meets with this condition, it give rise to its result.
So how karma works is that we create a karma and it’s an imprint in our mind. And then when that imprint meets with the condition, then it gives rise to its result which sometimes like wound on our hand, some pain, all these, let’s say, is is the common. So as some people die very early, like when they are five, six, seven, they die. Some they live long and there’s no limit that we can live like this much. And this happened for some reason it’s given that because the person is not healthy or is not been had good healthcare or hygiene.
But definitely it because of their karma that is happening to these different people. So if it’s because if it’s not common, if it’s just that the the, what you say, health, which are like keeping clean and having a good, what do say, hygiene, then that doesn’t actually really prove it’s the cause of long life and if you don’t have good hygiene, that means you will have a short life. That doesn’t, what to say, that doesn’t completely prove. So this one, depending what degree of purification practice you perform. So the way how it works with the purification practice is one one thing is that, say, if we have a very strong negative karma that we have to experience after a few lifetime.
And because of our purification practice in this life that we might experience that karma that we will experience in a few lifetimes in more strong suffering. We might experience that result in this very life just with a small suffering like a headache and and and remove the karma. So so so then others also would to complete, like, to completely get rid of all the karma depending, like, on the on the degree of your purification. So so for for some for some Dharma practitioner who does sincere practice like meditation and so on, they go through strong illness and even very, how to say, strong illness that might cost their life. And this is because of their practice that they have through their purification practice that they have, future negative karmas that they will experience for greater period, have taken in this very life and experience this little sufferings in this life.
So so same that to this very life too, if there is a common that one has experienced in this life, this very life, then if one doing the purification practice, performing the purification practice, it can stop ripening that karma so that one doesn’t have to experience the result. So so so when one performs the purification practice, one should perform, like, more in general, like those karma that I have done in the past. And those karma which is ripening now and will ripen in me. All this like purifying all this. Purifying all those negative karma that one had done.
And some might ripen in there and experience the results. Some might, I wanna say, some might, some karma which will ripen in the future. Because of your purification you weakened the cause of that karma. And so in that way one should, I wanna say, engage in the purification practice. One shouldn’t just, how to say, single out, like I do this purification practice because I need to purify my past karma.
Just not, how to say, not doing the purification, just like single out, singling out like I do this, not to experience in this life in the new karmas. So so like doing the recitation and meditation practice is one. And secondly, as one of the purification practice that Lama Tsongkhapa performed, which is thirty five Buddha practice. And that is, as Lama Tsongkhapa have explained, is very effective. And others, for example, like for the purpose of purifying our negative actions, whatever virtuous actions that we are doing, citing mantras like Manipen Nyung or others, all, how I say?
All all all is So