Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Why do even positive, virtuous actions keep us trapped in saṃsāra? That question anchors this 45-minute commentary by Geshe Pema Tsering on the second of the twelve links of dependent origination: connecting karma, the volitional force that propels rebirth. He defines it as any action rooted in ignorance — positive, negative, or the “immovable” concentrated states that produce form and formless realm rebirths — and carefully distinguishes what must be abandoned (connecting karma itself) from what must not (the positive actions that arise within it). He then surveys the major technical divisions of karma: mental versus intended activity, contaminated versus uncontaminated, and the three subcategories of throwing, accomplishing, and completion karma. Suited to practitioners with some grounding in Abhidharma-style analysis.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 03 SAN 2004 03 16.mp3
UUID: 0ed07764-9c7f-465d-b87f-0a7c5ef36a80
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: DB Samsāra and Nirvāṇa (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2004-03-16
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 45.0 minutes
Words: ~3,314
Okay. So from the refuge prayer, the Buddha, it was said to the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha, please protect me by granting or please protect me by showing the bliss of liberation or the happiness of nirvana. Now, what this is talking about is how important this act of asking for protection or this act of going for refuge is. And he thinks that you all know just how important refuge is. But he said that we should remind ourselves of how important a refuge is because before we do anything virtuous and before we listen to teachings, we need to develop the right motivation.
So the right motivation we need to develop is the mind of bodhicitta. But before we can develop that, we have to have a sense of refuge. Refuge becomes like the base for all of the other virtuous minds develop or the virtuous attributes we can develop. And so what we’re asking for in this it’s for the Okay. Okay, so we’re coming here in order to be able to try and understand how saṃsāra comes into being through the twelve links of dependent origination.
Because if we understand the twelve links of dependent origination, that gives us insight into how to stop them coming about. It gives us an insight into how to abandon saṃsāra, how to get rid of saṃsāra. And getting rid of saṃsāra means that we have the ability to develop the happiness of liberation. And happiness of liberation is what’s giving us or what’s our ultimate refuge from the sufferings of saṃsāra. So this refuge that we’re going for is the basis for our develop the developments we will get through understanding the twelve links of dependent origination.
By understanding the twelve links of origination by understanding the twelve links of dependent origination, then we’re able to understand what it is that we need to get rid of in order to get rid of the cause of saṃsāra, the root of saṃsāra, by developing wisdom that replaces the ignorance which is the first link in these twelve links to dependent origination. We’re able to get rid of saṃsāra to cut it off at the root. By cutting it off at the root we’re able to experience nirvana or experience the happiness of liberation. So through developing an understanding of these twelve links, we develop an understanding of what can get us out of saṃsāra. We understand what it is we need to do to get out of saṃsāra.
So this is the reason that we need to study these twelve links. So we should think, not just myself. If I develop this understanding, an understanding to replace ignorance and of the twelve links of dependent origination, then I myself will be able to stop from being born in saṃsāra. But not just myself, all other sentient beings have this ability as well. So in order for them to develop this understanding, in order for them to get out of saṃsāra or in order to establish them into happiness, then I myself need to become a Buddha in order to show them how to do this.
So we should have this idea, I myself am going to become a Buddha in order to benefit all sentient beings and we should meditate on that for a few minutes. So we’re trying to understand the twelve links of dependent origination, which is how saṃsāra comes into being. And last week we were discussing what ignorance was or the lack of understanding that brings about the twelve links of dependent origination and is in fact the first link in the twelve links of dependent origination. So now we move on to what’s called either connecting karma or it’s called the activity of sankharas or it’s also another way of putting it to call it forming or volitional action. Alright?
So it’s basically activities that construct situations. Now, that’s five different translations. One should work. In Sanskrit, it’s called sankhara. Now what connecting karma’s definition is, is last week we talked about how ignorance, brings about activity.
So through misunderstanding the situation, through misunderstanding reality, we do things that are based on that ignorance. Now these actions that we do based on these on that ignorance act as causes for us to experience saṃsāra. So whether they’re positive or negative they’re both causes to experience saṃsāra. So that means that any action, any karma that we perform that is done in dependence on this ignorance So is it is done, as a link or as a result of this ignorance is then said to be this connecting, this connecting karma. And so it’s then that’s basically its definition.
Any karma, any action that’s based on ignorance or any action springing from ignorance. This action that springs from ignorance is also the reason that we take rebirth in saṃsāra. So another word for connecting karma is throwing karma. So the when we’re talking about is connecting karma, we as we have to understand that it’s a type of karma. And In general, when we talk about karma or action, talk about them being of many actions, we talk about them being of many types, as many different ways that we can act or many different reasons that we can act.
Now, this type of karma, what’s called connecting karma or sanskara, is karma that is motivated or karma that is instigated by ignorance. So in general when we talk about the definition of karma, we say that karma is said to be a mental factor which isn’t a main consciousness but it’s a different type of mental factor that is by nature intention. So the movement of the mind or the intention is the nature of karma. So because of this then we say that the specific karma we’re talking about here is the karma that acts as a cause for us to be reborn in saṃsāra. So this is why we call it throwing karma and this is another way of describing this type of karma is to say that it is the karma that is motivated or projected or propelled by ignorance.
So this connecting karma then comes about because of the ignorance that is the first link of their dependent origination. And because it comes about because of this ignorance, it means that once we’ve realized the nature of reality, we’ve realized the selflessness of the person and therefore become what’s called an ārya or a superior being, then that means that we don’t collect any more throwing karma or any more connecting karma. Because we’ve cut off the twelve links of dependent origination at the root, that is, at the ignorance, then we don’t do anything that’s going to act as a cause for us to be reborn into saṃsāra. And the reason for this is that we’ve gotten rid of our ignorance, and the reason we’ve gotten rid of our ignorance is because we’ve understood the selflessness of the person. We’ve developed the wisdom understanding the selflessness of the person.
And this is, this is the direct or the most direct way to get rid of the generation of the twelve links of dependent origination. Geshe-la says, but if we’re people like us, and he said, well, wait a minute. People like me. I don’t know what you guys are. Maybe you’re Buddhists.
Right? But, people like me at least and all ordinary beings, have this ignorance, and therefore, because we have this ignorance, we develop this connecting karma or cons we do activities that construct saṃsāra. So when talking about this connecting karma, the forming or sankhara is the second link, the twelve twelve links of dependent origination. There’s three ways that we can divide this type of karma. We’ve established it’s the same thing as projecting karma that projects us into taking new birth and saṃsāra.
This can work in three different ways. It can be what’s called meritorious or non-meritorious or what’s called immovable karma. We can have the cause to we can have a cause for rebirth that’s virtuous, non virtuous, or meritorious, non-meritorious, and immovable. On the basis of creating positive karma or on the basis of creating meritorious throwing karma, then we are reborn in one of the realms of gods or humans as one of the beings on what’s called the four continents or with four different realms that beings can be born into as human beings can be born into. So there’s said to be four different continental realms that we’re able to be reborn into as humans.
There’s also said to be six different desire realm, god realms, desire, desirous no. Yeah. Desire god realms so that we can be born into. And Geshe-la listed six of them, and I only recognized Tuśita. Don’t know the other five.
So through a nonmeritorious karma, we can have we can be propelled into being reborn in the lower realms, the hell realms, the hungry ghost realms, and the animal Now this third type of throwing karma, what’s called immovable karma, is said to be the karma that projects beings into rebirth in subtle concentration states in both the form and formless realm. So it’s not said to be meritorious karma or a non-meritorious karma. It’s said to be immovable in terms of being completely concentrated and unwavering. And through the power of this single pointedly concentrated karma or single pointedly concentrated action, one takes rebirth in a concentrated meditative, concentrated state, which is said to take two forms: form realm concentrations and formless realm concentrations. Within the form realm concentrations there’s four different levels of intensity of the concentration that you can have developed and there’s also four different levels of intensity of the concentration you can have developed in the formless realms.
Okay. So this connecting karma is said to be part of what’s called compositional factors which are part of the five aggregates so in general when we talk about the five aggregates we divide things into form and then we have what are called mental factors and main consciousnesses so the sense consciousness and the mind conscious and then we have these mental factors or attached mental activity now when we say that we’re talking about compositional factors this is said to be of two different types. Now there’s, there is, compositional factors which have form and compositional factors which don’t have form. This karma the connecting karma comes within the factor that doesn’t have form and is said to be by type A mental factor or a subsidiary mind or a thought that comes along with the main mind. So this second of the twelve links of dependent origination, connecting karma, is said to be by its nature neutral, in that it is neither virtuous or non virtuous.
Now the reason that we say that it is neutral by its nature is that it can take the form of either meritorious karma, non meritorious karma or immovable karma. So because it’s able to manifest in these different ways or to come about in these different ways, then we have to say that its nature has to be neutral. So when we’re developing these different states on the path towards Buddhahood, we go through different, what are called paths or different realizations. And on the two of these paths, the path of seeing and the path of meditation, there are things that we need to abandon. So when we talk about the abandonings like when it says true cessation and true paths from the Four Noble Truths it says truth of suffering, the truth of the origin of suffering and we have the truth of cessation and the truth of the path So the third one of those, the truth of cessation, is said to have two parts It’s said to have cessation which are linked to the path of seeing, which is the first moment of insight.
And then there is abandonments which are linked to the path of meditation, which is the familiarisation with that first moment of insight. So this connecting karma is actually something that is abandoned on the path of meditation. So it’s something that’s not abandoned instantly when we realize emptiness. So we say that this action, or the connecting karma by its nature is is neutral it’s neither positive nor negative so in this way can we say that there are aspects of this that are virtuous then we have to say we have to answer that by saying yes if we do positive actions that are still based on ignorance of the true nature of reality then they’re still positive actions they’re still virtuous actions but because the nature of connecting karma is said to be neutral because the nature of connecting karma is said to be based on ignorance and therefore neutral and not totally positive then it is still something that we need to get rid of so we may develop we may do positive things based on this connecting karma or that we may do positive things as part of this connecting karma, but because it acts as a cause for us to be reborn in Samsāra, it’s something that we need to abandon.
Okay, so by its nature we say that connecting karma is said to be something that we need to abandon, but the positive actions that we do that become part of connecting karma, right, so it’s the positive things we do, they shouldn’t be abandoned. Connecting karma should be abandoned but sometimes connecting karma can have a positive outcome that is we can be born as a god or a human. And because that’s a virtuous action, it’s something that we need to engage in as opposed to something that we need to abandon. So we said that connecting karma needs to be abandoned, but the positive actions don’t need to be abandoned. There’s something that we need to engage It’s a similar situation to saṃsāra.
So we say saṃsāra is something that needs to be abandoned, but there’s positive actions that we can do in saṃsāra that aren’t objects to be abandoned. So saṃsāra itself needs to be abandoned, but the positive things that we can do in saṃsāra are objects to be cultivated or actions to be cultivated, not abandoned. So in general, when we talk about karma, there’s two different types of karma There’s many different divisions of karma, we can divide all karma into two different types. We can say there’s karma that’s what’s called mental activity and karma that’s called intended activity. So this means that we usually describe mental activity as being karma of the mind or actions of the mind and intended activity as being actions of the speech and body.
Actions things that we say and things that we do physically. Things that we say and things that we do physically come about after we have intended to do them mentally. So they’re said to be intended activity or intentional activity. Okay. So this second of the twelve links of dependent origination connecting karma is said to be both of these, mental activity and intended activity.
But it doesn’t pervade all all karma. Not all karma is connecting karma. There’s another way that we can look at karma is divided it into actions of body, actions of speech, and actions of mind. And within those three divisions, we then have positive, negative, and neutral actions that we can perform. So how we understand whether something’s a virtuous action, a nonvirtuous action, or a neutral action is by its results.
If the results of an action are happiness or positive then that action was positive. If the results of an action are negative or suffering then that action was negative. If The results of an action are equanimous or they’re not particularly suffering or happiness, then that action is a neutral action. Okay. So within these different types of karma that we can accumulate through body, speech, mind, we said that there’s that which is positive and that which is negative and that which is neutral.
Now negative actions from within these come under what’s described as the ten non virtuous actions. So that means the three main negative actions of a body that we can perform or that we can engage in is killing, stealing and sexual misconduct. And the four negative actions of speech that we can engage in is slander, harsh speech, lying and talking nonsense. Yes. And then there is what’s called the other three of the ten non virtuous actions that is the three non virtuous actions of mind.
That is maliciousness and, covetousness or craving after other people’s things and, wrong views, they aren’t actually, negative karma by their nature, because they’re said to be afflicted emotions or afflictions. And then we divide everything so partitioned in terms of how we experience suffering into that which is negative emotions and that which is karma. So by their nature they are said to be afflicted emotions and not to be karmic actions. But when we actually think something on the basis of those afflicted emotions, so therefore if we think we if we have a malicious mind towards someone and then we think about ways to get them back, then the ways the the ways that we think about getting them back are neg is negative mental karma, but the actual thought to harm them isn’t. Another way that we can look at karma or we can try and understand karma is through dividing it, by what causes it.
So in this way, then we would say that there was two different types of karma or two different types of actions what’s said to be contaminated actions and what’s said to be uncontaminated actions. Contaminated actions are those that are caused by afflictive emotions or negative states of mind and uncontaminated karma is that which isn’t caused by afflictive emotions or negative states of mind. So all of the karma that we accumulate in saṃsāra is said to be of the first kind that is contaminated karma. It’s impossible for us to accumulate uncontaminated karma in saṃsāra when we are under the sway of such strong afflictive emotions. Another way that we can divide karma or try and understand karma is through whether it’s what’s called throwing karma that projects us into the next life, accomplishing karma that establishes us in an existence, or completion karma which determines the experiences that we have in that lifetime.
Now from in these twelve links the one that we’re talking about now, connecting karma, is said to be a synonym of throwing karma that is the thing that causes us to be reborn in another lifetime. Accomplishing karma is said to be synonymous with the numbers eight, nine and ten of the twelve links of dependent origination. That is craving, grasping and existence. Completion karma is said to be within the twelve links of dependent origination as well in terms of being the experience of birth, old age, illness, and death. So within these three then, it said that throwing karma acts as a main cause for us to take rebirth in saṃsāra.
Accomplishing karma is the conditions that cause this cause to bear fruits. The causes of throwing karma, accomplishing karma is the conditions that come together with that throwing karma to establish rebirth. And the results of that is said to be the completion karma that is the experiences that we have in a lifetime of suffering, sorrow and happiness. Is this making sense? Yeah.
Yeah. If you can understand, that’s a good thing. So Uh-uh. He said it seems if you’re explaining it, it seems simple, but but understanding it can be difficult. So this means that