Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Geshe Pema Tsering opens by correcting a mistake from the previous session: throwing and accomplishing karma must always match in valence — illustrated by the unusual case of nagas, reborn as animals yet enjoying great wealth and happiness, giving them negative throwing and accomplishing karma but positive completion karma. In this 45-minute commentary he maps karma by timing of ripening (this life, the next, some future life, or not at all), explains how purification prevents a negative karma from maturing and how anger can destroy the fruits of a positive one, then covers karma by result type — happiness, suffering, or equanimity. Uncontaminated karma, arising only in those who have directly realised emptiness, is distinguished from the contaminated karma all others accumulate. A Q&A closes by tackling neutral versus immovable karma, how motivation determines whether an action is virtuous, and how purification actually removes a karmic imprint.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 04 SAN 2004 03 16.mp3
UUID: 45db294b-4e1e-4a75-a2ef-0e5673f94c03
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: ~2,913
Positive throwing karma, negative accomplishing karma, positive completion karma, or negative throwing karma, positive accomplishing karma, and negative completion karma, or positive throwing karma, positive accomplishing karma and negative completion karma or any other combination of those three. Okay. So because I was being a smart ass, I made a mistake. If you’ve got a throwing karma that’s positive, the accomplishing karma has to be positive, and you can have negative completion karma. So throwing karma and accomplishing karma have to be the same.
So he didn’t actually say throwing karma positive, accomplishing karma negative. It went throwing karma negative, accomplishing karma negative. Completing karma can be positive, or you can have throwing karma and accomplishing karma is positive and completing karma negative. So to be born as a god or a human then you have positive throwing karma and positive accomplishing karma and a lot of the time gods and humans have positive completion karma as well There is very few people that experience nothing but suffering as a god or a human It is possible, but usually there is positive completion karma as well. Then you could also say that most beings in the three lower realms have negative throwing karma, negative accomplishing karma, negative completion karma, because they are reborn into a lower realm and experience not much but suffering.
This is with the exception, of course, of Muntu and a few other animals. So in this case you have a being that has throwing and accomplishing a karma that is negative and some completion karma that is negative but there’s also experience of happiness or pleasantness in that lifetime so therefore there is a positive completion karma as well. Another example of beings that have bad throwing karma, bad accomplishing karma and good completion karma are nagas because they’re throwing karma and they’re accomplishing karma. It means that they were born into the state of an animal and this is a negative thing and said to be a lower realm but they experience a lot of pleasantness and happiness and so therefore they have a positive completion karma. Nagas are supposed to be beings with lots of wealth, pleasure, lots of happiness, and even though they’re still born as animals a type of animal.
We can also understand karma by which ways its results will be experienced. So they’re said to be karma whose results are experienced in this life, karma whose results are experienced in the next life, karma whose results are experienced in another life, and karma whose results aren’t experienced due to the practice or through the application of purification. The first one of these, karma whose results are in lifetime is if we do something positive now, then we experience the results of that positive action in this lifetime so we can see the cause and the result in one lifetime and the same with negative actions. This works in a similar way. If we go to work and we get paid for going to work, then in our minds it looks like there is a cause and a result that we can see together and that it both come about in one lifetime.
That’s like an example of the way that this works but it’s not an example of the way it works. So there’s also if the karma that we perform or the action that we perform isn’t very strong, isn’t as strong as the previous action, then we may not experience the results of that karma in this lifetime we may experience the results of that in the next lifetime. Every action that we perform, if it’s not purified, has to have its results experienced. There’s another Another way to determine karma by how we experience it is to talk about the karma that can be experienced in many lifetimes to come. We’ve collected since beginningless time all the karma that we’ve accumulated if it’s not purified has to have its results experienced, so this means that we may have performed an action many eons ago and then still have to experience results of that at some stage because, every cause needs to have an experiential result.
So this is the third type which is karma that results can be experienced in, some other time with uncertainty about when. The fourth type of determined by how it is experienced is a karma that we don’t experience the results of. For an example, there’s two different ways that this can happen. This can happen because someone has purified a negative action that they have performed so the action of purification stops the negative action from coming to fruition, so that’s one way that we cannot experience the results of an action. Another way, and the negative way that we cannot experience the results of an action is if we do something positive and we don’t dedicate it, strongly or properly enough By getting angry, we can stop ourselves experiencing the results of that positive action or it can harm our chances of experiencing the results of that positive action.
So there’s another way that we can, look at karma as well, and that is, karma that is said to be, we can look at karma through the way that we experience its results, so therefore we can have karma that gives rise to happiness, karma that gives rise to suffering and karma that gives rise to equanimity. karma that gives rise to happiness is virtuous karma that results are similar to the throwing karma that lands us in the higher realms. karma that gives rise to suffering is karma that is similar to the throwing karma that lands us in the lower realms. karma giving rise to equanimity is similar to the non wavering karma or immovable karma that propels us into the form and formless realms. The other thing to remember is that uncontaminated karma is the karma that is accumulated by beings who are either is what’s called Ārya Bodhisattvas or beings on the Mahāyāna path who have realised the nature of emptiness directly or Arhats which are people who have realised nirvana or liberation of some kind, whether it be of the Hīnayāna or Mahāyāna nature.
They create uncontaminated karma. All other beings, anyone who hasn’t realised emptiness directly or completely gotten rid of their negative emotions is said to collect only contaminated karma. So we can stop there. Geshe-la was thinking, Okay, I’ll do a link a day. I was like, No, no, no, there’s two more days.
And he’s like, Oh, what are we doing after that? I was like, bodhicitta, he was saying, I think you’re like, Oh, So we’ll move through the other links quicker. If you get a whole lot of contaminated positive karma, then you’re able to perceive, emptiness or selflessness. It’s contaminated karma but it’s still virtuous action and because it’s a virtuous karma then it’s said to be something that’s to be cultivated, not something that’s to be abandoned. So, cause for that positive action was ignorance, which is neutral, but it’s still not something to be abandoned.
The ignorance is. Questions. So I asked one of the questions. Mhmm. When Yenna was talking about question.
I’m not answering anything. If so, then a secondary factor accompanying something that’s already been abandoned. Okay. Ignorance is a mental factor. It’s not a consciousness.
The definition of ignorance is a stupor, as opposed to the buildings, yeah, stops beings from seeing things correctly, which is a mental factor. So that’s the general definition of ignorance, the fogginess of not knowing. Yeah. But this one in the twelve links of dependent origination is the not knowing, of selflessness. Okay.
Someone’s got a hand up, I can’t see, so you’re just going have to yell. Okay. Main mind is something that apprehends the nature or the aspect of something. Yeah? And a mental factor is something that apprehends the specific characteristics or the, attributes of that focus of that object.
I said, is he taking notes? Okay. A main mind is a something that apprehends the nature or the entity of the object. Yeah? And a mental factor is something that apprehends the specific characteristics or the differentiation that yeah.
The the yeah. The what? Yeah. Properties. The properties of the object.
Yeah. Okay, so we don’t understand. The problem with the way that we think things come about is that we don’t understand the true causes for things and the true results of actions. So we start with this idea that we go to work and we get money and the reason for us getting money is the work we do but that’s a superficial reading of it because the money that we get from the work is actually the result of giving in the past. So anytime that we get given money then that’s not the result of doing something with the desire to get money it’s the result from generosity The actual work that we’re doing acts as what’s called a conditioning cause or condition to that karma ripening.
The karma ripens because of the work we did. We’ve already got the merit or the store of positive karma to have the cause to get money. Then the work we’re doing acts as a condition to bring about that result. If we start understanding how these things work, we start understanding that a positive action brings a positive result and we start looking at it in this way instead of looking at the way that we normally look at it, that means that we can develop an understanding how karma works and what it is that we need to do to bring about happiness and what it is that will bring about suffering. Once we understand that, well, we’re not going to want to do anything that brings about suffering.
What we need to do is inform ourselves and through that understanding then we will know exactly how karma works and what it is that we need to do. So, yeah, so you study in order to be able to do things. You have this idea of if I study this then I’ll understand and if I understand it then I’ll be able to behave like that. So the way to find it out is to study and to have the right motivation. That’s the other thing, to have the right motivation for study.
If I study this then I’ll be able to behave better and by behaving better I can become a Buddhist. So we already know some things. We already know for starters the ten non virtuous actions. And if we start with abandonment again and therefore practicing the restraint of those negative actions then we already know something, we already know where to start, we already know what it is that we can work on. And as we keep progressing along the path based on those things that we need to abandon there then we learn much more subtle things that we need to abandon in meditation, in a practice and on a different path.
Yeah. Hello? Looking at your orange shirt. Did you have a question? No?
Here. Yeah. In the whole world? In the whole world. This world.
Okay. Okay. He said, If the world was filled with arhats, be it people who had gotten rid of their negative emotions and aryas, that is people who perceived reality directly, there would be peace on earth, alright? As long as they’re sentient beings they’re suffering. As long as they’re suffering there’s no peace.
So it doesn’t matter whether the beings are in earth or whether they’re someone else. Wherever you have afflictive emotions you have suffering you don’t have peace. No. They’re not the same thing. Neutral karma is literally if you’re going to translate literally from Tibetan is karma which is not expressed in sutras.
So it means karma that is not described as positive or negative in sutras and its result is equanimity neither suffering or happiness. Immovable karma or unfluctuating karma is the actions that come about through calm abiding or meditative concentrations. So once you’ve developed levels of calm abiding or śamatha, yeah, then the karma that you have from that action or from that concentration acts as a cause for you to be reborn in concentration realms. So karma that’s a cause to be reborn in concentration realms is said to be this immovable karma. It’s based on calm abiding or śamatha.
There is something similar in that there is a Buddhist belief or Buddhist idea that eventually all beings will become Buddhas. Yeah. But it’s not going to happen in a hurry. Yeah. And if all beings are Buddhas, there’s no suffering.
Okay. So, Geshe-la said that hang on. There is this idea of hope, but it’s not an external hope. The hope comes from the fact that we can eventually become Buddhas. It’s not an external focus for the hope.
Through beings developing individually then they’re able to get over suffering. Said they don’t even have to become complete Buddhas to experience peace. Only have to get rid of your afflictive emotions. It’s not complete Buddhahood. So the hope doesn’t come from external, it comes from us and each individual has to do it themselves even though if you’re a Buddha then you’re if you’ve developed into a Buddha then your whole outlook is towards others and not to yourself so you’re there to help everybody else get to that stage.
So in the Buddhist tradition, Buddha’s already been here. Yeah? And he if he could have wiped out all their suffering in a blow, he would in one go, he would have done it. Yeah? But he said that it depends on you individually.
You have to do it yourself. I can show you what to do but I can’t do it for you. Yes, he said that’s the hope that we’re able to come to that end. Its result is rebirth in saṃsāra, so therefore, it’s contaminated. Yeah.
What is that? That is too. So all neutral karma is contaminated because all actions of uncontaminated beings is positive. Attach motivation to actions. Okay, so whether this action that you’re doing now is virtuous or not virtuous depends on your motivation for doing it.
If your motivation for doing it is to achieve enlightenment, it is to achieve liberation, it is to achieve a good rebirth, then it’s a strong positive karma. If it’s to help other beings then it’s a positive karma. If it’s to make yourself happier at the moment then it’s not a positive karma, it’s a negative karma. And if it’s not to make yourself happy at the moment and it’s like to have a short term attachment to being happy and if it’s it’s just a a not any particular motivation then it’s a neutral action. So that’s why Geshe-la said he always starts off with a motivation because if people are thinking about their motivation before they do something, then the action that they perform not only becomes a positive action, but a very powerful positive action because it’s an altruistically focused positive action.
So hang on, he didn’t finish what he said before. I didn’t finish what he said translating before. The neutral actions are actions that are done without a specific intention because Bodhisattvas always have a specific intention because they’re motivated to help all sentient beings, then they don’t perform neutral actions. So there’s these two things that we usually do associated with coming in here and talking and listening. So at the beginning we develop a motivation and we say prayers to develop motivation.
At the end we dedicate and we have what’s called a Mahāyāna or an altruistic dedication to that practice as well. So in this way it helps us to establish this action as a cause for us to achieve Buddhahood and so by doing this then we establish this action as a very strongly positive action. Have planted there in the past. Uh-huh. By doing it, by following the purification process Mhmm.
Are you getting rid of that seed altogether? So are you sort of getting rid of that throwing karma? Or is that what you’re doing through that purification process? Seed do you mean imprint? Imprint.
Yeah, okay. So the if if you guys didn’t hear it, if you’re purifying negative actions, you’re asking do you get rid of the imprint? Yeah. Do you get rid of the What’s the process? How is that accomplished?
How is purification accomplished? Or how is it that you can get rid of an imprint completely and not experience the results in the future? If you know what mean. Okay, well then we’re not talking about imprint. No, because imprints is something that’s like the tendency towards that on your mind stream and something that’s going to have a result is a karmic action or an action.
So you’re talking about the action that’s going to bring about results or you’re talking about the tendency or the The action. So how do you get rid of that action? Is it that you don’t experience? Experience the results. Right, okay.
So how do you not experience results of karma? Okay. So the process that we go through in terms of purification is we start with a basis, which is our refuge.