Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. A student’s wry exchange — telling her lama “I’m going to hell, but you must already be there,” then “I can become a Buddha, but you must already be one” — opens Khensur Rinpoche’s 34-minute session on karma from his 1993 Three Principal Aspects of the Path series. He examines key characteristics of karma: that results amplify even from minor causes; that uncommitted actions produce no result (no seed, no crop); and that created actions are never lost unless actively purified. Understanding these, he argues, makes ethical practice genuinely motivating rather than abstract duty. He then turns briefly to suffering, deploying a thief-in-the-room analogy: you cannot expel what you cannot identify. A short Q&A closes the session, exploring how karma ripens — intention imprints on the mental stream; craving activates the seed.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 26 3PA 1993 09 07.mp3
UUID: ff375c19-9ac7-4fa8-b08a-8cec2fcb0d96
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: 3 Principal Aspects of the Path (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1993-09-07
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 34.5 minutes
Words: ~1,773
So having talked about the about the about the amplifying effects of negativities, she said she said, well, you know, what to say? I’m going to hell but you must be already there to to the lama. And then having talked about the positive amplifying effects of karma, she said she said, well, that means I can become a Buddha but you almost be you must be already a Buddha. So in reflecting upon this amplifying that the this characteristic that results of actions can be amplified or increased. We have to consider that from even minor or insignificant causes that is to say skillful actions great results, happinesses can arise.
Amplified effects can come about. And the same holds true in terms of unskillful actions or negative causes that again greatly amplified results can arise. Then the third characteristic was that the results of uncommitted actions are not experienced. In general, we can say that if there is no cause, then no result will arise. Here applied that if we we do not engage in a skillful action, then we will not experience the resultant happiness of that uncommitted action.
If we do not engage in an unskillful action, we will not experience the resultant suffering of that uncommitted, unskillful action. So this is quite readily understood and we can illustrate it with an example that if we do not sow a field, then we will not grow a crop. Without planting the seed, there’s no crop coming out for growing. That’s the third characteristic. Then the fourth fourth characteristic was that the the results of actions are not dissipated.
In other words, for this are dissipated, are wasted, or lost. If we use an example, if having created a skillful action, if that skillful action is not destroyed through anger, then that skillful action will remain. And even if, for example, of a hundred years, not that skillful action is not lost, it’s not dissipated, it’s not wasted. Upon meeting the correct conditions, conditions, that skillful action will ripen and the result will be experienced. It does not become non existent or is not lost.
And the same holds true with respect to unskillful actions. If having created an unskillful action, if that that unskillful action is not purified through having through acknowledging, through declaration of that unskillful action, through declaration of our unskillful actions we can eliminate the results of actions. But if it’s not, then that unskillful action will remain for hundreds of years. And upon meeting with the conditions, afflictive emotions within the mind, then result will be experienced. That unskillful action is simply not lost or it doesn’t become nonexistent somehow.
So we should reflect upon these four characteristics of karma, both in terms of the categories of skillful actions and unskillful actions. In terms of unskillful actions, having created an unskillful action, we understand that if we don’t declare that action, that eventually it’s to be we’re going to experience it’s definite that we’re going to experience suffering as a result and that suffering could be greatly amplified or magnified. Therefore understanding nature of results of that action will help us to cease creating negative actions. Not wanting wanting wanting to experience results in suffering will help us to give up creating the causes of suffering. And then on the other hand, the fact is that we don’t want to experience suffering.
We want to experience happiness. And happiness is result of skillful actions. Happiness arises and depends upon skillful actions. And if we want to experience the happiness, then it’s necessary that we accumulate skillful actions. So if we don’t accumulate skillful action, then we are not going to experience the resultant happiness that we’re seeking.
And moreover, what to say of wanting great happiness and creating but we want even minor happinesses. And so we not only have to concern ourselves with creating great causes of happiness, but even insignificant minor causes of happiness skillful actions need to be accumulated. And that moreover these actions are not going to be lost, that they are going to we’re going to experience experience the result and that therefore it’s worthwhile to work at the means at creating all these various levels of skillful actions. So if we gain a conviction in these characteristics of actions and their results, then we will see that in order to experience happiness we have to create its causes as that happiness is a result of skillful actions. So we will be convinced that we have to implement the means to involve ourselves in skillful activities.
On the other hand, not wanting to suffer, understanding that suffering arises in dependence upon unskillful actions, we will begin to implement the means to abandon unskillful actions. And this way our practice will become very stable and very powerful in terms of abandoning unskillful actions and implementing skillful actions. So we can just use as an analogy that we even the work that we do in our life that we do and we think that we’re convinced that we’re going to be very profitable, we’re going to get a lot of money out of it. And therefore, understanding this, we’re we’re going to really be enthusiastic about the work and that we’re going to have an inclination and liking. And it’s going to be very we’re going to enter it with a great deal enthusiasm, seeing being convinced that there’s a great deal of profit and money to be made out of it.
So in order to eliminate our resultant suffering, in order to achieve resultant happiness, we have to abandon those actions which bring about suffering that is to say, abandon harmful activities, harmful actions and implement those in order to achieve happiness implement those beneficial active actions. In this way we can cease our suffering and find happiness. Ourselves in such work well, then eventually we can attain liberation. We can eventually gradually work toward a state where we no longer experience suffering, where we experience only happiness. If we practice well in this fashion, we will reverse our priorities towards future lives.
That is to say we will begin to lessen our attachment toward those appearances of future lives. We will eventually achieve liberation. It’s because we have we are able to reverse our priorities toward future lives through the abandonment of attachment to these appearances of future lives. So this is one area of the two areas that are necessary to work with in order to reverse our priorities in terms of future lives. That is to say, we begin to reverse priorities by considering karma as actions and the result.
But also we begin to reverse our priorities in future lives when we consider the sufferings of cyclic existence. So I think maybe you’re all becoming depressed because when we start talking about when we start talking about suffering, everybody gets depressed. It’s but it’s because we don’t like suffering that we have to talk about it. But it’s people who don’t have great compassion, don’t have an awakening heart, who who don’t like suffering. Bodhisattvas, they like suffering.
It’s because we don’t like suffering that we need to talk about suffering, that suffering needs to be explained. Know, when somebody says, Well, what is suffering? We really don’t understand its nature. And because we don’t understand it, have a great fear and anxiety around it. And we think that suffering is no good and we don’t want to have anything to do with it.
So we but it’s necessary that we, in order to overcome this, that we be introduced to to suffering, that we have to be able to identify what actually what suffering actually is. It’s because we hold on to our hap we we try to hold on to our happiness. Happiness. And because we don’t aren’t and but we still experience suffering. And this is because we don’t know what we don’t what we don’t see suffering as suffering.
We aren’t able to identify what in fact is suffering and what in fact is real happiness. And not if we begin to identify identify what is real happiness and what is real suffering, then we are going to be able to implement methods whereby to end our suffering and to find real happiness. So if we thought there was a thief in this room but we couldn’t identify them or her, we didn’t know who the thief was, then there would be no way that no matter how much we wanted to throw the thief out of the room, would be no way that we could. We have to be able to recognize the thief as the thief. But upon if we were able to identify, well this is the thief, then having recognized who is in fact really the thief, we could immediately throw them out and that’s what we want to do.
So it’s excellent not to like suffering. But it’s important in not liking suffering that we identify what suffering is so that having identified it identified it, we can cease our suffering, end our suffering. So I’m I’m not going to talk anymore about suffering. I’ll stop there for today. It’s necessary that you understand why we have to talk about it though.
So it’s important that you understand the necessity for understanding suffering. If you if you understand why it’s necessary to discuss it, then this will help you to develop a desire to listen to our discussions on suffering. So stop there, but if you have to spend some few minutes on questions. Yes. For the ripening of karma?
Yes. Puncture. So karma, or karma is translated as action. It is a mental factor. It is a consciousness, the mental factor of intention.
But having created the karma, that moment of consciousness, it immediately is transformed. It does not remain. And it leaves an impression upon the mental consciousness. The mental consciousness is a stable stream of consciousness, just like a stream of water. And the leaves an impression is made up, our latency is impressed.
It’s like printing on paper. There’s an impression which is made upon the mental consciousness. Then, and this then will be activated by the mental factor of craving. So by way of analogy, the mental consciousness is like a field. The action latency is like a seed planted in that field.
And craving is like the watering of that seed. So the craving acts to activate, to germinate the seed of the action, the latency, and bring about that particular ripening result.