Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Starting from a single verse on karma and samsaric suffering, Khensur Rinpoche spends nearly two hours building a case for genuine conviction in the law of cause and effect. He surveys the three realms — gods as powerful as Brahma and Indra, universal monarchs, formless-realm deities — arguing that every such rebirth, however exalted, ends in a fall. A driver-and-car analogy explains why the mind outlasts the body and carries latent imprints, like seeds in a field, that propel future rebirths. The session’s core is a walk through karma’s four principles: definite in type, magnifying in scale, impossible to meet without first being created, and never going to waste. He closes with guidance on purification through the four opponent forces and on protecting virtue from anger. Suited to practitioners following this series.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 09 3PA 2001 07 10.mp3
UUID: 646c20d9-2e98-4c8e-a56b-75302e40121c
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: 3 Principle Aspects of the Path (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 2001-07-10
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 111.2 minutes
Words: ~8,936
Now, we’re dealing with renunciation and we said that in order to generate renunciation, there are two things that we need to have in place. First of all, we need to reverse what is called allure to this life and then we need to reverse or abandon allure for next lives, for future lives. We have covered the first part which is dealing with allure of this life and now we are ready to proceed with the second part. We are on verse number four, the last two lines. So if we actually look at the root verses, as we say we are on verse four, the last two lines, it says, If we frequently contemplate that cause and result are non deceptive and the sufferings of saṃsāra, we stop the allure of future lives.
So there are two things to be meditated upon. The first one is cause and result. And when we talk about cause and result, the main thing that we have to focus on is that there is no deception in the way that cause and result follow each other. And then the second thing that we need to contemplate is the suffering of saṃsāra. In other words, we need to see that wherever we are born with the cyclic existence we are going to experience various types of suffering.
So then eventually we combine these two types of realization and that will help us to stop our lure for future So first of all, need to recognize, in a sense, what is allure of future lives. And our text here says that we have a lure of future lives if we are thinking about ourselves, how we could end up in future lives and if we’re thinking that we could attain a state such as the state of Brahma or Indra or a universal monarch and we’re looking at their statues and their possessions and the things that they enjoy and possess, and if we aspire to reach such a state in order to have such experiences, then definitely we have a lure of future lives. Actually, as we see here, there is some mention of the state of Brahma or Indra or a universal monarch and really what we need to understand that here when we talk about saṃsāra, we examine it from the point of view of the three realms within saṃsāra. We have the desire realm, we have the form realm and then we have the formless realm. Now these states that are mentioned here are states that they fall within the desire realm.
So within the desire realm we identify the three lower migrations of the hell beings, the hungry ghosts and the animals and then we also have two fortunate migrations of humans and divine beings. So Brahma and Indra and so forth, they fall into the category of divine beings, fortunate migrations of the desire realm within saṃsāra. Now, as for the fortunate migrations within the desire realm, we know about humans, we are humans within the desire realm. When we talk about the gods or the divine beings of the desire realm, we also need to understand that it’s not just one category of those. There’s said to be six different categories abiding in six different abodes.
I didn’t get all the names of those six but I will give you two for example. So that is the place of the thirty three deities and Tuśita heaven for example or Gantam can fall into that and so forth. Now, we mentioned two names, we mentioned Brahma and Indra. Brahma and Indra are the two gods that you can say are on the very top. They are like the lords of the whole of desire realm.
And when we describe their powers and their possessions, they are almost limitless. So the enjoyment and the, as we say, things that are within reach for those beings are just unbelievable. Rinpoche was saying that if all the possessions of all the humans were piled up together, still they could not make up for the possessions of one of the gods of such a status. Then we also talked about the universal monarchs. Now universal monarchs are beings who rule the world by, as it says here, by using special wheels, right?
And according to the type of wheel that they possess, there are four different types of universal monarchs. You can have universal monarchs that have golden wheels or silver wheels and so on and so forth. Now, again, for the universal monarchs it is said that their powers and their wealth, are virtually unlimited. Now, you start contemplating their state, their wealth, their power and so forth. And you generate the thought, Now wouldn’t it be nice if in the future life I would end up just like them?
Once you generate thoughts like that, then you have a lure of future lives. This is what you aspire to be in your next life. Now the point is that actually there is no point in aspiring to get such a rebirth because we have already got it in the past. We have got such rebirths many times in the past. Past but all that happened, all that came after that was the fact that we had to fall into another migration and we use the verb fall here because usually if you are at the top there is no higher to go, you only will fall lower.
So from the state of this universal monarch, let’s say, you fall down into the hells and so forth. So all that followed after all this extreme experience of wealth and power was suffering again. Well, if we leave behind the gods of the desire realm, we see that there are gods in the form realm as well. And the gods of the form realm, they’re even said to have even more power, even more wealth, even more pleasurable experiences than the gods of the desire realm. But still, it is said that there is suffering for them as well.
And if we go even higher than that, if we look at the gods of the formless realm, even though again they have incredible experiences, very long life, a lot of wealth, lot of power and so forth, still they are within cyclic existence and being within cyclic existence it means that they still have to experience the suffering of cyclic existence. They have not gone beyond it, they are still within the limits of cyclic existence and once their life as a god finishes, again they will have to fall into another migration. As we said, there is no point in making any prayers to be reborn as one of the gods in any of these three realms, but still there are prayers we can make to be reborn in a pure field. So for example you hear how beneficial it is to make prayers to be reborn in the pure field of Chenrezig or the pure field of Tārā and that again these prayers as well have to be done with the right type of motivation. If you are aspiring to be born there so that you can receive more teachings and you can progress along the path so that then eventually you can bring benefit to all sentient beings, then this is a valid prayer.
And again we need to understand that those pure fields of Tārā and Chenrezig and so forth, they are beyond cyclic existence. They are out of saṃsāra. But if you are just thinking of how good it would be just to get there for my own benefit. Again, even though you are aspiring for a place which is outside saṃsāra, wishing to do that for your own benefit, it is not the proper prayer because it doesn’t have the proper motivation, the proper concern for others. Now, there are other fields such as the Amitābha Pure Field and so forth.
These are Buddha fields, right? They are beyond saṃsāra. Are places where there is no suffering. Usually when we look at the presentation of the lama in the stages of the path, we have a presentation of cause and effect or cause and result within individual or the practices of the individual of the small scope. In the middle scope we try to represent the different ways of reversing or stopping a lure towards future lives but here in this text in the three principal aspects of the path we present a slightly different method.
We talk about the difficulty of finding leisure and endowments and a comprehension of impermanence in order to reverse allure for this life and then we present the cause and effect together with the suffering of saṃsāra in order to reverse allure for future lives. Now it is safe to assume that in the small scope of the Lamrim it would make sense to reverse allure for this life and in the middle scope it would make sense to bring about the techniques for reversing allure for future lives. Why is it then that in this point we bring in this contemplation on the law of cause and effect in order to stop allure for future lives? Well, they say that actually to understand law of cause and effect in its more subtle level, it is something which is extremely difficult. It is said that subtle understanding of the causation is even more difficult than understanding of emptiness And only a Buddha, the omniscient mind of the Buddha, is the one who can fully comprehend that.
It’s an extremely obscure object. Now, was it that at this point that we bring law of cause and effect together with suffering of cyclic existence? Exactly because causation is something which is so subtle and difficult to understand, it is impossible for us to stop saṃsāra unless we fully understand the law of cause and effect. Why? Now, it is obvious in a sense that for a big negative action it’s going to be a big result and it is in a sense obvious and easy for us to understand that we have to abandon the obviously negative actions.
But the point is that even very small actions can bring about significant results and even if a small action is done and then hundreds of years pass by, we might feel that there will be no result whatsoever but the truth is that eventually, no matter how far it will be in the future, when the time comes, the result of that action will ripen. And when that result ripens, again we will have to experience it. So there is no point of saying that we will stop the suffering of cyclic existence, we will get out of saṃsāra and so forth unless we fully understand the law of cause and effect and unless we completely and thoroughly abandon all negativity. Now, if we’re trying to find for the beginning of cyclic existence and if we examine it through the twelve links of dependent origination, we see that the first link is the link of ignorance and the ignorance here is the ignorance grasping at the self. It is exactly because we have this fundamental ignorance that this stands behind every action that we do.
Whether we do a virtuous action or whether we engage in a non virtuous action, behind all this, it’s always ignorance. Once we understand that all the actions you do they come from ignorance, then it becomes very important to examine another thing and the thing that you need to examine is what needs to be abandoned and what needs to be practiced. There are things to be abandoned and those things are negativity. The things that are to be practiced, of course, is going to be virtuous activities. In order to understand what needs to be abandoned and what needs to be practiced, in a sense you need to have conviction, right?
You need to have some sort of belief into the law of cause and effect and in order to have this faith and conviction in causation you need to have contemplated about those things, you need to spend some time thinking about those things. And there is quite a lot to think about it. As it says here, the Buddha have taught four things about causation. First of all is that there is something definite about actions. The second thing is that actions or karma actually increases.
The third one is that you cannot meet with actions you have not done. And the fourth one is that once an action is done it doesn’t go to waste, it remains. So it is very important, those four points about karma and action, they need to be contemplated upon. And actually what we mean here is that one needs to do analytical meditation on them. The more you meditate and the more you analyse, you actually come to generate this conviction and say, Yes, it is like that.
This is how it works. And once you generate that sort of thought, then you see that almost automatically you know that there are things you need to abandon and there are other things that you need to practice as much as possible. Abandonment and practice comes on its own, right? It follows after conviction on the law of cause and effect. Now if we examine the sequence that those things are presented in the Lam Rim, first we start with death and impermanence and once we introduce that theme, of course one starts wondering where will I end up after I die?
And then you consider that where you will end up is going to be determined from the type of actions that you have already done and if you have already accumulated a lot of negativity it is very possible that after you die you will end up in one of the lower migrations. So this is the point where we introduce the lower migrations and especially the suffering of the lower migrations and following that of course, we introduce the theme of refuge and who has the power to protect. This is how it’s presented, the traditional presentation in the Lamrim. Now, as we said, this is the presentation that is traditionally followed in the Lamrim and here we have a text composed by the great Pabongka Rinpoche who is actually following it has quite a lot of common themes with the presentation of the Lamrim but from time to time also it introduces a different way of explaining things. But here it seems Pabongka Rinpoche is willing to follow of the Lamrim.
So he says, If I were to elaborate a little bit on that point according to the Lamrim, which indicates he will follow the Lamrim structure. Now, it is important to see that in the first line of verse four it says, This life of leisure and endowment which is difficult to find is brief. And when you say that this life is brief, what you’re talking about again is death and impermanence. So we see the same thing is carried here by Pabongka Rinpoche. Now once you start talking about death and impermanence, of course naturally the question comes what follows after death, right?
What becomes of us after we die? Is it possible that nothing becomes, you know, that there is nothing left of us, that nothing follows death? The answer to that is no. You cannot be reduced to nothing. There is something that follows after death.
So that means that you have to take another rebirth after death. It is important to contemplate now two different things. One is the body and the other one is the mind. If body and mind were exactly the same thing, then what happened to one would happen to the other as well. So if body and mind were the same, at the time that the body is destroyed, the mind as well would be destroyed.
Nothing would if one was destroyed, both of them would be destroyed. Nothing would remain. But the thing is that the nature and the way that the body abides is different from the nature and the way that the mind abides. So what happens to one does not necessarily follow that it will happen to the other one. They are different.
They have different ways of existing and abiding and therefore they can have different courses. Well, it is interesting because the way that things are presented in Buddhism are different, of course, from the way that things are presented in Western science. Now, within the Western view, when we talk about mind, usually we say that mind is the brain, right? But brain is a part of the body. Brain is something completely physical.
Now, alternatively, they might say that mind is the vein, so what flows in the veins and so forth. But if you say that the mind is something physical like that, then what happens is that when the body is destroyed, when the brain, for example, is destroyed, that would mean that the mind would be destroyed. Now, Tibetan Buddhism doesn’t agree with that. It says that the mind is not the brain, is not something physical. Let me just say I’m going to give you an analogy to examine this whole thing of the relationship between the body and the mind.
They have a similar relationship between the car and the driver of the car. The mind is the driver of the car, alright? The body is like the car. Now the car cannot go anywhere on its own. It needs to have a driver, it needs to have somebody who turns on the key and, you know, puts the gear on and starts steering the wheel, right?
And the driver is the one who is going to decide which way they want to go. They check right, they check left, they check the other traffic, they see if people are passing by and then according to their wishes and their choices, they make the car go in a particular way. Now, if actually the mind were the brain or something else that was physical, then it would be the same to say that the driver is part of the car and the car on its own cannot actually move, cannot go anywhere. The actual relationship between the mind and the body is very much like the relationship of the driver and the car, alright? And as we say, it is the driver the one who decides how he wants to use us and how he wants to run the car.
The car on its own doesn’t go anywhere. And the same way that you can have the driver getting out of the car and being physically in a different place, alright? In the same way, you have at the time of death the fact that you leave the body behind and then the mind can get out of this vehicle. A similar thing applies. Now, if we look again at this analogy of the body being like the car, you know that once you leave the car somewhere, all the characteristics of the car remain with the car.
Now in the same way the characteristics of the body, its features and so on, will remain with that body once it is left behind death. And as for the characteristics and the qualities of the mind, these things will follow the mind. Wherever the mind goes, all the qualities and all the other things that are associated with the mind will follow with that. Now, it is important to examine as we say what happens with the mind and what is the way that the mind continues. There are different thoughts that we might generate and these thoughts they actually affect have an effect on our mind.
When we talk about different types of mind or different types of thoughts that we can generate, there are two types, two categories of those. They can be virtuous or non virtuous thoughts, nice thoughts or bad thoughts in other words. So you can have love, you can have compassion, can have bodhicitta, you can have correct view. And every time you generate a thought like that or every time you engage in an activity due to those things you create an imprint, you create a latency. And this latency, a virtuous latency, is placed on the mind.
Every time you generate thoughts such as aversion hatred and jealousy and pride and things like that, again you create a latency, this time a negative one that again is imprinted on the mind. So we end up with a situation of the mind carrying a lot of different types of imprints or latencies, good and bad ones. So we described the situation of imprinting different latencies on the mind, right? And in that way you can say that the mind becomes a basis, becomes something like a field. And when you have those different latencies who are imprinted on the field the same way you could have different seeds that are sown on the field.
Now, it is interesting to see what happens at the time of death. At the time of death we have to leave behind the body of this life so the aggregates of this life are left behind and then the only thing that will continue is the mind. Now as we say, the mind is this continuum, this field that is full of different types of latencies. Now as soon as we die though, there is this basic instinct that is actually quite interested for another migration. In a sense, there is attachment for taking another set of aggregates, there is attachment for getting another life.
So this type of attachment actually acts the same way that water would act on a seed. If you have seeds that are already placed within the earth and then you start watering the seeds, you know that the seed starts to sprout. Now, if we have good imprints from this life, the attachment which acts as the water that activates the seeds will make the positive latencies to start sprouting. And all these positive latencies together with the desire to get another rebirth eventually will propel us towards a fortunate migration. Now if the opposite happens and if the majority of the latencies we have are negative latencies and then due to watering these seeds they start sprouting that means we’re going to be propelled towards a negative migration, an unfortunate migration.
Now we have to keep that very clear in our mind. Consciousness on its own is in a sense neutral and does not have the power to decide whether we are going towards a positive or a negative migration. It is the latencies themselves, the good or bad latencies, that have the power to decide which way or to propel us towards one way or another. It’s a similar thing that happens in actual seeds, in actual fields, right? Suppose you have two different types of seeds that you have sown into your field.
Suppose you have barley and what’s the other thing, barley and another type of seed, right? I almost forgot this one, the thing we make flour from. Wheat, yeah, barley and wheat. If there is no rain coming down, you don’t expect to get any crops, you don’t expect anything to grow out of this field. But if somehow you manage to Barley seeds, you will have a crop of barley.
If you water only the wheat seeds, you’re going to have wheat growing, right? So it can be some selection there as to the type of crop that you will get. According to the type of latency that is activated, again, as we say, you’re going to be propelled in either fortunate or unfortunate migration. Previous to going into this or establishing this fortunate or unfortunate migration you need to establish the bardo which is the intermediate state between the past life and the future life. So again there are two types of bardos established, either the fortunate one or the unfortunate one.
The fortunate Bardo is the one that will take you through and eventually you will end up in a fortunate migration. If you establish an unfortunate Bardo, it is equivalent of saying you have established an unfortunate migration. And at the point where you actually are conceived within the womb of the mother, then we can say that you have the next life, right? This is the next life. At the moment we are at the present life, when that finishes, we start talking about the next.
So you see actually that everything depends on the type of karma, the type of actions that we do. It is good or bad actions that create good or bad latencies and once those latencies are placed within the mind eventually they’re going to bring about a result which manifests in different types of migrations. It is through the power of these actions that eventually we say that the latencies are so potent and they are so powerful as well and it is then that eventually propel us into getting different migrations and experiencing happiness or suffering that comes with those things. As we said, if you engage negative actions and you create negative latencies within your mind, when those things come into fruition then you’re going to end up with one of the unfortunate migrations. When we talk about unfortunate migrations, we know that we have three of them.
If you establish strong negativity then you will end up in the house. If the negativity you establish is of a middle size then you end up as a hungry ghost and if the negativity you establish is relatively small, then you end up as an animal. Now if you establish virtue, again you can have different degrees of virtue. Very strong virtue will make you be reborn as a god. A middle sized virtue will make you be reborn as a demigod.
Now a demigod is a category of beings which are something between humans and the divines. They are not divines, are not humans, they are somewhere in between. Eventually if you establish weak virtue you end up as a human. We talked about latencies and we said that they are like seeds and although we are definite about what happens to a field if you start sowing barley and wheat seeds and so forth, we need to carry this sort of certainty as well when it comes to latencies within our own mind. We all know that if you plant the seeds and if you provide them with water you’re going to get a crop.
Nobody thinks that if you leave there the seeds somehow, miraculously, they will disappear. So the similar principles definitely apply to the seeds that we carry within our minds and these are the results that we get from them. So these six types of migrations that we described, they are also called the six places or the six abodes, the six migrations within cyclic existence. They are all places or possibilities within saṃsāra. Now we have a quotation here from the protector Nāgārjuna.
When we talk about Ārya Nāgārjuna, we need to bear in mind that he was one of the greatest scholars that lived in India. Now the Buddha himself, once he was still alive, he prophesied that in the future, in the land of the Aryas, which is the land of India, there will be a great scholar. His name will be Nāgārjuna and he will be the one who will explain the view of emptiness according to my original intention. So already Nāgārjuna and Nāgārjuna’s work was prophesied at the time of the Buddha. And here we have a quotation from this great scholar which says, From virtue, suffering from non virtue all the suffering and similarly all the lower migrations.
And here all lower migrations is to be understood as the hells, the hungry ghosts and the animals. And then he says from virtue all happiness and all fortunate migrations. Now, if we actually examine our minds, we see how difficult it is really to establish proper virtue, how difficult it is to practice in a proper way. Even if you are somebody who is born as a human and even if you are somebody who has decided to practice Dharma, we know that it’s very difficult to have complete control over our minds and always stir it towards virtue. There is so much attachment and so much hatred and so much confusion that can be generated at any time in our minds.
And then if this is true for the humans, how much more true it would be for animals, you know, or other beings. So we see that actually, as a matter of fact, no matter where we stand right now, it becomes very crucial to think how we will end after our death, you know, what we follow after our death. We don’t have as much control as we think over our minds and it’s very difficult to establish virtue in the most proper way. So all of us, we are in danger of actually accumulating a lot of negativity. As a matter of fact, we are never too far from a lower migration.
And it’s very interesting to see how different people with different attitudes can easily fall into a lower migration. When we come to examine whether Dharma, and here Dharma in the sense of religious practice, you know, exists or religion and faith and so forth exists, people have many different opinions about those things. There are some who examine the question and they say no, you know, I don’t believe it, definitely, you know, don’t need any religion. People with very strong beliefs like that, of course, they don’t have many reasons to practice according to religious advice. They are going to end up in lower migration.
There are other people who say, Oh well, maybe it exists, maybe it doesn’t, I don’t know, I’m not sure, I don’t really care. You know, again, this attitude of indifference is not going to put a lot of effort into establishing proper virtue. But even those who are completely convinced that Dharma and religious practices exist and they are worthwhile, even those who are not capable of carrying practices in the most complete and wholesome way. And even these people end up in the lower migration. So no matter what your beliefs are, it’s quite easy to end up in a place like that.
So actually understanding as good as possible as well as possible the law of cause and effect becomes the main method that we have in order to avoid falling into a lower migration. It’s important to stress here that when we talk about Tibetan Buddhism, almost everything comes down to the mind. When we talk about virtue and non virtue, those things, they have to be applied to the mind. They refer to mental attitudes or mental states. And equally, the amount of happiness and the suffering that is experienced is something that is experienced by the mind.
Everything comes back into the mind. Now, if you can generate virtuous thoughts, that means that with such a virtuous mind you can engage in activities that can be virtuous activities. And the results of virtuous activities are pleasant results. So what are these virtuous thoughts that we’re talking about? We’re talking about love, we’re talking about compassion, we are talking about any thought that is preoccupied with the benefit of others.
You know, we don’t need to go as far as mentioning bodhicitta. It is pretty obvious that if you are motivated by bodhicitta, your actions are going to be virtuous actions. But even thoughts that, let’s say, are lesser than bodhicitta, if they are concerned with the benefit of others, are virtuous thoughts and they bring good results. Now on the other hand, if you allow non virtuous thoughts to arise in your mind then you understand that the activities that you’re going to engage in are going to be non virtuous, they’re going to be negative activities and negative karma brings about result which is not pleasant. It is not a happy result.
Now, it is very important to stress again and again how important is the mind in Tibetan Buddhism. And this is shown in many different occasions. There is this particular verse that is actually talking about the different teachings that the Buddha gave. And it says that the Buddha gave a great number of teachings. Now it’s about eighty four thousand different types, bundles as we call them, of teachings.
So the Buddha says, I gave all these teachings in order to tame the mind. Unless you’re capable of taming the mind, even if you practice practice meditation, austerities and so forth for hundreds of eons, none of these things will become the cause for liberation. So all this great variety of teachings, they are only given for one reason and the reason is to tame the mind, to clear away negativity from the mind. If you’re not capable of using the teachings in that way, if the teachings do not bring about this transformation, this purification of the mind, even if you were capable of practising different forms of meditation, different austerities, you know, different other practices for eons, for a very long time. Now don’t expect those things to become a cause for your liberation because you lack this fundamental virtue that comes from the mind.
If the mind is not transformed, don’t expect to get the results. Now, why is it that we actually consider the Lamrim, the stages of the path, such an important, such a valuable teaching? It is exactly because within that text the great Lord Atisha presented the way to tame the mind and he did that in stages gradually. He laid out the path of gradually taming the mind. So this is why Lamrim is so important.
There’s another abnormality, right? You know if you have a horse that first of all you need to if you want to be able to ride that horse safely, you need to tame the horse. You cannot ride a wild horse, right, by definition. And if you have a wild horse, if you have a horse upon which you have no control whatsoever, if you try to ride that horse, chances are you’re going to fall off and then you see the horse kind of galloping away running off the heels, right? This is a situation with our minds as well.
If we’re not capable of taming the mind then the mind can run in any direction whatsoever. And we see that in order to tame and in order to control a horse we have different devices. And here again, I don’t know the word of that thing, the metal bit that the bit that goes into the mouth of the horse. Alright? So the Lamrim is said to be exactly like the bit that allows us to have control of the horse.
If we examine our mind and we examine the situation with our minds actually we see that the mind has great familiarity with afflictions. The mind has been together with afflictions since beginningless time and they are so familiar with each other that actually most of the time afflictions are the ones who guide the mind. Afflictions are the ones who take the mind whichever way they want to go. So if we’re talking about taming the mind, if we’re talking about gaining control over the mind, then we definitely have to disassociate the mind from the afflictions and what we have to do is we have to attack the afflictions, we have to destroy the afflictions. If you destroy the power that the afflictions have then that means that you have some chances of taming your mind.
And how do you destroy an affliction? You actually attack straight ahead. You hit it on the head. That’s what Rinpoche was saying. So you hit really there, straight into the afflictions because that’s the only way to get rid of them.
Let’s examine here the first principle, first thing that was said about law of cause and effect and that was that the law of cause and effect is definite, right? There is something sure about law of cause and effect. When we look at cause and effect, really, we look at one result that follows after certain causes. When we say that is definite is the fact that if you engage in virtue, which is a cause, then the result that you will experience from that is happiness or well-being. If you engage in big virtue then definitely the result that you will experience is going to be an obvious, a big happiness.
But even if you engage in small virtue, the result that you will experience again is going to be a type of result of happiness. Just because the cause is small, it does not mean that the result could possibly change its type, right? So it would never be possible to get suffering out of small virtue. Even if the virtue is small, definitely the result is going to be happiness. Now similarly, the same principle applies between a cause which is non virtue.
Non virtue is going to produce suffering. Big non virtue is going to produce big suffering. Small non virtue, no matter how small it is, it will never bring about any amount of happiness. It will definitely bring about suffering. Therefore, this is the first principle.
When we say that the law of cause and effect is definite, it means that the result we’re going to get is of a certain type and the type of the result is always determined through the cause. The second principle is that actually there is the element of increase within causation. And that means that even a very small action can bring a very big result. So even a very small amount of virtue can bring about a very powerful experience of happiness or even a very small non virtuous action can bring about suffering that is huge. So no matter how big the cause is, usually there is a magnifying element when it comes to the result.
The result can be really, really big. So let’s give an example for that. Let’s say that you’re motivated through bodhicitta and then you engage in an action of generosity and you offer an amount of gold, let’s say no bigger than the nail of your small finger. Now that such a small action of generosity can actually end up to be the cause to bring about your enlightenment. So great results from small action.
A similar example going the opposite way. Suppose you meet a Buddha or a bodhisattva and you happen to look at them in the wrong way. The wrong way here means in a non respectful way. Do you think that this is a small action, you know, it’s not a very grave thing? But it is said that the result of looking at the bodhisattva in an inappropriate manner can be to having to experience the biggest suffering in the deepest hells for countless years.
Now, if you consider the first two principles, the one that karma is definite and the second one that karma increases, you see that straight away you develop a very strong liking for virtue. No matter how small the virtue is, this is what you really like to do. And also, when you consider non virtue, you develop a very strong dislike, let alone big non virtue. Even the smallest non virtuous activity is something that you don’t want to have anything to do with it. It’s important to contemplate these two principles in order to bring about this sense of very strong liking for one and very strong disliking for the other.
Now, we’re moving into the third principle which says that you cannot meet with karma that you have not done, you have not created. And that means that if you don’t create the cause, should not expect to have the result, right? So if you do not engage in virtue, you’re never going to experience the result of happiness because happiness is the result of virtue. If you don’t have the cause, you’re not going to get the result. And again, if you don’t engage in non virtue you’re not going to have suffering.
And that means that when you engage, when you experience happiness you have created the cause of virtue. When you experience suffering, that takes you back to the fact that at some time you have created the cause of non virtue. So when we examine If we examine the state of enlightened beings of Buddhas, of Arhats, whichever one you take, you want to take them as an example. You know, whichever enlightened form you want to examine Mañjuśrī, you want to examine Vashri, Guinea, whichever enlightened form, right? We describe these beings as experience complete happiness alone and that alone actually excludes any type of suffering.
And why is it that these beings experience this completely pure happiness, right? It’s because they have engaged in actions that are virtuous actions and they have completely abandoned even the slightest negativity. So there is no suffering for them to experience. They only experience happiness alone. And if you look at the situation of beings who are born in the hell or as a hungry ghost or as animals, you see how much suffering they experience, how very little happiness is for them to experience.
We can almost say that they are the opposite of enlightened beings. They experience suffering alone because they have no virtue, have not engaged in the virtuous causes that bring about happiness. Thinking like that, it’s easy for the thought to arise, well, I should be engaging in virtue, isn’t it? And I should be avoiding non virtue, isn’t it? So we come to the fourth and last principle which says karma once committed or once accumulated doesn’t go to waste.
Now what we mean with that is that once you have created the causes, eventually you will get the result. Again we’ll come to the point it’s almost a reminder of the first point which talks about the definitive of the law of cause and effect. Once the causes are there you will get the result no matter how long it will take. Usually it takes long because also together with the causes we need to have the conditions and it might be the case that the right conditions are not present. So if the cause has not met the conditions yet, the result is not going to be manifest.
So it might take thousands of years for the particular result to be experienced. But the thing is that once the cause is established, this karma will never go to waste. Now it doesn’t have it’s pointless to hope that the result will never come about. If the conditions are right and if the conditions meet with the cause, you will see the result manifesting straight away. So you do some virtue.
It might take many years before you see the result but when the right conditions come, then you will see the result. Similarly, if you have done some negative action there is no point wishing that you would not experience the result. You might feel safe because the conditions are not there but once the conditions come in place then the result will definitely come up out. So again, we have this certainty as to the fact that the results eventually will catch up with you. Also we have a verse that came straight from Buddha Śākyamūni where he said: The actions once done, they can create for many great eons.
They will never go to waste. As soon as conditions assemble, then you will see the results. Now, we see some applications of these four factors. Suppose that one engages in a non virtuous activity and let’s take as an example here killing. It is possible that you will not have to experience the result but that can only happen if you engage in thorough purification.
So suppose you kill somebody but then you employ the four opponent forces, as we say. It’s very important that if you’re going to purify something you do that properly, right? So you need to first of all generate this sense of regret for the actions that you do. You need to see the action as being a negative and inappropriate action and generate this sense of regret. Then suppose that, let’s say, that you address all the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas and you recognize the negativity of this action and you make prostrations and so forth and then also on top of that there are certain prayers to recite, the confession prayers, there is the hundred syllable mantra of Vajrasattva and so forth.
So if you properly engage in all the four opponent powers then you can bring about a complete purification of the negativity which means that you will not have to experience the result. Now, a similar type of thing can happen in a slightly different example. Suppose you engage in a virtuous activity, so you can practice generosity, you could make some offerings to somebody and as soon as you make the offering you might very well generate the mind of regretting it and saying, Oh well, you know, that’s it, all my money is gone. It costs so much to make this offering, it costs so much to practice generosity, isn’t it? So you might regret the act or you might actually even get to the point of getting angry with yourself or with the person who received this generosity.
Now, these types of mind that follow virtuous action actually have enough power to take away the potency of your virtue and that means that you won’t necessarily meet up with the results, the positive results of virtuous actions. And it would be worthwhile to actually contemplate what would be the results of practicing generosity and then regretting it and even getting angry with that. Don’t expect any positive results from that on quite the opposite, right? So we can see that there are certain things that can happen after a cause is established that can reduce the potency of the cause or it can change the way things develop from that point. Now if we meditate on the last two points, the third and the fourth point that say that if you’ve done one action, you cannot meet with karma that you have not created and the fourth point which says that actions once done or karma once done will not go to waste.
So if you meditate on these two points, again, you reinforce your wish to engage in virtue and your wish to completely abandon negativity. And also, you become very clear that if you have already done something which is negative, you definitely need to purify that, purify it thoroughly by relying on the four opponent forces. And on the other hand, if you have done something positive, then you definitely want to make sure that you increase this you allow this rich causes to carry through and for that reason you become definite that you don’t want to destroy everything you created through anger. So again there is certain types of realization and you come to the point to be definite about what you want to practice and how you need to support and increase the courses that you have already placed or what to do in order to Let’s look at actually what it comes down to. So in brief we say that one needs to meditate on, that one needs to have great familiarity with the law of cause and effect and here we talk about these four aspects of law of cause and effect in order to generate conviction on the law of cause and effect.
Once you have this belief on the way that things work out, then of course you know very clear what it is that you need to practice and what you need to abandon. And things are pretty clear. If you see that happiness is the result of virtue and that suffering is the result of non virtue, then you just have to ask the question, what is it that I need? What is it that I want to experience? We want to experience happiness, right?
Then that means that we need to practice virtue. We want to avoid suffering. That means that we are never going to engage in any negativity. And then, after you have generated that conviction on the way things work or conviction of what you need to practice, you also need to examine what you have done up to now. It is very possible that up to now you have already created a lot of negativity.
So what do you do? As soon as you recognise it then you need to purify it and you purify, as I say, by regretting action but also make sure you employ or you use all the four opponent forces. And also if you see how anger can destroy a lot of virtue, then you decide that you don’t need any anger anymore. Negativity you purify and virtue you make sure you don’t destroy through anger. So keep these two main points.
Keep it in your mind. And then what you do after that, all you have to do is to do a proper dedication and also you need to do some meditation on emptiness. Alright? The proper dedication that you do is so that every sentient being reaches the state of enlightenment. It is very important that all the virtue that you have and all the virtue you create and you preserve goes towards the right cause, the right direction and this can never be the experience of happiness for yourself alone.
You need to include others as well. You must include, you must have this concern for the experiences of other beings as well. Now together with that we say the right meditation you need to do some meditation in order to bring about realization of emptiness, some comprehension of emptiness. You bring these two together and actually you find out that your mind becomes very pure. And this purity of the mind brings about happiness of the mind.
When the mind experiences happiness, the physical happiness as well is manifested. So really when we examine a person and we say does this person practice or not, the measure of a person practicing or not is actually whether or not they know what to do with the law of cause and effect. Do they understand it and do they apply it? If they apply it, then that’s a measure practice. If they don’t, that shows they’re not practicing.
If we examine the Lamrim, the presentation of the Lamrim within the three scopes, we see that in the small scope we have the initial presentation of the law of cause and effect and then following that, of course, we have presentation of refuge. If we go into the middle scope again we have a presentation of the law of cause and effect that this time is a little bit bigger. Presentation. And if you go into the great vehicle as well you see a presentation and the need for applying the law of cause and effect in a bigger, even bigger scale. You go into tantra, again you see the need to apply the law of cause and effect even more seriously.
You compare the lesser vehicle and the great vehicle and you see again that both of them share a presentation of the law of cause and effect but in the lesser vehicle you can say that the whole thing is kind of small, kind of restricted. You get into the great vehicle and you see that thing expanded being really big, really great in full detail. So in whichever level you look at and whichever way you look at it, there is always a practice of law, of cause and effect that needs to be applied. So really when we look at the presentation of the Lamrim, in the small scope you are initially introducing to this idea that one should abandon non virtue, one should engage in virtue. Then you get into the middle scope and you get a more extensive presentation, law of cause and effect.
You get into the great scope and things are analyzed in more detail. It gets bigger and bigger as you move along. And also if we examine the different levels of the vows, starting from the vows of the lay person’s vows of ordination, starting with initial vows of ordination, following with full ordination, then you go into the bodhisattva vows, you go into the tantric vows. Again, you see how those things get bigger and bigger. We don’t need to have any questions tonight, I think.