Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Starting from the puzzle of why a body’s death does not mean “I” die, Ven Jampa Gendun uses this 47-minute session to build a practical account of karma from first principles. He defines karma as both impulse and latent potential, illustrated through cigarette addiction — where habitual labeling turns toxic fumes into pleasure and locks a smoker into a mechanical, unconscious loop. He then works through the four modes of karma: results are infallible; actions are highly augmentative (a beggar boy who offered a fistful of dirt to the Buddha became King Ashoka); uncommitted karma brings no result; and karma committed never simply dissipates. Small, moment-by-moment choices compounding over time is a recurring theme, grounded in his own journey from Ohio to ordained life in Australia.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1987 03 11 3 P A P.mp3
UUID: 26dc01af-18fd-4c96-a9bb-08173c13fdf2
Teacher: Ven Jampa Gendun
Collection: Three Principle Aspects of the Path 1987-1988 (Ven Jampa Gendun)
Date: 1987-03-11
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 47.3 minutes
Words: ~5,606
And because the body dies, which in fact it does, it disintegrates, it will therefore, we think I die. We’ve we don’t understand that the I is merely being labeled to the body. The body is not the I. I am not my body. Just because my body dies in no way means that I die.
I’m merely labeled, projected, designated, imputed on on this body, upon this mind. You know, just as, you know, through our life, we have been changing physically and mentally. Various mental patterns have been arising throughout our lives. You know, I was likewise, various physical patterns. You know, I’m not physically, I’m not the same person I was when I was two years old.
Physically, I’m not the same person that I was when I was three, four, five. But consistently, upon these various changing energy patterns, the body, I’ve been labeling a consistent I, consistent person, jampa, whoever. Jampa, jampa, jampa, jampa. Even though this growth pattern is changing a great deal. You know, I’m very much different than I was when I was two years old, when I was seven years old, when I was twelve years old.
Likewise, upon the mind, you know, I knew very little when I was two years old in the way of information, for example, or in the way of dealing with the world or my intellectual abilities. My mental life was changing constantly. But upon that that stream of mind, even though there was a constant change in that mind, I was consistent consistently labeling I I I I I. So we’ve got this constantly changing pattern of energy, body, constantly changing pattern of consciousness, mind, upon which we’re consistently labeling I, I, I, I, I. These various patterns, you know, they’re the logical outcome of cause and effect.
They didn’t arise by it’s not a matter of chance. You know, they’re they’re the outcome of discernible variables. This particular gross body, our present mind, have very definite causes. There are effects arising from definite, very definite, sources, causes. These sources, these causes are actions of body, speech, and mind.
karma. Through our actions of body, through our actions of speech, through actions of mind, we are continually shaping, conditioning, these patterns of mind and body. So we’re talking about this very subtle mind, this very subtle body. We can use an analogy. We talk about the subtle mind as being as if it were a radio, simply being on.
You know, whether it’s playing music or whether it’s the news or whatever, it’s the gross aspect. But the subtle aspect is simply the radio being on. What it’s playing and what particular program it’s blasting out is a pattern of gross consciousness. And the subtle energy is the electricity, which is empowering the radio. So our actions of body, speech, and mind, you know, are creating and shaping these patterns, these configurations which are going to eventually result in a particular program which we call our life.
So we have the radio is on. We have the electricity. And our actions of body, speech, or mind determine what what kind of music, what kind of news is going to come out of that radio. So when we talk about karma, it’s a what we’re actually talking about is essentially an urge, an impulse, the directional quality of mind, the mind turning from one thing to another. What causes it to turn this way rather than this way?
What is it that this urge, this impulse directing the mind? This is karma. Directing it towards some specific object and some certain object to think in a certain way, you know, for to urge us toward a particular object, some particular state of mind, some feeling, motivation. Something which causes us to speak in a certain way, causes us to act in a certain way, and causes us to to choose to act out in a certain way, impulses. So that’s one way of looking at karma.
Another way is that karma is the latencies, the potentials, the predispositions which are are deposited, which are implanted, impressed in the mind itself. So it’s both these urges, these impulses, and the dispositions, the ingrained patterns, these potentials, dispositions, tendencies which are which are impressed upon the mind itself. In the Consequentialist Middle Way school, the highest school of Buddhism, karma is said to be form. In the case it’s form in the case of actions of body and speech. Our actions of body and speech modify the subtle energy which is going to go on to a future life.
The actions of mind modify, implant dispositions, potentials, latencies upon the mind itself, which are going to go on to a future life. This becomes the vehicle whereby causes in this life can be expressed as results in future lives due to the modification of the subtle energy pattern through actions of body and speech and due to through modifications of the mind through actions of the mind, actions of consciousness. Implanting of patterns, tendencies, dispositions, latencies. So these our our gross mind is modifying our subtle consciousness, subtle mind. Our gross actions of body and speech are modifying subtle energy patterns.
These are what are going to go into future life. These in turn will modify what types of gross minds will arise, what types of gross energy patterns we will become associated with. That is to say, what type of body we’re going to take. When we talk about taking a body, you know, if you if you’re if you you do if you do unskillful actions, you may take the the body of a hell being. What does that mean?
It means you’re going to become you know, we have predominances of directions or tendencies in our mind. These are going to be expressed in future. This is what we mean by the ripening of karma. These tendencies give rise to for us to tend to think in a certain way in the future. We’re going that is to say, we’re simply going to have habit patterns.
We’re going to very much think the same way that we’re thinking now. The urge to think in a certain way brings on a certain train of thought and brings on a certain repeating patterns reacting to the same objects again and again. A repetitive way of conceiving objects, of labeling objects. So it’s these reoccurring compulsive patterns. You know, this very much becomes involved with the twelve links of dependent origination.
It it seems like one thing always leads into another. What we call happiness. Those you know, the mind has we have a sensation, dependence upon that. We have a tendency to habitually label this particular type of sensation similar to what has occurred in the past. You have a sensation.
You will consistently label this type of sensation consistently pleasurable or unpleasurable. How you conceive of that sensation, You know, you have a reactive pattern. So feeling arises from sensation. We have a I’m going to give an example. Give an example of smoking.
Okay? We’ll talk about smoking. First off, it’s a very long and complicated sequence of actions. There’s this long white this piece long white cylinder there made of paper, which is filled full full of chopped up dried leaves. First, we have to label that as something which is to be put in the mouth and set afire.
Would be we have to have been conditioned to label this particular object in that way. You know, someone who has never seen a cigarette before is not going to pick up that cigarette and light it up. He’s not going to have a habit of smoking. He has to be some way influenced, conditioned to see that as something which is to be picked up, put in your mouth instead of fire. And then he has to conceive of that object, the fumes from that object, the toxic the toxic fumes of that object as pleasurable.
So he’s going to first he has to label the object as something which is to be picked up, know, placed in the mouth, set on fire, and then this toxic fumes as they enter the body, into the lungs as being pleasurable. Yet it’s another conception, simply another labeling process. Because he labels these fumes, the intake, you know, smoking as pleasurable, he’s going to seek to repeat repeat this action again in the future. He’s going to want to main maintain contact and repeat contact again and again and again because he’s conceiving of this action as pleasurable. So almost all of us are conditioned through our group karma to conceive of this long cylinder with chopped up dry leaves in it as something which is to be picked up, placed in the mouth, and set afire.
But not all of us are conditioned, have the karma, to conceive of the intake of those toxic fumes as being pleasurable. This is very much an individual karma. We therefore for many of us, a cigarette cannot act as a condition, an objective, an object for bringing us pleasure. It cannot be a pleasure. It’s not a pleasurable object.
That’s our individual karma. This this cigarette is not pleasurable for me because I don’t have the karma. That is I don’t have the habitual labeling process to label intake of the toxic fumes as being pleasurable. We don’t have this tendency or this disposition. We can carry this further.
We can say that we don’t that these people, myself for example, we don’t have a very strong karma to get lung cancer. Now we all may, in fact, have karma to get lung cancer. But unless that unless that karma is exists in conjunction with the karma for seeing, for imputing labeling, taking in a toxic fume that’s pleasurable, that karma to have lung cancer is never going to be activated, probably. Lesser chance. So as someone who someone who labels a cigarette as being pleasurable is is reborn into a realm, I mean mentally, which is has a higher rate of lung cancer in it.
We each live in our own karmic worlds due to our conceptions, tendencies, dispositions in mind which are simply rising through our karma, habit patterns. Some of us live in a world where we’re going to have a better chance to get lung cancer than another. Why? Because we’re going to see smoking as being pleasurable, another won’t. This is simply the carry on, the ultimate outcome of these various habit patterns that that we’re operating within.
So someone you know for example a smoker may not presently have a craving for a cigarette but again the potential is there. You know we’re talking about karma from the point of view of potential of a latency. When the proper conditions aggregate, come together, such as seeing another person smoking, such as just having a nice meal, such as the nicotine level in the blood system dropping below a certain point, then the potential, the karma for smoking will be activated. This that is this reactive pattern. Before that person knows it, they’re reaching for a pack of cigarettes, taking out the cigarette, placing it in their mouth, and setting it a fire.
Out of all the infinite objects that they could have taken to mind at that moment, due to these conditioning factors of having just, you know, seeing a person smoking, the nicotine level or just having finished a meal, this particular potential has been ripened. And they’re going to act out the results of that karma, of that potential with there’s no choice involved. There’s no awareness involved. Your hand begins to reach for a cigarette, take it out, place it in the mouth, and light it up with no awareness. It’s purely a react reactive pattern arising through this potential being ripened through coming in contact with some condition.
It’s purely mechanical, cause and effect. There’s an impulse arose due to an objective condition, an urge ripen, reaching out, action occurs. Purely, it’s all unconscious. And sometimes these urges, these impulses are so short lived that we’re not even aware of them. We’re not aware that they’re occurring.
We say they’re unconscious or subconscious. But they’re occurring all the time, all these various urges, all these impulses. But sometimes, these slight impulses are like a nuclear chain reaction. They ripen one insignificant karma, which ripens another one, which ripens another one, which eventually precipitates some sort of gross action, you know, of body, speech, or mind. Some train of thought arises.
You know, some desire, craving. So this is very much involved in the twelve links of dependent origination, so perhaps some of you are familiar with this. Sensation, all of you know, gives rise to feelings, rise to desire, gives rise to craving, gives rise to becoming. One one way of looking at twelve links of dependent origination is not necessary from the point of view of many lives, but in one moment, we can go through twelve links. And this is the way the karma, meeting a condition ripens, bringing about some result.
This is the way a smoker is born, in smoking realm. It doesn’t have to be, you know, another physical realm. Where we all we all live in a very much in our own little realms. And this is the way our karma is creating our own worlds, create shaping our own conception of reality. So we’re talking about karma, you know, the factor of developing more skillful patterns.
And we can talk about constructive karma, you know, constructive actions, sometimes called virtuous actions. Those are types of actions which induce feelings of happiness. Those are tendencies of mind which predispose others to impute happiness on various sensations. For example, by meditating that all sentient beings have been our mother and that they have raised us and kindness again and again, we are creating the causes whereby someday we will have the disposition, the mental disposition that when whenever we see a person, any thinking of being, we will be happy. That person will be a source of joy for us.
We’re creating that disposition to conceive, to label, to project upon any sentient being, any person in such a way that they’re going to bring us great happiness, great joy by creating this tendency of mind, creating the cause, meditating on all sentient beings, having been our mother, and having raised raised us in kindness again and again so we can begin to skillfully mold our future reality by taking into becoming aware of the law of cause and effect karma. When we talk about the subtle energy pattern, we’re talking about the mind. We talk about the subtle energy pattern. How the subtle energy pattern is being modified, shaped by your actions of body and speech. It’s said that the ripening effect of killing is having a short life.
Now whether we kill ourselves or whether we kill others, there is still the simple basic fact of the cutting off of life force. The cutting off of life force modifies the energy pattern within ourselves in such a way that we ourselves will in the future have short life. In other words, killing others weakens our own life force. And therefore we have a shorter life. There is some mechanism whereby we can actually begin to see that these actions have a means, have a foundation, have support for being carried over into the future, that the actions are not lost.
They don’t happen and then they’re just completely dissipated as if they never happened. So such a person who shortens life force, whether that life force is the life force of a being we label I or other is affecting it, is modifying his own subtle energy pattern in such a way that in the future he will have many illnesses, he will medicines will be ineffectual, he will have a short life. In exactly the opposite way, saving the life of others has the result of long life. So when we talk about karma, traditionally we talk about it from the point of view of the four distinct modes of karma of cause and effect of actions. Four distinct modes of actions.
This is what we necessarily have to develop some conviction in. We talk about the law of cause and effect. And when we talk about it in connection with an association with external phenomena, it seems quite simple, straightforward. We we dependent upon it. We have faith in it.
Yeah. You know, when you you know, if I I have a bowl and I put in this bowl, I put some flour and I put some eggs and some baking powder and some chocolate powder. What else? Chocolate chips? Sugar.
Sugar. Yeah. And I mix it well, and I I preheat the oven, and I pour it into a greased baking pan. I get greased baking pan. And I put it in the baking pan.
I shut the door. Now I don’t have to sit there and say, come on, cake. Come on, cake. Rise. Go.
I’ve I’ve created all the necessary causes, and now I have the conditions, the necessary heat. And I have faith that the law of cause and effect is gonna going to run its course. That when I open that oven to twenty five minutes later, there’s gonna be a nice high nice cake having arisen. You know, I don’t have to concern myself with it. We we do this every day of our lives.
We turn the key in the car. It’s a very long process of going from turning closing the switch to that engine turning over, but we we don’t even think about it. We take it for granted. Likewise, if when we begin to investigate, we can begin to see that there is A connection with between our actions having an ethical consequence. Actions of both body of of body, speech, mind, each having an ethical consequence in the same way that my putting this cake together is going to as a cause, is going to give rise to a particular effect.
So these various effects arising from causes have four distinct modes whereby we can begin to investigate the nature or the relationship between the cause and the effect, actions and the results. So the first is the results of actions are infallible, are infallible. So this is very simply put that within nature there is a similarity of type between cause and effect. in dependence upon planting a wheat seed, a wheat wheat plant grows. We don’t get oats.
We don’t get rice. We get wheat. There’s a similarity between the type of seed that we planted and the type of plant that arises from that seed. We we take this very much for granted. Negative mental states, you know, desire, hatred, miserliness, jealousy are themselves experienced as suffering from the point of view that these various afflictive emotions, and that’s why they’re called afflictive emotions, disturb the natural peace of the mind.
Therefore, though we may not be aware of it, though we may not conceive of these afflictive emotions as states of suffering, they in fact are because we are we have not been able to become aware of what the natural peace of the mind is. Therefore, we have no gauge or standard by which to conceive of very subtle types of of our various pleasures as being actually subtle types of suffering. But once we begin to get in touch more and more with a natural peace of mind, using that as a standard, then we begin to see that even what we conceived of as pleasure before is an actual actually, as a more subtle type of suffering. So even though some people may say, I I find a great deal of pleasure in that desire, Some people promote desire. It’s as if low levels of desire over short periods of time are quite are quite pleasurable.
You know, that’s you know, they look at magazines or whatever, and they and they they think a desire arises, and they find it pleasurable. The stimulation. It’s difficult to see these as low levels of suffering, subtle levels of suffering. So the the effect that a negative state of mind will have will be similar in type to itself. That is, a negative state of mind as a as a as as experienced as suffering will give have as a result a future state of suffering.
There’s a similarity in type between cause and effect. Likewise, mental positive mental states are experienced in themselves as happiness. You know, the in the Christian bible, it says I’m not sure if it’s the bible, but there’s a saying, a virtue is its own reward. Virtue is its own reward. A virtuous state of mind, a positive state of mind is pleasurable within in itself.
It’s happiness in itself. Generosity states of generosity, love, faith, our experiences happiness in themselves. But they also give rise to a similar an effect which is similar in type to themselves, happiness. We can begin to see from this, You know, some people are pre predisposed to depression, for example. And it seems that some people are predisposed to happiness.
People who are for example, people who are angry, anger will give rise to further states of anger until one is in a position where the more anger that you have, the more objects you you have you find that are that are suitable to be angry at. You find more things to be angry at the more you’re angry. It becomes a cycle of depression, of anger. If you can begin to induce happy states of mind, you’re going to find more things to be happy about. As a result, first you’re going to have a result of that positive state of mind, which in itself is happiness, which will be associated with whatever you’re coming in contact with at the moment.
You will find happiness in that object. And this will induce further states of happiness. This is the way we can begin to conceive of what it must be like in hell. You know, a person becomes angry. Fear, paranoia.
He gets to the place where every object becomes an object of paranoia. Every object becomes is necessary and needs to be destroyed until the very fact that he himself needs to be destroyed. Now his whole environment is is becomes fearful and even himself. This would be the ultimate outcome of such a state of mind. So the results of actions are infallible.
In dependence upon constructive actions, only resultant happiness can arise. A result which is similar in type to itself, happiness unhappiness cannot arise. Suffering cannot arise from constructive actions, virtuous actions. This is the infallibility of karma. So if you gain a conviction in this relationship, then you’re going to naturally be led to, engage in constructive actions because you naturally want happiness.
And if you think that these constructive actions will have a result similar in type to themselves, then you will naturally engage in constructive actions. If you’re not sure, then maybe you will and maybe you won’t depending upon how much trouble it is. So we have to develop some conviction. And we avoid negative actions, destructive actions because we realize they’re going to bring us suffering. The second distinct mode of karma is that actions are highly augmentative, highly increasing.
So even insignificant, destructive actions can give rise to greatly increased results, vastly increased results, both, you know, with in case of destructive actions, greatly increased suffering. In case of constructive actions greatly increased happiness. So all the various, you know, these energies, mind and energy, the very various latencies, They don’t exist in isolation. As in this example I was mentioning about smoking. The ripening of one karma, of one potential, can act as a chain reaction to ripen others.
There’s a traditional example which is given of King Ashoka. There was In the time of Buddha, there was a beggar boy who saw the Buddha walking along. And he developed great reverence, great respect for the Buddha. And he became very much overjoyed and seen him. He was, oh, I wish I could offer him something.
I wish I could give him some kind of gift, but I have nothing to give. Because he was very poor. And out of this sense of joy, out of this sense of longing to offer something, he picked up a handful of dust and he yelled it up and said, oh, I wish this was a handful of gold dust. And with all his heart, he made this wish, this feeling, this had this motivation. And it’s said that as a result of having offered what amounted to the gold dust, a handful of dirt, he created the karma to be born as king Ashoka, the greatest king greatest king of India, of historical ancient India.
So this is the traditional example of what we of what is exemplifying the highly augmentative quality of actions that they are vastly increasing. But we can see this. And if if we see if we look in our everyday life, we make one choice. And then we choose between a b c, we choose b. Choosing b opens up other choices.
E f g, which weren’t available if we had chosen a or c. So we make we make a small choice. We choose b. B opens up b d e f. We choose f.
This opens up other small So two other long process of our life, we’re making small choices, which open up other small choices, which open up other small choices. If you look at this, some people think conceive of this as being at the hand of God, for example, is working in their lives. You know, I in fact, in my own case, having left, Midwestern town in in Ohio, I decided, you know, I went to California, San Francisco. So that opened up other avenues, possibilities to me, other ways of thinking which I had couldn’t have known in Ohio, other ways of styles of living. Unknown to me in Ohio back in the Midwest.
Things are very conservative, very close. So I went to I was in California, opened up new possibilities. And I decided, well, I go to Europe. I went to Europe. This opened up more possibilities.
I went to Europe. This opened up the possibility of going overland to India. Going overland to India, I met the dharma. This opened up other possibility. I possibility.
I eventually became a monk. In Ohio, it was impossible for me to become a monk, more or less. I may have had the karma to become a monk, But I had to have all these other karmas as conditions previous to that in order to ripen this karma to become a monk. I had to make but I was involved in many subtle choices along the way, each one opening up some other new avenues, which led me along this karmic route to becoming a monk. There was no way I could go from Ohio to here in Australia as a monk sitting up here now without without having gone through this long process, without this chain reaction taking place.
Even very insignificant actions. And then sometimes I I remember one action of I read in the newspaper of a father who killed this child in a in a moment of rage. Now, I I mean, it sounds it’s a very terrible thing to happen, isn’t it? But you can you can put yourself in his place for a moment, you know. The child has been sick.
The baby’s been sick and has been crying and crying and crying and crying and crying. And he’s having he was sick. He’s been having laid off work. He’s he’s having a fight with his wife. All these conditions mounting up, mounting up, mounting up, mounting up.
And in one moment of rage, he kills this child. Just one moment. But that one moment, that single action changed his whole life. His life would never be the same again. How many people on the other hand, know, we create make great efforts at some goal.
We spend a great amount of energy, time, thinking, and nothing comes of it at all. It doesn’t change anything at all. Other times, just a moment’s action changes the entire course of our life. So this is we can begin to conceive of the highly increasing quality of actions, of karma. If we gain conviction in this, then we’re going to practice even insignificant constructive actions and avoid even insignificant or minor destructive action.
All these, you know, it there’s an example which is given. It’s as if we are in a crib, that were babies in a crib, in a playpen. We haven’t we had we did not decide to be in this playpen. And there are various objects, various toys in that in that playpen. We did not decide what objects are going to be in this playpen.
But we do have a choice in what object we decide to play with. So we’re in this situation. We’re in this particular life, this particular environment. But within this limiting, within this determinism, have certain freedom, certain choices that we can make. And even the insignificant freedoms that we may have can eventually lead to great results.
From moment to moment, if we choose a path of heart, if we choose the way of it, which is going to lead towards growth, towards constructive actions, towards happiness, then this can lead us there. Even though we may not be able to make tremendous strides in one in one single event, in one single choice. For these small choices open up new possibilities, avenues. We can choose from this next moment to be happy rather than stay in our depressed cycles. We have this possibility, this choice.
We cannot say I’m going to be happy all day tomorrow. I’m going to be depressed all day tomorrow, but I have some control over my next moment. I can I can shake myself out of these destructive patterns that I’m in? For one moment, that’s going to open up and facilitate the next moment. It’s going to be easier.
It’s going to open up. It’s going to lessen the strength of the destructive patterns and increase the force of our constructive patterns. And I think this is a realistic way to approach practice of Dharma, that we have small choices. We have to exercise those choices as much as we can in a daily life. There’s no big events are going to occur in our life which are going to bring us earth shaking realizations.
It’s not in accordance with probably the evolution of mind. The third distinct mode of karma, the results of uncommitted karma are not experienced. So if you have not committed a particular karma, not engaged in a particular action, you’re not going to experience the results of that action. So there’s a there’s a similarity between cause and effect, but experientially. For example, the result of generosity is prosperity.
The result of loving others is that you are loved yourself. So I don’t think it’s too difficult. We see this within our own experience. The connection. You know, caring about others.
People care about you. Being kind to others, you return this kindness, being affectionate. Others are predisposed to treat you in the same way. So if we gain a conviction in this particular mode of actions, then whenever a desire for a particular effect arises, you know, I wish I wish I was like that. Must be nice to be like that.
We will that particular quality or that particular object that we admire, characteristic, has a cause that didn’t happen out of nowhere. We can actually consciously create the cause for that to develop, to realize, to gain that particular effect. You know, it can be material even. If you want to be rich, give away everything that you have. It’s amazing and diff that’s difficult to see properly.
I think if we want it’s probably much easier to see that if most of us want to be loved, want to be cared for, valued, understood. And that if we do this, from our own side, initiate this from our own side, it’s going to be reciprocated. So we can begin to create the causes for particular effects that we want to experience. If we don’t create those causes, aren’t going to experience those desired effects that we want. So the fourth distinct mode of karma Actions committed are not dissipated.
Actions committed are not dissipated. Actions aren’t wasted. They don’t go away by themselves. They don’t get lost in the shuffle from taking from one life to another, from moving the office from the back to up to this front room. We don’t somehow The karma doesn’t slip through, slip under the door, under the rug or something.
How however long a time has passed between the commission of an action upon the aggregation of the proper conditions, meeting the proper circumstances, that karma will ripen. It will give a result.