Karma

Let us first examine the main assertions concerning karmic impulses and revealing and nonrevealing forms in the Mahayana Sutra Basket and then, in the next part of this series, in the Sarvastivada Abhidharma Basket. These are the forerunners of some of the main features of the...

How a Mental Urge, and Not a Revealing Form, Functions as a Karmic Impulse for Actions of the Body  Vasubandhu explains in A Discussion for the Establishment of Karma (Las-grub-pa’i rab-tu byed-pa, Skt. Karmasiddhiprakaraṇa) (Derge vol. 136, 144B): Suppose (Vaibhashika)...

Review We are continuing our discussion of what karma actually means. We discussed the presentation the Indian master Asanga made within the context of the Chittamatra system of tenets. If we translate Chittamatra literally, it means “mind-only.” We saw that, in this system,...

The Meaning of Karma There are many explanations of karma in the different Indian Buddhist tenet systems. Let us use the least complicated of them, the main explanation followed by the non-Gelug Tibetan traditions. We also find it in the Gelug explanation of all the Indian...

Review We were talking about how "mind" in Buddhism refers to an activity that goes on with no break, with no beginning and with no end. It is the mental activity of experiencing things and it is an individual, subjective experiencing of things. We are not talking here about...

We have discussed the first two periods, immediately before doing, saying, or thinking something and while we are actually doing, saying, or thinking it. Now we are ready to discuss what happens after the karmic action has ended. After a karmic action has ended, there are...

The karmic impulses of the body, speech and mind can be further divided into seven types.  Nagarjuna’s Presentation Nagarjuna states in Root Verses on the Middle Way, Called Discriminating Awareness (dBu-ma rtsa-ba’i tshig-le’ur byas-pa shes-rab ces bya-ba, Skt....

Continuation of Refraining from Using Divisive Language Yesterday, we were speaking about the fifth destructive action, which is using divisive language. We have already covered the three destructive actions of body and the first of speech. We were discussing the second...

Taming the Mind All of us wish for happiness and none of us wish to have any suffering. This is true of everybody, but it is very difficult to come upon all the circumstances that will bring this about. If we look merely at external circumstances, we find it nearly...

The Importance of Analysis  We were discussing what Kalachakra adds to our understanding of the four noble truths, and we saw that one of the most distinctive features that it adds is the discussion of the flowing or coursing of the winds of karma in our bodies, our...