Lam-rim 28: What is Karma; Analysis of Motivation and Intention

Other languages

Review

We are working our way through the graduated stages of the spiritual path to enlightenment, talking about the various insights or pathways of mind that we need to develop in order to attain the three spiritual goals of (1) a better rebirth, specifically a precious human rebirth, (2) liberation, and (3) the enlightened state of a Buddha. 

The Precious Human Rebirth

We started with the precious human rebirth, appreciating that we have temporary freedoms from the worst states of rebirth in which we’d have no opportunity to follow any type of spiritual path, to work on overcoming disturbing emotions, etc. Instead, our lives are enriched with all sorts of wonderful opportunities that make this spiritual work and progress possible. 

Death and Impermanence

We looked at the causes for such a rebirth and saw how rare and difficult it is to find and how easy it is to lose. Death will come for sure, and we never know when. As the fact of rebirth is assumed here, we then thought about how nothing is going to help us at the time of death except the preventive measures of Dharma, namely, having built up the positive habits and so on that enable us to gain better rebirths, especially precious human rebirths, again. All the money, friends, fame, etc. that we have accumulated in our lifetimes will have to be left behind. This reinforces the fact that we really have to take advantage of this precious human life and build up more and more beneficial habits. We get even more motivated to do that when we think of what might happen if we don’t.  

Dreading Worse States of Rebirth

What might easily happen after we die is that we will be reborn in one of the worst states of rebirth.  That led us to look at the sufferings of (1) the trapped beings in the joyless realms, the so-called hell creatures, (2) the clutching ghosts, or spirits (often translated as “hungry ghosts”); and (3) the animals in the animal realm, the creeping creatures that hunt each other, eat each other alive, and so on. If we really take it seriously that we could be reborn in any of these realms, we would certainly develop a tremendous sense of dread – not fear. Fear implies that there’s no way out, that we’re helpless, and that the situation is hopeless. Instead, we see that there is a way to avoid those types of rebirth, which is to go in the safe direction of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. 

Safe Direction 

That brought us to the topic of refuge. We looked very carefully at what Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha actually mean. In order to gain confidence that they are ultimate sources of safe direction, we have to recognize what they actually are. On the initial level, or scope, we gain confidence in the Three Jewels – Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha – based on thinking about all their good qualities. On a more advanced level, however, we gain confidence by thinking about what the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha Gems refer to on the deepest level, which are the true stoppings and true pathway minds – in other words, the third and fourth noble truths – on the mental continuums of aryas, including Buddhas. The true stoppings and true pathway minds on the mental continuums of all aryas, including Buddhas constitute the deepest Dharma Gem. Only the true stoppings and true pathway minds on the mind of a Buddha constitute the deepest Buddha Gem. Those on the mind of, again, all aryas, including Buddhas, constitute the deepest Sangha Gem. 

Gaining Confidence That True Stoppings and True Pathway Minds Are Possible

We then saw that taking safe direction on this deeper level means that we need to understand and have confidence in the fact that it is actually possible to achieve a true stopping of unawareness, the disturbing emotions and their tendencies, and so on. That confidence depends, in turn, on having an understanding of how the true pathway minds – in other words, the understanding of voidness – bring about those true stoppings. So, this is quite a deep topic. It’s also very difficult to really gain confidence in the deepest level of the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha Gems.

The Trainings from Taking Safe Direction

Then we looked at the trainings that would enable us to put that direction of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha – namely, the direction of working toward achieving true stoppings and true pathway minds ourselves – in our lives and make it secure. Having finished that the last time, we’re ready to go into the next major topic, which is karma. This fits in with the trainings in that it helps us to understand what it means to go in the direction of working to achieve true stoppings and true pathway minds. 

The first step that we need to take is to avoid worse rebirths. So, with the initial scope motivation, we look at karma primarily in order to learn how to avoid the causes for worse rebirths, the main one being destructive behavior. What we want to be able to do instead is to engage in constructive behavior, which is what will bring about better rebirths, specifically precious human rebirths, so that we can continue working toward liberation and enlightenment and realizing the actual deepest Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha Gems within ourselves. 

Top