Discovering Buddhism at Home -FAQ

Module 6 – Karma (page 1 | 2 | 3)

Don’t Buddha’s teachings on the laws of karma contradict his teachings on selflessness?

How are the laws of society and the laws of karma related?

At the moment of death, can we still gain a good rebirth even with the enormous amount of negative karma we have accumulated?

How can I motivate myself to appreciate and spend time with others who seem to hate me for factors beyond my control, like the color of my skin?

Since form must come from form, does the mind have absolutely no effect on the body we inhabit?

Don’t Buddha’s teachings on the laws of karma contradict his teachings on selflessness?

Nick Ribush first commented:

Buddha even taught some people that there was a truly existent self when he saw that teaching them non-self would lead them to nihilistic views.

A student responds:

I was wondering if you could direct me to find where the Buddha taught of a truly existent self? I’ve heard other stories like this before where the Buddha taught two seemingly opposite concepts which upon explanation and when read in context became clear but when read separately the first time made little sense at all, and even contradictory. I am interested then to see how the Buddha could teach a truly existent self and still have that teaching make sense within the overall framework of his teachings which as far as I’m aware are geared quite the opposite way towards selflessness.

Pende responds:

There is no doubt that the Buddha’s agreement contradicted his main teaching of selflessness. Even his disciples were surprised to hear it, and asked him for an explanation. He explained, according to oral tradition that I heard, that he taught there was a self to these people as a skillful means to lead these people towards virtue. The people he taught self to where of the belief that the self was indispensable to carry the seeds of karma from the person who was the agent of the action to the person who experiences the result of that action. Without a self, they believed there would be no basis for the law of karma. Without the law of karma there would be no basis for ethics and moral discipline. Thus, these people were in danger of loosing the path to happiness – moral discipline – and tumbling down the path of suffering.

By assuring them there was a self, the Buddha was assuring them that there is a basis for moral discipline, the law or karma, and a connection between the agent and experiencer of the results of action. In this way, these people would practice virtue and rise higher in happiness. “Happiness” means welbeing and what is conducive to welbeing. As such, it also means these people will become vessels for the teaching on selflessness by their practice of moral discipline and faith in the Buddha.

Thus the Buddha did not contradict his essential purpose for teaching, which was to guide living beings to happiness.

Pende

How are the laws of society and the laws of karma related?

A student asks:

If someone has debts that are too big to pay back due to medical issues, if one goes through bankruptcy to get rid of this debt, is this not stealing and avoiding paying back someone you owe?? I just wonder what are the karmic consequences of taking this action.

Pende responds:

It is difficult to know what the karmic consequences will be for the actions of a sentient being. For this reason, lam rim literature addresses only “general” principles of karma in combination with definitions of the 10 virtuous/nonvirtuous actions.

The laws of the United States take into consideration high medical costs. Bankruptcy in the United States is an acceptable method of resolving serious financial troubles. So long as you honor your responsibilities, as determined by the bankruptcy court, you are ethically sound, according to the laws of this society.

The laws of a society and the law of karma are not one and the same thing. However, the Buddha warned his monks that their discipline (vinaya) needed to take the laws of society into consideration. Buddhist texts on vinaya can appear to involve legalistic analysis, as there are many factors to take into consideration, and there are penalties to be enforced by the monastic community. One important distinction is whether an act that violates vinaya is a naturally negative action or one that is in violation of the discipline. For example, stealing is both a naturally negative action and a violation of a monk’s discipline. Whereas eating in the evening is not a naturally negative action, but is in violation of a monk’s discipline, unless there are exceptional circumstances.

Pende

At the moment of death, can we still gain a good rebirth even with the enormous amount of negative karma we have accumulated?

A student asks:

Considering the overwhelming amount of karma that may come to fruition at the time of my death, weighed against what I can prepare myself for, there seems to be little hope. So, if before I lose consciousness, when I am dying, does that state of mind directly effect the chain of moments leading through all the various stages toward rebirth. Can we mastermind our death and consequent rebirth?

Of course I know purification helps, but I’m sure there will be plenty of undesirable seeds left on my mind stream when I die despite my efforts, so I can’t rely on purification alone.

Pende responds:

You and the rest of us managed to obtain “perfect human rebirths” despite our negative propensities. We are taught that the last moment of consciousness during our death will have a significant impact on our rebirth. So ensure those moments are filled by virtuous thoughts by familiarizing yourself with virtuous thoughts that you can generate even when deathly ill. Train to restrain non-virtuous thoughts even if surrounded by demons about to gobble you up! No problems…

Pende

How can I motivate myself to appreciate and spend time with others who seem to hate me for factors beyond my control, like the color of my skin?

A student asks:

I was doing the motivational reflection and started lining up some people who have a venomous distaste for me. They don’t even want to hear my side of the story and would rather throw something at me or rejoice if I were hit by a truck instead.

Let’s assume that there is no way that someone is going to ever love me. Let’s say they hate me for the color of my skin. Taking this course will not change the color of my skin. Therefore they will continue to hate me before and after this course.

What motivational reflection can I do that will make me glad to line up certain people like that to do the course with me?

A student replies:

You might consider the following. Your past actions in this and previous lives have created your current conditions, all the pleasant and the unpleasant. Somehow, somewhere, sometime you (and your current enemies) had a role in the creation of this current situation. Also, the “enemy” is indispensable for your progress on the path, because it is through them that you learn patience, love, compassion etc… Try to let go of pride and revenge and instead focus on concern to mend the situation, regardless of who is technically “correct”. Furthermore, it is said that we should honor other sentient beings as we do the Buddha because both are required for us to attain enlightenment.

Thubten Yeshe affirms:

More good advice from another long-time student. I think I’ll retire soon!

Thubten Yeshe adds:

And one of the useful aspect of reflection on the ‘enemy’ is looking at our own reactions to these people and using that knowledge about our negative reactions to begin the process of transforming those old reactionary habit patterns.

Since form must come from form, does the mind have absolutely no effect on the body we inhabit?

A student asks:

I’m having something of an “edge problem” with this quote from Thubten Yeshe in Module 1: “Mind acts as the impetus for rebirth. There is no question that this is so. But, it is not the direct cause of a material body.”

Ok, but how does mind play into the picture? How much of the material body could be effected with mind contributing zero percent cause?

Thubten Yeshe replies:

This is really a karma question. I don’t want to fob you off by saying that these questions will be dealt with in a future module. But, to some extent that is true. (Module Six on karma.)

The mind affects our rebirth through the propensities that it establishes in the form of karmic imprints. These imprints nudge us into certain situations that have an inevitable result. I am born human because the consciousness that was in the bardo between this life and ‘my’ previous life had a magnetic attraction to the human form, to a particular situation in the human realm – the US, for example. I have the body that I now inhabit because there was a magnetic attraction to a particular pair of parents; having chosen those parents, I have a specific genetic makeup. How far this karmic process goes, I can’t say. I don’t know.

But, if I look at my mind and how it operates on a day-to-day basis, I have no difficulty grasping the possibility of this karmic process being fact. That I can’t see all the details of the process is, to my way of thinking, no different to not being able to see all the processes that function in the chemical or biological activities and actions that are going on in and around me all the time. They are very subtle and I require subtle means (e.g. special scientific equipment) to apprehend them. The same is true of my mind and the karmic processes instigated by my mind; I need a very subtle awareness to be able to discern these processes in their entirety. I’m still working on that and while I continue to do so I have no problem relying on those (His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa, for example) who I perceive to be further along the track than I am. This is not cult behavior, it is simply intelligent to engage with those who have more experience than oneself.

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