Karma is a precise science of Eastern psychology and refers more generally to the actions of people that have a cause and an effect. It’s an ancient form of behaviorism that emerged long before BF Skinner and thousands of years before Pavlov’s dog started salivating.
A major problem that is overlooked in the karma discussion is that it all depends on intention. The studies I underwent emphasized that your intention in each moment determines which karmic seeds or mental impressions are planted in your mind and also which seeds mature.
Ignorance is deeply ingrained in our minds, implanted there by society, family, friends and even evolution, and can be difficult to remove. Negative karma creates negative results that cause more negative actions that become a vicious cycle, or what Buddhists call Samsara. It is such an important Buddhist subject that Buddha once said that all his teachings can be summed up in these three points:
“Practice virtue, reduce non-virtue and purify your mind.”
Good and bad Karma
Virtuous actions are based on good intentions and non-virtuous actions are based on negative intentions.
This raises the big question: what exactly is good karma and what is negative karma? According to Buddha, you need to understand how to practice virtue and eliminate or reduce non-virtue, so this is what I will talk about.
To truly understand Karma, you must understand what a wise mind is, what is the basis of the good intentions behind your actions.
The reason I wrote this blog is because karma is actually very logical and clear. Simply put, a wise mind is a mind that understands emptiness. Emptiness relates to the scientific fact that everything is in motion. Buddhism agrees with modern science in this regard: everything is in motion, everything depends on causes and conditions to come into being, and goes through stages of birth, maintenance, and death.
Everything that exists physically or mentally changes. All happiness, health and well-being of ourselves and our society depend on good intentions, driven by wisdom. Happiness and health cannot be taken for granted in life, we must cultivate them. As Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh says:
“I wondered why the Buddha continued to practice mindfulness and meditation even after he had already become a Buddha. Now I think the answer is clear enough to see. Happiness is fleeting, just like everything else. To increase and renew happiness, you must learn how to nourish your happiness. Nothing can survive without food, including happiness; your happiness can die if you don’t know how to feed it. If you cut a flower but do not put it in water, the flower will wither within a few hours.”
Thich Nhat Hanh has taken his sense of impermanence and karma and created 14 principles for a committed Buddhism. These are principles that leverage the understanding of Karma and apply it to effectively create a healthy and supportive society.
At the center of the wisdom that understands change and impermanence is a huge heart that deeply feels this interconnectedness with every other person, animal and environment on the planet. When you understand that everything is connected and you cannot produce happiness for yourself alone, you begin to understand the words of a Zen master when he said:
“Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.”
The pure intentions that come from wisdom come down to thinking that others are as important as yourself. As the Dalai Lama often says:
“My religion is kindness.”
The Dalai Lama even says that love and compassion are the meaning of life. The two most important wings of the bird flying towards enlightenment are wisdom and compassion. See yourself in the other and act accordingly. That’s why the Dalai Lama always says that love and compassion are based on logic and reasoning. This type of logic is the mind’s interpretation of what the heart already knows.
Because we are related and intimately connected to everything else, there is already some intelligence within us that sympathizes with others and knows what is the right thing to do to help others or at least not to harm them. This might be called a conscience, as the saying goes.
“You need a clear conscience to get a good night’s sleep.”
Basic Buddhism teaches three things; ethics, concentration and meditation. How are ethics related to meditation? True peace can only be achieved with a clear conscience. In other words, peace and a stable mind are based on ethics. To relax enough to go deep into meditation, you need a clear conscience.
How to purify negative karma
Purifying your mind, which clears away the dust to reveal the radiance of Consciousness, is based on regret for past misdeeds that were based on harming others in some way and on the commitment to do your best to avoid harming others again in the future. With this attitude of repentance, your negative karmic seeds are weakened and at the same time you ripen good karma from the presence of good intentions. It works best if you really mean it and don’t just say it. A great way to start any meditation with a positive intention is with this heartfelt prayer:
“I regret all the harm I have done to myself and others in the past.
From now on, may all my actions be motivated by goodwill toward myself and others.
May this meditation connect me with the heart wisdom to do this.”
Note, it always says myself and others. Love and compassion that do not include yourself are incomplete. The deeper you go within, the more you realize the inseparability and interconnectedness of all beings. Good Karma is not self-sacrificing, it is actually all-encompassing.
I don’t think you have to believe in reincarnation to believe in Karma, and it makes no difference anyway. If you believe in future rebirths, you should try to practice good karma in this life. If you do not believe in future rebirths, you should try to practice good karma for this life. It makes no difference whether you are concerned about future lives or whether the methods are the same for this life.
that is like a manual for understanding the effects of behavior. Things like: if you steal things, things will be stolen from you, if you lie to people, people will lie to you and deceive you, if you slander people, people will slander you etc. It is also important to understand the immediacy of karma to realise. at. Anger is its own punishment and love is its own reward. As Buddha said:
“If you hold anger with the intention of hurting someone else, it is like holding a hot coal with the intention of throwing it: it is you who will be burned.”
How to get what you want
So how do you use this understanding of Karma to get everything you want in life? The best use of Karma to get what you want is to think of others first. The Dalai Lama says:
“…if you want to be selfish and get everything you want, then be ‘sensibly selfish’ and help others.”
The expansive attitude of involving others is exemplified by the Buddhist practice of rejoicing in the happiness of others, rather than envying their happiness, being happy for them, and sharing in their joy. This reinforces the idea that we are all connected and that everyone’s happiness is equally important and valuable.
I use a little karmic trick when I’m looking for a parking space in a busy place, when I see someone else getting a big parking space in front of me and in my mind I praise them and wish them the best and congratulate them on their luck find a parking space. This ensures that I find my own parking space, but not always. What it always does is keep me calm and not get frustrated.
I once heard Richard Gere say that he mentally wishes success and happiness for everyone he meets, and it helps him stay in a positive frame of mind full of empathy and mutual understanding.
Being wisely selfish means acting from the perspective that others are as important as you are. Then you will reap all the fruits of your past good deeds and plant seeds for the future happiness of you and humanity. Love and compassion are also their own immediate reward. Love is healthy for us and compassion brings us closer together and develops real relationships. Good Karma is based on the sincere intention to bring peace, love and happiness to ourselves and everyone around us.
Written by Chad Foreman
Chad Foreman is the founder of The Way of Meditation and has been teaching meditation since 2003, determined to bring authentic meditation practices into the lives of millions of people in the modern world. Chad is a former Buddhist monk who lived in a retreat hut for six years and studied and practiced meditation full-time. He now has over twenty years of experience teaching meditation. Chad likes regularly
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