# The New Meditation Handbook # Karma part 1 Tonight we begin looking at the meditation on Karma Before we dive into this very profound and seriously the most important topic of Buddhist view, we need to recap on two things 1. Meditation 2. Going For Refuge ## Meditation For these meditations that we study to function the way they are designed to function you need to meditate We need a clear understanding of what is meditation. With a clear understanding we develop confidence in meditation and we begin to practice it gradually more and more sincerely. In general meditation is aquinting the mind with virtue thoroughly and constatly. The word virtue might not mean much now but by the end of the period we spend on the meditation on Karma I hope you will have a good understanding and appreciation of the meaning of the word virtue. It is a key word in Buddhism, like meditation and karma. ## Going for Refuge The previous meditation to Karma we study and contemplate the meaning of the three jewels and their importance in our practice - we practice buddhism as the method of becoming happy where happiness is defined as a peaceful mind. To have a complete understanding of the meaning of Buddha Dharma and Sangha you must train your mind in the various Buddhist meditations, in sessions and in your daily life. Only through repeated practice of Buddhism - remember the meaning of practicing Dharma? - will we experience the change Buddha promises we can have, and only through genuinly experiencing this change that we can actually know the meaning of Dharma then the meaning of Sangha and finally the meaning of Buddha. The meaning of Buddha is very profound and cannot be expressed in words because it is beyond conceptions and beyond the imagination of beings such as our self. But we can begin to build an idea of what is a Buddha through our own experience of how practicing Dharma has changed us and combine that with faith our ability to imagine purity. The reason why we need to understand Buddha is because karma - the special connection between actions and their results - cannot be understood by logic alone, in fact logic can only take us part of the way and no more. Karma - the subject of why am i experiencing what I experience - is said to be deeply hidden knowledge and can only be seen directly by enlightened beings. As a side note - the reason later we develop the aspiration to become a Buddha is so that we will come to have the ability to see people's karma. Only when we can see someone's karma can we actually be of benefit to them. Until that time we are only doing a guess work. ## Karma In the NMHB it is stated that the purpose of meditating on karma is to encourage us to purify our mind and accumulate merit. This requires some explanations. Generally for most people the thought I need to purify my mind is not a thought that springs naturally in their mind. # Karma part 2 Tonight we begin our study of Karma. Karma is a word in Sanskrit - the acceptable meaning is action. In our Buddhist tradition it is used in with the meaning of cause and effect. So in our Buddhist tradition Karma the topic dealing with causality or in other words why do things happen to me. Now there are a lot of things to be said about karma. It is important to understand from the start that the exact connection between causes and effect only Buddha can see. This translate into the Buddhist speak - the expact connection between a specific action and a specific experience can only be seen by a fully enlightened being. So Karma is about causality. Within causality we talk about causes and conditions Causes refer to substantial cause - which is the thing that is being transformed into the effec. Conditions refer to the necessary conditions without which the cause cannot become an effect Within causality we can also talk about production. What is a product? How is something produced? What is a cause? What is an effect? The above questions are very important for a number of reason. Especially later on when we study emptiness. The question of cause and effec, dependent related, and production are all fantastically interesting to contemplate in the context of what is reality and from where do things come from. On the question of where do things come from - by means of a the most simple introduction I can introduce to the profound topic of production by encouraging you to think about the following question: > Where do things come from And the Buddhist answer is that there can be only four alternatives 1. from themselves 2. from others 3. from both themselves and from others 4. from without a cause Buddhist accept the 2nd option but, and I will not expand on it now, not in the way you think about it... :-) You may wondre what is the reason for all this introduction? Well - the topic of karma is the topic in Buddha's teachings that where do my experiences come from? In Buddhist terminology 'experience' and 'feeling' means the same. So when you say 'I feel' you are simply say 'my experience' and in the buddhist presentation there are only three types of feelings/experiences pleasant unpleasant and neutral So maybe you begin to understand how important the question of Karma is for Buddhist - because Buddhist want to know what is the true source of my experiences. When you begin to think about this there are only two answers 1. from something out side of me 2. from something inside of me So the big points to understand is - Where do my experiences come from? - are they produced or are they permanent? - What is the substantial cause of my experiences/feellings? - What are the circumstantial causes # Karma part 3 Last week we started looking at the meaning of Karma We started by ## Definition of Karma - Actions and effects ### The underlying principles of karma - mind does not end with the body - Actions leave potential in the mind - carried within our mind until conditions meet to ripen the potential - The three kind of actions/potentials/experiences - Our life is result of previous action(karma) (Designed by previous practitioner) - Karma as causality - why is this happening to me - Intention is at the heart of any action ## Why is this happening to me Indicating that we are looking for a cause - something prior to our present experience which can explain our present experience. This idea is causality - by recognizing how a child asks - why?? we can appreciate how natural and ingrained into our way of thinking the belief that from this comes that. If this is happening something has had to happen before. ### ideas about causality Brief presentation of ideas - production from self other both and non ## Introduction to virtue and non-virtue In simple terms - all Buddhists assert production from other. That is to say - Buddhist understad that for something to take place now - something else must have happend sometime before. We then ask what is the main cause of peace of mind? And we explain this to be virtue.