Karma, Samsara, Nirvana & YOU

[Helena]

In celebrating the birth of a new board for general Buddhism, I thought I'd share some of the basic elements in Buddhism.

This is for those who are truly new to Buddhism and not just Dorje Shugden.

Although I have been studying Buddhism for the last 6 years or so, I still would not dare to say that I really do understand karma, samsara, etc.

Knowing and being able to recite words from the texts such as the Lamrim (which I have seen many forum members quote from) is one thing - but truly understanding the meanings and putting them into practice is quite another. 

Personally, I am not impressed whether an individual can memorise all the texts and can quote from scriptures or churn our scholarly essays and theories on Buddhism.

I am more impressed when an individual has put in the time and effort to really put all those theories into practice and have incorporated these practices into their daily lives.

I am sure we all know - everything is a lot easier said than done.

If it were so easy - all of us would have achieved Enlightenment by now and be hanging out in some place called, Nirvana.

If it were so easy, then there should be more highly attained monks, lamas, tulkus and etc versus ordinary lay folks who like to pretend that they know more or much better than the rest.

Being well versed in the teachings and scriptures is just one aspect of Buddhism.

Translating all the essences of Buddha's teachings into daily practice is the key.

So, whether one is well acquainted with the meaning and terms of loving kindness is just a small part of it.

However, being really kind and loving towards all beings is really the heart of the Buddhism.

Therefore, to me - compassion is not a concept nor a theory.

It is a living practice. It has to be put into action, to be lived out and adapted to the various different individuals worldwide.

I guess, this is why there is that delicate balance between THE METHOD and THE WISDOM.

Thus Buddhism has the power to shape the way we live our lives and makes us better human beings.



Karma, Samsara, and Nirvana

Three important concepts in understanding Buddhism are karma, Samsara, and Nirvana.

Karma refers to the law of cause and effect in a person's life, reaping what one has sown. Buddhists believe that every person must go through a process of birth and rebirth until he reaches the state of nirvana in which he breaks this cycle. According to the law of karma, "You are what you are and do what you do, as a result of what you were and did in a previous incarnation, which in turn was the inevitable outcome of what you were and did in still earlier incarnations."

For a Buddhist, what one will be in the next life depends on one's actions in this present life. Buddha believed, unlike Hinduism, that a person can break the rebirth cycle no matter what class he is born into.

The second key concept to understand is the law of Samsara or Transmigration. This is one of the most perplexing and difficult concepts in Buddhism to understand. The law of Samsara holds that everything is in a birth and rebirth cycle. Buddha taught that people do not have individual souls. The existence of an individual self or ego is an illusion. There is no eternal substance of a person which goes through the rebirth cycle. What is it then that goes through the cycle if not the individual soul? What goes through the rebirth cycle is only a set of feelings, impressions, present moments, and the karma that is passed on. "In other words, as one process leads to another, ... so one's human personality in one existence is the direct cause of the type of individuality which appears in the next."

The new individual in the next life will not be exactly the same person, but there will be several similarities. Just how close in identity they will be, Buddha did not define.

The third key concept is Nirvana. The term means "the blowing out" of existence. Nirvana is very different from the Christian concept of heaven. Nirvana is not a place like heaven but rather a state of being. What exactly it is, Buddha never really articulated.

Nirvana is an eternal state of being. It is the state in which the law of karma, and the rebirth cycle come to an end. It is the end of suffering, a state where there are no desires and the individual consciousness comes to an end. Although to our Western minds this may sound like annihilation, Buddhists would object to such a notion. Gautama never gave an exact description of Nirvana, but his closest reply was this. "There is disciples, a condition, where there is neither earth nor water, neither air nor light, neither limitless space, nor limitless time, neither any kind of being, neither ideation nor non-ideation, neither this world nor that world. There is neither arising nor passing-away, nor dying, neither cause nor effect, neither change nor standstill."

Although no Buddhist really understands the condition of Nirvana, it is their eternal hope.

Source: http://wri.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/buddhism.html

[lightning]

This is some of my thoughts....I agreed that we reaped what we sow and recently i have seen a youtube on the dogs being slaughtered for delicacy in dog restaurants in China which is quite disturbing. Out of ignorance, greed and anger, we brought unwanted negative karma upon ourselves. The butchers will definitely brought unwanted heavy negative karma upon themselves and most probably maybe reborn as an animal to be slaughtered many more times to repay.

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Whether we choose to believe or not, karma will follow us like a shadow in a subtle wind form wherever we are reborn. There will be no escape unless we do confession by Buddhism methods to purify these negative karma. Today, we are fortunate enough to have qualified spiritual guides to lead us from small happiness to ultimate happiness from enlightenment. They are also kind enough to educate us the Law of cause and effect, Karma. which make us renounce from evil,unwholesome deeds which will lead us to sufferings. while encouraging us to conduct wholesome deeds which lead to any forms of happiness eventually.

I felt deep compassion for these animals and hopefully one day I will attain Buddhahood to salvage them and lead them to the path of Bodhisattva. I hope that I will have the ability to stop sentient beings from falling into the hell realm , falling into the hungry ghost realm and falling into the animal realms. While those who the fortunate human life form can be relief from falling into the three lower realms by education of cause and effect. I also hope to relieve all types of sufferings experienced by sentient beings of the three upper realms. 

[DSFriend]

"Reaping what we sow" is taught in buddhism, hinduism, christianity and I am sure many other religion. However, we continue to sow that which we do not wish to reap. What an irony!

How do we break out of it?

Understanding what we continuously allow to trap us in this state is crucial for us to break out of it.

12 Interdependent Links (karmic chain reaction) has been taught by Buddha.

Here's a teaching by By Geshe Rabten at New Delhi, India April 1980 (Last Updated Mar 9, 2010), translated by Gonsar Rinpoche. http://www.lamayeshe.com/index.php?sect=article&id=425

YAMANTAKA, The Destroyer of Yama, the Lord of Death's practice is extremely powerful to help us break out of the 12 Interdependent Links.

[kurava]

Purification and accumulating merit is like removing weeds and planting good seeds.How effective each action is depends on a number of factors, such as intent, determination , the methods employed , the objects our actions are directed towards etc.

Both  processes are gradual. We purify gross negativities first, then progressively subtler ones until we reach those which we are not even aware of such as innate self grasping.

Initially  the  merits we accumulate will be low in quality and quantity, but as we improve our motivation and become more spiritual, the merits will multiply such as when we have the mind of bodhi developed and backed by vows.

When the above are practiced simultaneously, our worldly concerns will gradually reduce . Our motivation become purer and more sincere. This has the effect of  accelerating our spiritual progress.

[DSFriend]

Initially  the  merits we accumulate will be low in quality and quantity, but as we improve our motivation and become more spiritual, the merits will multiply such as when we have the mind of bodhi developed and backed by vows.

When the above are practiced simultaneously, our worldly concerns will gradually reduce . Our motivation become purer and more sincere. This has the effect of  accelerating our spiritual progress.

I've somehow only thought of merits in terms of quantity but not quality. Also, i appreciates very much on your sharing about developing the bodhi mind, backed by vows.

Taking vows is an extremely powerful to help change our thoughts/actions and thus results.

[triesa]

I've somehow only thought of merits in terms of quantity but not quality. Also, i appreciates very much on your sharing about developing the bodhi mind, backed by vows.

Taking vows is an extremely powerful to help change our thoughts/actions and thus results.

Yes, taking vows is extremely powerful. Some may find taking simple vows like lying, killing, stealing very difficult, Reasons being that they are actually committing these actions everyday, so they find it uneasy to take these vows.

A baby does not kill, but the baby would not collect as much merits than someone who potentially can kill and take on the vows of "not to kill". Therefore, taking on vows is a very essential antidote to our thoughts, actions and thus the results.

[Big Uncle]

I've somehow only thought of merits in terms of quantity but not quality. Also, i appreciates very much on your sharing about developing the bodhi mind, backed by vows.

Taking vows is an extremely powerful to help change our thoughts/actions and thus results.

Yes, taking vows is extremely powerful. Some may find taking simple vows like lying, killing, stealing very difficult, Reasons being that they are actually committing these actions everyday, so they find it uneasy to take these vows.

A baby does not kill, but the baby would not collect as much merits than someone who potentially can kill and take on the vows of "not to kill". Therefore, taking on vows is a very essential antidote to our thoughts, actions and thus the results.

There are two people and both have not killed before. Person A holds the vow of not killing and Person B doesn't hold any vows. If both don't kill, Person A will accrue merits due to the blessing that he/she is consciously holding the vow while Person B doesn't generate positive nor negative karma even if Person B is a baby. Hence, it is more meritorious to hold the vows.

[hope rainbow]

Yes, taking vows is extremely powerful.
Some may find taking simple vows like lying, killing, stealing very difficult, Reasons being that they are actually committing these actions everyday, so they find it uneasy to take these vows.

I thought for a long time that people who took vows did it somehow because they "liked it", but if it was so, those people would the very people not needing to take these vows.

Example:
I am a compulsive gambler and I take vow not to gamble, the vow will help me to change my habit and lower my attachment.
Or I am not attracted by gambling at all, then  taking the vow seems un-necessary (that is without considering merits created nevertheless).

The most un-easy a vow looks to me the most likely I need it...

[DSFriend]

I thought for a long time that people who took vows did it somehow because they "liked it", but if it was so, those people would the very people not needing to take these vows.

I see this applicable to tulkus, and special beings of all faith. From my understanding, these special beings do not need to take vows as they have full renunciation and have already realized the true nature of phenomenon and incurs no karma no matter what actions they engage in.

They take vows as a teaching, to show us how to walk the path.

[pgdharma]

Purification and accumulating merit is like removing weeds and planting good seeds.How effective each action is depends on a number of factors, such as intent, determination , the methods employed , the objects our actions are directed towards etc.

Both  processes are gradual. We purify gross negativities first, then progressively subtler ones until we reach those which we are not even aware of such as innate self grasping.

Initially  the  merits we accumulate will be low in quality and quantity, but as we improve our motivation and become more spiritual, the merits will multiply such as when we have the mind of bodhi developed and backed by vows.

When the above are practiced simultaneously, our worldly concerns will gradually reduce . Our motivation become purer and more sincere. This has the effect of  accelerating our spiritual progress.

We have good and bad imprints that were accumulated through many lifetimes. In order to purify our negative imprints/karma we need to do many virtuous actions. However, when doing virtuous actions, we must have the right intent and motivation  to achieve good quality results.

Yes, spiritual progress takes time and effort. We have to cultivate and develop the  bodhi mind in order to achieve that results.

[Douglas Royce]

Right now, fighting my samsara natural urges and habits on a day to day basis seem to be the hardest. It's interesting to know that we store both the bad and good imprints. It makes total sense. So, from what I am reading, motivation is the main key to set all our deeds and even our thoughts. I must get hold of this book, Lamrim, that the forum posters are talking about. I can't imagine that an entire path to enlightenment is all written down in one book like a manual! That's awesome! Yet, even with a printed manual that's available to everyone, it is still not easy to get enlightened. Our minds must be really stuck in samsara!

[kurava]

Karma refers to the law of cause and effect in a person's life, reaping what one has sown. Buddhists believe that every person must go through a process of birth and rebirth until he reaches the state of nirvana in which he breaks this cycle. According to the law of karma, "You are what you are and do what you do, as a result of what you were and did in a previous incarnation, which in turn was the inevitable outcome of what you were and did in still earlier incarnations." - Quote from Helena

A different perspective of karma :

1) Karma is dynamic. Usually we consider karma as positive or negative based on our experience of it. However, not all our experiences of the
    same object is identical. Further more we can change our experience by changing our view point i.e. experience is not fixed.

2) It's the result of how we utilise our  karma/circumstances/opportunities that determine if the karma is good or bad.
    Example :
    Usually, we think children born into rich families with doting parents have good karma. However, if they grow up to be irresponsible adults
    with no direction or purpose in life then the wealth and doting parents become bad karma for them.
    On the other hand, if someone turn out to be beneficial to others despite of the adverse conditions into which he/she is born, then the
    perceived bad karma based on ordinary views become good karma because good results arise from these adverse conditions.

[WoselTenzin]

Karma refers to the law of cause and effect in a person's life, reaping what one has sown. Buddhists believe that every person must go through a process of birth and rebirth until he reaches the state of nirvana in which he breaks this cycle. According to the law of karma, "You are what you are and do what you do, as a result of what you were and did in a previous incarnation, which in turn was the inevitable outcome of what you were and did in still earlier incarnations." - Quote from Helena

A different perspective of karma :

1) Karma is dynamic. Usually we consider karma as positive or negative based on our experience of it. However, not all our experiences of the
    same object is identical. Further more we can change our experience by changing our view point i.e. experience is not fixed.

2) It's the result of how we utilise our  karma/circumstances/opportunities that determine if the karma is good or bad.
    Example :
    Usually, we think children born into rich families with doting parents have good karma. However, if they grow up to be irresponsible adults
    with no direction or purpose in life then the wealth and doting parents become bad karma for them.
    On the other hand, if someone turn out to be beneficial to others despite of the adverse conditions into which he/she is born, then the
    perceived bad karma based on ordinary views become good karma because good results arise from these adverse conditions.

I agree with the different perspective of Kurava on karma:-

1. Karma is not fatalistic. It can be changed.  With proper understanding of the Dharma and it's application, past karma can be purified and we will not react in a way that perpetuate our negative karma. We can change the cause of our destiny.  Of course, if you do not know the Dharma or know the Dharma but yet do not apply it, then you cannot avoid the inevitable vicious cycle of your past negative karma.   

As Kurava said, we can change our experience of an event by changing our view of things thereby changing the type of karma we create.  This is very empowering.  It reaffirms that whether we incur negative or positive karma is in our hands.

For eg, if a snatch thief snatch our bag with all our money and essential documents in it, we can either choose to feel anger and have all sorts of negative thoughts towards to the snatch thief or we can think that perhaps the person who snatch our bag is doing it out of desperation and think that may the contents in our bag be able to help this person and feel compassion for this person.

We can also look at the point of view of "pay back time" for our past negative actions. We take responsibility and do not react negatively to it. Therefore, whether we react positively and create positive karma or react negatively and create negative karma is our choice.

2. Whether a good condition arises out of good or bad karma is subjective.  We can determine this by seeing what we use this good condition for. If our good condition is used for the benefit of others and ourselves, then the good condition arises from our good karma.  However, if our good conditions cause us to degenerate and commit negative actions, then the good condition in fact arises from our bad karma.  I remember, that was what my teacher taught.

[Positive Change]

This is most interesting. Thank you for sharing everyone.

Yes, taking vows is extremely powerful. Some may find taking simple vows like lying, killing, stealing very difficult, Reasons being that they are actually committing these actions everyday, so they find it uneasy to take these vows.

A baby does not kill, but the baby would not collect as much merits than someone who potentially can kill and take on the vows of "not to kill". Therefore, taking on vows is a very essential antidote to our thoughts, actions and thus the results.

The above makes a lot of sense and really explains a lot. I often wondered why monks or even lay people take vows when clearly they do not transgress those lines. I can see how truly effective it can be should one use a vow to counter one's negative ways... I like the example of the baby that does not have vows and yet does exactly the same as a person with vows but yet both reap different merits if any at all. Must remember this!

I also like what Woseltenzin said below:

Karma is not fatalistic. It can be changed.  With proper understanding of the Dharma and it's application, past karma can be purified and we will not react in a way that perpetuate our negative karma. We can change the cause of our destiny.  Of course, if you do not know the Dharma or know the Dharma but yet do not apply it, then you cannot avoid the inevitable vicious cycle of your past negative karma.   

It is really what we do in each and every circumstance that denotes the karma we reap. Most interesting! Even from a seemingly negative situation (like having one's bag snatched) one can actually turn it around and not create more negativity by cussing or thinking ill thoughts about the person taking your belongings but actually catching yourself and making yourself aware that what has transpired is a result of your own negative karma and also to practice compassion!

[Helena]

Why I love Buddhism is really because it is empowering.

It hands back the responsibility of your life and destiny back to you.

So, whether it is Karma, Samsara or Nirvana - it is really up to you, the individual.

And these can change and will change because of what we do, as individuals.

Yes, our karma is not fatalistic. The whole point is nothing is really fatalistic, if we do open our minds and see something for what it truly is and are prepared to do something about it.

It is when we refuse to see or don't see where we have gone wrong and we do not want to make any amends, then we have indeed sealed off our fate - so to speak.

It is foolish for us to ever think that we are above karma or that we have done enough to purify or reverse our karma and then we can take it easy, kick back, relax and become complacent. There is no such thing.

As long as we are in samsara, there is no stopping or resting.

Every second and moment, we are creating karma - bad or good.

And because of our accumulated lifetimes of karma - we need so much purification, we need to do so much more, there is no such thing as enough.

We always need to be vigilant and stand guard at the gates and be very alert. With this 'warrior-like' attitude is how we should fight all our own afflictions and negativities to ensure that we do not create any more bad karma then we already have.