What is karma?
- Part 3 -

Thangjam Sanjoo Singh *

(from) A collection of Photos from all across Thailand by Nameirakpam Bobo

The Indian monarch king Ashoka had likewise caused deaths of may beings. Later, he undertook to build many monasteries, stupas, and hospitals throughout his kingdom as a means to cleanse himself of these actions. In order to make these purification practices effective, however, they must flow from a mind moved by repentance. if there is no deep sense of regret for one's negative actions, then the "purification" deed will be tainted negative emotions; consequently ,their affect will greatly reduced.

Samsara is the product of karmic seeds ripened under the influence contributing factors. Therefore as a compounded phenomenon, it is ultimately non-existent. This explanation may sound complicated, but actually it just means that everything we perceive is composed of elements and is therefore neither permanent nor self-sustaining. For example, take a bicycle. On a relative day-to-day level, it exits. We can sit on it and cycle away. However, under analysis, we can find no one thing that actually constitutes a bicycle.

Take out one spoke. Is this spoke the bicycle? Take out another spoke. Ask the same question. Piece by dismantle the entire bicycle, includingthe parts of the frame that are welded together. At some point, we will realize that the bicycle no longer exists- but where did it go? At point did it cease to be a bicycle? We will discover that on an absolute level, there is not one thing we call a bicycle. It is compounded, and therefore, as the Buddha realized, does not ultimately exist.

All phenomena are the same. A book did not spontaneously arise, but is the result of a combination of factors. The paper is made from woods and water. The wood came from a tree that had absorbed water, sunlight ,and nutrition from the soil. Thus, when we look deeply into the book, we can see that it exists only relatively. It is merely a temporary combination of elements, and there is no one thing that we can actually call a book. This is what Buddha call "emptiness".

The samsaric world created by karma is therefore no more than the result of our projections based on ignorance and conditioning. Like a dream, it does not ultimately exist. In the same way that a person who is dreaming believes his experiences are real, we also are convinced of the ultimate reality of what we perceive.

In a dream, we may find ourselves in a different land and a member of an unknown family. Yet, we do not for one moment think to investigate the situation. In fact, even if someone entered our dream and told us we were dreaming, we would just see them as a part of the mistaken reality and carry on our lives as before.

Because of this difficulty, the Buddha taught the expedient path of the "six perfections" which through the accumulation of merit and wisdom creates the causes and conditions for sentient beings to awake to reality.

In conclusion: any act of body, speech or mind committed with intention creates a karmic force that produces a corresponding result in the future. In our daily life, we cannot avoid intention; consequently the Buddha established practices that channel these energies towards liberation rather than continued samsaric rebirth. A Buddha saying states:

Used well, this body is a ship to liberation,

Otherwise, it is an anchor in samsara.

This body is the agent of all good and evil.

Among the practices and attitudes, bodhichitta and its root, compassion, are perhaps the most sublime relative teachings that the Buddha offered the world. Open and spacious, mind of bodhichitta transforms even the most mundane deed into a spiritual endeavor.

Concluded...