Góðan daginn! Good morning Wednesday! Well be doing Vajrasattva group practice tonight at 7 pm. See you tonight. *******Dharma Quote of the Day******* [Yesterdays sharing talked about how ignorance (our self-grasping) leads to karmic formation. Therefore it is important for us to practice as much virtuous in our body, speech and mind as we can and totally abandon non-virtuous. Today we continue to share an excerpt about the significance of being mindful with our actions, of which we often refer as Karma.] Guru Rinpoche has stated, “My view is more vast than the sky, but my conduct is as fine as the smallest grain of sand.” We should not abandon the most subtle teachings on karma, the law of cause and effect. Following this advice, the gurus of the past also held the view that was greater than the sky, but followed the conduct prescribed by the teachings on cause and effect…. OUR ACTIONS DECIDE OUR HAPPINESS & SUFFERING Among the types of action, there are positive actions to be adopted and negative actions to be abandoned. All suffering and happiness result from our actions. I will first teach on the actions to be avoided. Generally, all who practice Dharma understand that non-virtuous actions should be avoided. However, many practitioners do not recognize which actions are negative; they confuse negative and positive actions, thinking the negative to be positive, and then adopting rather than abandoning that action. WE OFTEN MISTAKEN NON-VIRTUOUS AS VIRTUOUS Only Buddha can see the subtle workings of cause and effect. Since others cannot see this, Buddha taught it in the Sutras. We think that non-virtuous action should be avoided, but fail to recognize what is non-virtue; confused in our thinking, we consider non-virtue to be virtue. In this way, many people adopt negative actions, so here I will teach on what negative actions are, and what the results of those actions are. VIRTUES VERSUS NON-VIRTUES The causes for birth in the higher or lower realms of Samsara are the positive and negative actions we have ourselves accumulated. Virtue, also referred to as merit, leads to birth in the three upper realms. Virtue can be either deluded or non-deluded. The virtue that leads to birth in the upper realms is deluded virtue. Birth in the three lower realms results from the accumulation of non-virtue, which we can call, deluded non-virtuous action. KARMA MEANS ACTION – DETERMINING FACTOR OF OUR FUTURE Where we are born in the six realms depends on our karma. Birth in the lower realms results from negative actions. And birth in the upper realms from positive actions. No one born in the upper realms will have negative karma. Negative karma leads only to birth in the lower realms. One whose karma is wholly positive will never be born in the lower realms. Therefore, Samsara results from karma alone. Our lives are not the result of chance. Someone who accumulates only virtue will not mistakenly be born in the lower realms, and someone who accumulates only non-virtue will not, by good fortune, be born in the higher realms. We must consider and investigate why some people are both in higher realms and others in lower realms. Birth in higher or lower realms always depends upon the accumulation of virtue or non-virtue….We must accumulate virtue in whatever way we can, and always guard against non-virtue. Without any intention to take life, we accumulate non-virtue even by walking, inadvertently crushing many sentient beings under our feet. THE POWER OF VIRTUE IS STRONGER THAN THE POWER OF NEGATIVITY …In the realm of desire, however, we accumulate non-virtue while eating, walking, talking, in fact at all times. Sometimes we also accumulate virtue. Among the virtuous actions, arousing Bodhicitta – a high level of compassion – even only briefly will eliminate all the negativity accumulated up to the present. The power of virtue is stronger than the power of negativity. Even if we have accumulated non-virtuous actions for a long time, virtue accumulated on a single occasion can lead to birth in the higher realms. Non-virtue is gathered all the time, whether with the motivation to do so or unknowingly, but by endeavoring at virtue both kinds of negative karma can be eliminated. Thus, we should constantly strive to accumulate virtue. - Excerpt taken from H.E. Khenchen Namdrol Rinpoche on Commentary of Karma: the relationship of cause and effect. *H.E. Khenchen Namdrol Rinpoche is one of the leading Khenpos in the Nyingma tradition and is universally acknowledged as an expert on the Guhyagarbha Tantra and its various commentaries. As a Khenchen, he is one of three most senior Khenpos of Namdroling Monastery and is also one of the foremost disciples of H.H. Khenpo Jikme Phuntsok.
Posted on: Wed, 29 Oct 2014 12:38:01 +0000
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