Sun Radiance: Thought Transformation, 1 August 1989, part 1

So we should try to adjust our motivation such that we’re going to listen to this profound teaching on the great vehicle with the motivation with the intention of the precious mind of bodhicitta. That we’re going to seek to achieve peerless, perfect in order to establish all mother sentient beings equal to space and complete happiness and bliss. So, within the context of the explanation of the preliminary practices of the thought transformation, we are proceeding to the subject of today’s discussion of the law of cause and effect, actions and the results. And the Buddha himself said that whatever type of action we engage in, there will be a corresponding effect arising. So the actual body, the actualization of thought transformation is contained within the precious awakening heart and the awakening mind with the ultimate and relative.

And as a means to bring that about, we engage in the processes of the Meditations on Equalizing and Exchanging Self with others. As a method of developing this, it’s necessary to, as a prerequisite, to develop great compassion. As a prerequisite to developing great compassion and love, we must develop the determination to be free, that is to say renunciation. So in order to develop the determination to be free, namely renunciation, there are the two methods of reversing the emphasis on the appearance of this life and reversing the appearances on future lives. Reversals, the master has said that in order to deemphasize the attractions to the appearances of this life, we engage in the contemplations of leisure and fortune and the impermanence in death.

So in the development of the preliminary practices, were the four subject matters that were to be covered, and that is the precious human life which possesses leisure and fortune, the impermanence in death, the results of actions, and then the disadvantages of cyclic existence. With respect to the first, that we deemphasize the appearances of this life through meditation on the precious human life, leisure and fortune, and the impermanence in death. As a means to deemphasize attraction to the appearances of future lives, we cultivate, we come to the understanding of the infallibility of results with respect to the actions which they are created by, and then the disadvantages of cyclic existence in general, again and again taking these to mind. It is in this way with respect to these two latter methods of the preliminary practices that we deemphasize the attraction to the appearances of future So we’ve had quite a long break since our since our last teachings and it’s almost as if we’re teaching subjects newly. So with respect to the discussion of the preliminary of the results of actions, by actions that’s the translation of the word karma.

And the Buddha said, as was previously quoted, that in accordance that whatever actions are enacted, there will arise a corresponding result. And when we say karma or we say actions, and this is in the spiritual context, within the Buddhist context we use this particular word, but in the world we say activities or type of work and has the same meaning, just different uses of words. So whatever type of activities we engage in, whatever types of activities there will arise a corresponding result. That is to say, in accordance with positive actions, there will be a positive result. In accordance with a negative action, there will be a negative result.

With respect to skill ful types of activities, there will be a skillful result. With respect to unskillful types of activities, there will arise an unskillful result. So, you know, we can see for ourselves just in the world the various type of work that people engage in. If they do a very positive type of work, very skillfully, then we see that they usually have a positive experience as a result of their skillful actions, skillful activities at work, that they experience happiness, that, you know, they’re thought of highly, they’re valued. Likewise, those who engage in types of unskilled work or they don’t do their work well, they have negative results.

They experience difficulties and we can all see this for ourselves. So this way of talking about different ways of talking about the same thing. You know, for example, we talk about actions and activities or work. You know, we’re talking about the same thing. No matter what language it might be put in when we become when we study the various sciences, when we go to school, we talk about self and others.

And likewise in Sanskrit they have their various terms for self and others. In Tibetan they have their terms for self and others. We can talk about the three times of past, future, and present, whether it’s in English, Sanskrit, or Tibetan. And we’re always talking about the same things so that these words shouldn’t confuse it. So in order that we understand well what we’re talking about when we talk about karma or action.

I’m translating the word karma as action. The self, we talk about self. That is the creator or the doer, the agent. And then there is a basis of action. When the doer engages the basis of action there arises an action.

And this is karma. This is action, activity. So there is a creator of activity, an agent, and when that agent engages in, enters into the basis of an activity, then this brings about action, karma. So if we take, a simple example of writing, the writer, the agent or the person who is going to do the writing, then there’s the basis of activity or the action, that’s the paper. When the agent, the writer engages with the paper, then we say that he is engaging in the action of writing.

He is writing, that’s his activity, his writing. So we say, for example, he is writing a letter. So the action is writing the letter, you know, whatever activity it might be. For example, someone who is cutting wood, the agent, the person who is cutting the wood, when he engages that basis, which is the wood itself, there occurs an action. And this action of cutting is what we’re talking about as the activity or action or karma.

Again, another simple example. Say someone is cooking food. The person is the cook, there is a cook, and then there is the object, the basis of his engaging. That would be, for example, it could be rice, it could be vegetables. And then with these various basis of engagement, the cook makes activity.

He might make dumplings, Momo. He can make any type of, prepare some type of food. It’s preparation. The cook engaging in the basis, these types of ingredients, is what he would create an activity. He would engage in activity and action.

Another example, in the case of killing, let’s say killing a sheep, there is a person is agent of the killing, he is the killer. And the basis of engaging in the activity is the sheep. When that killer, the agent engages the basis of activity, the sheep, then that is to say he takes the life of the sheep. That is what we mean by action. The activity or the taking of the life of the sheep is action.

So in this case there is the action or the activity of killing a sentient being. So the Buddha called this he called within the spiritual context he called these action. He said this was karma, this activity of killing. And generally in the world we say this is a work or this is an activity. So it’s just a different use of the term: action, activity.

Another example of prostration. The person is the agent. He is the doer. If he were for example prostrating to an image of the Buddha, then the Buddha would be the basis of engagement of this particular activity, the object of prostration. The action that he is creating by engaging with his is the activity of prostrating, and in this case we would say this is a positive action.

Actions can be either positive or negative. Another example of a meditator. The meditator is the agent who is engaging a basis of activity. And in this case it could be any type of meditation, for example, meditating on awakening heart, meditating on emptiness. This emptiness or awakening heart is the basis of engagement.

The meditator is agent. And he or she thinks about this subject perhaps single mindedly placing his mind as an activity of thinking, contemplation. This is an activity, this is action. So, know, the point that’s being made here is that the Buddha said that from positive actions arises happiness, from negative actions arises suffering. And that some people think, oh, well, know, that karma or action, that only pertains to Buddhist.

It’s just written in his Buddhist text. There is no karma outside of the Buddhist text. But the point is that what we normally call activities, what we call work, this is karma. This is action. And therefore it’s applicable to what we’re doing.

Do you understand that what an action is and that these actions also can be of a negative and positive quality? So when when we So, with respect to the various types of action, I’m translating the word karma as action. There are very different ways, various ways that we can look at it according to the various schools and philosophic systems within Buddhism. For example, the Great Exposition School and the Consequentialist School say that physical action is form, this type of action is form. For example, when we recite the mantra Om Mani Padme Hum, this is verbal action and this has form.

Whereas in the Sūtra School and the Autonomy School, they say that action is a secondary mental factor of attention, or intention. It’s a secondary mental factor of intention. Therefore, is a consciousness rather than a form. So aside from all that, the basic fundamental division of action is into mental action and physical action. So we can make this basic differentiation of action in two.

After the various activities of the body, we generally list three. Those are the activities of body, speech, and mind. And mind, the activities of mind are mental actions whereas the activities of body and speech are physical actions. When we, with respect to mental actions, mental activity, simply taking to mind thinking, oh, I think I’m going to do this, I should do this, I’m not going to do this. When this type of thought appears to the mind, this is mental activity or mental action.

When we first get up in the morning we say, oh, now I have to go to work. I have to go to the office, so I have to go out. This thinking process which occurred is mental action. As a consequence of that mental action, engage, we might engage in various types of physical activities such as when we get up and start walking toward work. This walking is physical action.

We may think, oh, I think I’m going to talk to that person. We intend to talk with a certain person. This is mental action. And we actually engage in conversation with this person. This is verbal action.

And engaging in this conversation with this person, if our root motivation, that is the intentional quality of our mind, was a beneficial intention, if we had the motivation of say love and compassion altruism, then then dependent upon the influence of that positive state of mind, then the actual conversation, the verbal action would be positive. Then on the other hand, if our intention, the quality of the thinking process of the intention to speak with this person were negative, wanting to, for example, hurt that person and as a consequence, as under the influence of this negative motivation we engage in conversation perhaps by using harsh words with this person, then we would create negative verbal action. So the quality of the verbal action is dependent upon the influence of the motivating quality of the mental action. If we have a positive motivation mentally and with that influence we engage in verbal action, then that verbal action is positive. On the other hand, if our motivation is negative, then the verbal action which arises under the influence of mental action will also be negative.

Again, when a person rises up in the morning and you’re perhaps sitting there drinking a cup of tea and you’re thinking what I’m going to do today, and he’s, oh, I’m going to I have to the thought arises I’m going to kill a particular animal, for example, today. That thought in itself is mental is a negative mental action. Now, any type of physical activity which arises under the influence of that negative mental action as a consequence of that negative mental action is going to be a negative physical action. Any types of actions or activities of the body which arise as a consequence of that intentional quality, that negative intention of the mind. On the other hand, if upon first rising in the morning one has a compassionate frame of mind and decides that, you know, I’m going to practice generosity today, and therefore this is a very positive mental action in itself.

But any types of physical activities which arise under the influence which arise as a consequence of this beneficial intention such as the giving of food, giving him money, drink, or whatever, would be a positive physical action, would be the quality of physical giving. So the root of the positive physical actions is the quality of the motivation quality of of the mind, the motivating mind which precipitates, which brings physical action about. So of the possibilities of actions, they are only brought about through the three doors of activity. That is the door, what I refer to as the door of body, speech, and mind. All actions are contained within the activities of body, speech, and mind, and these can be either negative or positive.

The doors of the body and speech do not have control over themselves. They are brought about through the influence of the mind. So the mind is the root of all actions. And with respect to the actions of mind, there are only three possibilities. Either the action of mind is positive, negative, or unspecified.

Any action the mind will be classified within one of three. With respect to this third quality of mind, of action, unspecified actions, is due to the insignificance of the power of such a type of mind that it has no it cannot be classified as either positive or negative because its consequences are neither positive or negative due to this insignificant power or potency or it has small potency or power. It’s just the same as with the person. If this person is extremely weak, he doesn’t have much ability. Then he can’t really do much either way.

He can’t really hurt people very much or he can’t help people very much. He doesn’t have any potency or capacity to do that. It’s the same way with unspecified action. It would be the same as if we compared the mind with the field. Various types of fields have a different fertility.

Different growth potential, fertility. This depends upon, you know, combination of the four elements of earth, water, fire, and air that are contained there. For example, a field which is mostly sand, which is mostly rock, has little potency. It doesn’t have much of its fertility.

And the mind is very much in the same way. Different states of mind have different fertility.