[…] body, you’re born into the central country—these are literal translations, I’ll explain this in a minute—you’re sound in body and mind, you weren’t swept away by bad karma—although there’s some karma momentum available to you—you have some propensity for faith or confidence. Now, again these were originally qualities of human existence because you could […]

[…] from India the first time—this would be in the early seventies—a teacher that I knew of in India and hadn’t actually met‚ by the name of Lama Karma Thinley—I knew had come to Canada and lived outside Toronto. So, I called him up and asked if I could go and see him. And my […]

[…] “Whatever root virtues were established by the limitless, countless, inconceivable Buddhas,” etc., whatever virtuous roots. Now, the reason I’m suggesting that … when we were talking about karma, one of the things that I suggested was that karma can be looked at as a process of evolution. And the metaphor for karma is of […]

[…] We may spend a little more time on the six realms because there’s other aspects that I want to touch on next week. Read ahead on to karma, because we’ll be starting on karma. I’m going to say this now, because it’s very important. Karma is almost always regarded as cause and effect. That’s […]

[…] is unbelievably rich. What is important here is the purpose of all of it was to help one individual or another find their direction in life. Beliefs: karma, agnosticism, and atheism Ken: And I’ll just say one more thing about faith and belief. There are some who say you can’t be a Buddhist unless […]

[…] of American culture. And some of these are really good. I remember visiting a teacher in Toronto who’s a bit of a character, a Tibetan named Lama Karma Thinley. And after I’d finished the three-year retreat, I was back in Ontario. I called Lama Karma Thinley up said, “Can I come and see you?” […]

[…] Nobody ate anything for dinner. Everybody was full. Quench my thirst with the poison of attachment to duality You know one of my favorite teachers is Lama Karma Thinley in Toronto. Wonderful person, a little eccentric, maybe why I like him. He was in California once and a friend of Dan and mine, Michael […]

[…] letter fall on the floor!” Well, we have a hard time in our society, because we got print all over the place, and who knows what the karma is for trashing a dharma document on your computer without going through the proper ritual. I’m being a little facetious here. What is it [unclear] ones […]

[…] and as I read this, I’ll also explain how to work with each part of it. First sentence: I appear vividly in my deity’s form. Mountain Dharma, Karma Chakmé Now the idea here is: this isn’t some external deity. Each of you has inherently an understanding of what it is to be awake. And […]

[…] may they be happy,” but then there’s another—I don’t know if it’s a prayer or a saying—where you say, “All beings are the owners of their own karma, and nothing I can do can change that.” So how does that work together? Ken: Very good. This reminds me of an email that one of […]

[…] lot of offerings and did a whole bunch of confessions. She appeared, but her back was turned. “Did I do something wrong?” “Yep,” she said. “What’s the karma?” “You’ll be born as a worm and you’ll circle the world seven times and be put to death every day for 500 million years.” “Is there […]

[…] away of avoiding this material, okay? They may get sick and all kinds of things. Nobody knows what to do, and everybody thinks, “Well, that’s your bad karma and that’s that,” basically. I’ve been on the receiving end of it—I know it. The other thing that happens is that they go up into quite […]

[…] it is just how we look at the world. And right view is usually described as: having faith in the three jewels, buddha, dharma and sangha; accepting karma as a working principle; accepting the four truths; and not seeing things in terms of matter or mind, or those extreme positions. But if we try […]

[…] is a transmission from Serlingpa. Serlingpa is another name for Dharmakirti. Serlingpa literally means “one who lives on the Golden Island,” which was the name of Sumatra. Karma as an explanation Ken: And then the next stanza, The awakening of the karmic energy of previous training aroused intense interest in me. Not sure that’s […]

[…] difference, which we don’t need to go into, but basically the source of being is open, clear awareness, empty awareness. The other four are all ascribed to karma, which is not a person, but is simply a process. Do you follow? And this makes Buddhism—I don’t know how it breaks down in Hinduism; I […]