[…] 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 […]

[…] in the basis, in the genesis of each of those realms. And how do those realms come about? Well, that’s what we explored through the workings of karma, which is the way that our actions condition what we think, what we say, what we do, and sets in motion a process of evolution which […]

[…] things, good things happen to you. Right? In other words, if you do good you have good luck. Now, this is intimately connected with the workings of karma. By the way, I was looking in a bookstore the other night and I came across this phrase in a book written by one of my […]

[…] Harold: It just came to my mind and I’d like you to address this, that the interest would be karmic. Ken: Could be. [Pause] It’s attributed to karma, but at the level that we’re talking here, I would say the interest is intrinsic in buddha nature, and it is more or less obscured by […]

[…] you seek to make the world spiritual—like when you get into messianic cults and apocalyptic thinking and feel that you are the instrument of divine will, or karma, or whatever—and you just have a disaster. We have a current disaster in Iraq coming from exactly that confusion. Now the reason I’m talking about this—which […]

[…] contemplate each of those questions and your own answers to them. And I want to suggest that the four reminders: the precious human existence, death and impermanence, karma, and the shortcomings of samsara—which are very traditional teachings about motivation—could be viewed as a set of possible answers to these four questions. For instance, how […]

[…] other, never took to the Vajrayana. There are elements of Vajrayana scattered through Chinese Buddhism. There’s references to the Black Hat Sect, which of course is the Karma Kagyu, and so forth. Even though the Karmapas and some of the Sakya patriarchs were priests to the emperors, that was mainly the Mongolian Emperors not […]

[…] That leads to several questions. Ken: You only get one. [Laughter] You don’t want to be greedy here. [Laughter] Helen: Well I’m interested in the page on karma, page 8, and there’s a Sufi saying at the bottom of it that I don’t quite understand. Ken: Well, I may not be much help because […]

[…] there. So as we look at the eightfold path and things like this, is it based on a morality, a Buddhist morality? Or is it based on karma or what’s the whole … Ken: Okay. Thank you that helps. The short answer is yes, very definitely. The noble eightfold path is usually broken up […]

[…] is to plant the seed, and to provide the ground and the conditions in which that seed is nurtured and grows in us. Because we’ve talked about karma earlier, as a process of evolution. And the approach in the Mahayana—as Gampopa is talking about it here—is very much seeing awakening as a process, as […]

[…] kind of stillness in the mind. And there are four levels of that, which we’ll be discussing a bit more when we get to the chapter on karma. The worlds projected by reactive emotions Ken: So that you know what the terminology means, you have what are called the three world-spheres, or the three […]

[…] easy—and a lot of people have done this—to go from there into, “Well, it doesn’t matter what I do.” Now in traditional presentations, this is countered by karma: actions still have results. And this is why the fox abbot got into trouble. He said actions don’t have results if you have the realization of […]

[…] matter what I do? There’s nothing for me to be hurt. There’s nothing to me to be benefited. Student: To be? Ken: To be benefited. By good karma. So what’s the diff? So that’s the next question that comes up. No? Does anybody entertain this question? Student: Could you state that first part again? […]