karma

The Law of Gravity and Karma: The Seed and the Fruit

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The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Bringing Virtue Into Life”

Denial, in my opinion, is much worse than how fast our lives go.  If we have even a meager life span of sixty years, if we really got it, if we really understood cause and effect, we would probably be motivated to start practicing early; and by the time that we were sixty and ready to die, we’d have something accomplished.  We would have prepared for our next rebirth.  But we don’t do that because we cannot connect the dots.  We wait.

I think about the young people that I know, and even the young people that are very close to me.  They have the idea that they have all the time in the world.  I know because I used to have that idea.  All the time in the world.  It’s like Friday night.  You’ve got the whole weekend so party hearty.  It’s really like that.  We really have this idea.  So when we’re young we do not begin our practice. And then when we’re not so young, when we move into real adulthood, we still are in denial.  I tell you when we’re finished being young, the next stage is to pretend that we’re young.  That’s the next thing that we do. And then after pretending that we’re young doesn’t work, we imagine that we’re young.  It’s sort of like that. We keep pushing off the inevitable, which is that moment when we get that life is really passing and something must be done.

This kind of narcotic quality that is part and parcel of samsaric existence is the real enemy here.  It is the real enemy. It causes us to think very strangely, in an odd way, a way that is not productive and is not protective and beneficial toward ourselves.  We are not being our own best friends in other words.  So what happens is we are deluded, we are stuck. We stay without any understanding.  We simply cannot commit to practice.  We have this Scarlet O’Hara kind of idea, that tomorrow is soon enough.  Tomorrow everything will be fine. So we find ourselves in something of a bind.

A person who has not been able to practice these thoughts that turn the mind toward Dharma is in the most trouble because they can’t move to the next step. That’s the next thought that turns the mind towards Dharma, and it’s a very simple one.  It’s actually very logical.  It’s about as logical as the law of gravity seems to be, and the law of gravity seems to be pretty logical.  Drop it and it goes down…every time that I’ve seen.  Show me something different, but every time I’ve seen it.  The law of gravity is kind of logical.  , I don’t know the physics of it, but, basically it means that this is heavier than the air that it displaces so it’s going down. And the earth will pull it down because of the magnetic quality that the motion of the earth produces.  So we understand that this is very logical.

But there is another logical truth that we are missing completely. It’s just as logical, equally as logical, but again we’re playing the game of forever young, never gonna die and always deluded.  That’s the game we’re playing. And here’s the truth that is logical, the truth that we’re missing that is so simple.  If you think about it, you know it’s true and it’s this:  Non-virtuous behavior, such as killing, stealing, adultery, judgment, lack of kindness, lack of generosity, harming others, lying, these kinds of activities bring about unhappiness, every time.  There is no case in which you can engage in nonvirtuous behavior in order to produce happy results.  It will never happen.  It will never happen. In the same way that apple seeds will not grow orange trees, it simply doesn’t happen.

Nonvirtuous behavior, negative behavior, will always, every time, bring unhappiness. The funny thing is we always engage in nonvirtuous activity in order to bring us happiness.  That’s what we think we’re doing.  We lie about somebody else so that, let’s see… Here’s a good example:  Let’s say that I have a boyfriend and my boyfriend loves two women.  I’m one of them.  So I might, in order to bring about my own happiness, lie about that other woman and say “Oh, she’s no good. You don’t want her.  She’s no good.”  I might lie about that other woman so I can have this boyfriend.  I’m thinking that this lie is going to bring me happiness.  It’s never going to happen.  It’s never going to happen, because eventually what’s going to happen is this: Someday you’re going to want something very much.  Someday you’re going to be completely and totally entitled to something, and that person will be able to keep it from you.  You see?  It may not happen in this lifetime.  It may not happen in the next lifetime.  It could happen 10,000 lifetimes from now, where you couldn’t possibly remember, but it will make you unhappy.  Eventually it will make you unhappy.

Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Norbu Lhamo.  All rights reserved

Denial: The Big Picture

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The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Bringing Virtue Into Life”

The Buddha teaches us that this precious human rebirth is very, very brief, as brief as a waterfall going down a mountain.  You know there is no way that you can appreciate that when you’re young.  There is no way.  I know because I’ve been young and now I am middle-aged.  There is no way.  No matter how smart you are.  No matter how spiritual you are.  No matter how you try to stop and think about it. It is so difficult to understand how quickly our lives pass.  When we reach middle age, the big hubbub everybody talks about, we all have mid-life crisis.  Well, that’s what it’s about.  It’s during the middle of our lives when we realize that basically we have been on a weekend pass and, honey, it is Saturday night late, and the only thing you’ve got left is Sunday.  Remember how you used to feel when you were a kid? You looked forward to the weekend so much all week long and by the time it was Saturday night you had this kind of funny feeling realizing that it was pretty much gone.  The only thing you had left was Sunday and you had to go to church!   So that’s how we think, and right around mid-life we begin to understand that life is very short. But it’s very difficult to understand it before that, particularly since in our culture we are not permitted to see death very much.  When our relatives die, they put them in a bag and cart them off.  We never get to see them.  We get to see them when they look pretty.  That’s true! They pretty them up, and then they show them to us after that; but we never really understand what has happened.  So we’re shielded even from having that kind of sensibility.

Not only is life quick but there are certain hidden rules within our lives that we cannot take in.  Why can’t we take them in?  First of all, our minds don’t want to take them in, in the same way that when we are in a traumatic situation we often shield ourselves by being in denial about that situation.  How many of you know about that little psychological trick of denial?  Ever had any denial in your life?  Any of you married?  So we have that wonderful trick of denial.  We are in denial about what is happening with our lives.  We just don’t think about it at all.

Then the other thing about it—if you think about how our minds work—what are your earliest memories?  Some people say they can remember infancy. Some people say they can remember two years old, some people say four.  Usually it’s about three or four years that you can have your earliest, earliest shreds of memory.  Usually that’s the case.  From that time until the age that you are now, that’s all the real memory that you have. So you have a problem, and that is you cannot learn cause and effect.  There is no way that you can learn cause and effect thoroughly from your life.  Do you know why that is?  It’s because many of the causes that have caused your life to be the way that it is now did not happen in this lifetime.  According to the Buddha’s teaching, you have lived many times before—not once, not ten times, but uncountable times in many different forms. And most of the causes that bring about the results of your life right now have been brought about or have been birthed previous to this incarnation, so you can’t possibly make the connection between cause and effect.

Many people resent the idea that it’s actually karma, or cause and effect, that causes us to suffer, because we don’t like the idea that we actually deserve this.  We don’t like that kind of idea.  We don’t like the idea that we may have been bad in the past.  That kind of thinking is a bit childlike, isn’t it?  Truly, it’s a bit childlike.   When you look at your life right now…, let’s say you are experiencing extreme poverty, or let’s say you are experiencing some kind of terrible illness.  If you are experiencing extreme poverty, it’s probably because in the past you have had a lack of generosity towards others.  If you are experiencing some terrible disease, it’s probably because in the past you have broken some vows or commitments that you made with your body.  These are the Buddha’s teachings.

Those things may have happened in this lifetime, but probably have not happened in this lifetime.  Maybe in this lifetime you are very generous.  Maybe in this lifetime you are keeping as many commitments as you can possibly manage.  Maybe you’re doing the very best that you can.  Doesn’t it seem unfair, therefore, that you would suffer from something that happened in a previous incarnation?  What’s really unfair about it is that you can’t connect the dots.  That’s the problem.  You can’t connect the dots.  There’s no way that we as ordinary samsaric beings, ordinary sentient beings with limited view, can possibly connect those dots.  It’s impossible.  What if you were seeing that your life was filled with terrible poverty and that, no matter what you did there was no way to get out of it? And yet you look at your life and you think, “Well, I have been generous.  I’ve tried, you know.  I mean, I’ve tried to give to others.  I’ve tried to be kind.  I mean I haven’t always done it perfectly, but I tried. So why do I deserve this poverty?”  It’s very difficult for us, under that kind of situation, to do anything other than feel sorry for ourselves, and that’s what most of us end up doing.  We end up perpetuating the myth that nothing is connected with nothing, that we don’t have to work at it, we don’t have to think about it.  It’s just the luck of the draw.  So we end up spending most of our lives in denial and complaining, and just not getting the big picture.  That is the worst thing about samsara.

Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Norbu Lhamo.  All rights reserved

 


 

Uncover the Treasure

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The following is from a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:

While every being is sacred and precious, and has within the seed of Buddha-nature it is also difficult to see sometimes. Neonatal nurses in the “old days” could plainly see that babies are born different. To say that now is not politically correct, just not done. However it is true!

Some come out kicking and punching, wailing their healthy lungs out. Some babies come out peaceful, contemplative, eyes open like little old folks. Some seem dull and dazed. Other babies seem joyful, alive, innocent, devilish, comical, sleepy. Many nurses feel a “bad” energy under some conditions. A creepy feeling this child will come to no good. Why is that? Not every odd “feeling” child will grow up to murder their parents. But many babies that don’t feel right do act out. Why? In Buddhism we say this is a reflection of past karma and habitual tendencies. Of course to every mom her baby is a personal event, either yearned for or unwanted. Still, they carry the essence of Buddha. Yet some do grow up haters, mentally unstable, thieves, murderers and meanies. While others become saints, clerics, monks, nuns, caregivers.

Why? We are taught the negative patterns of past lifetimes still reflect in one’s mind stream now. If we apply self honesty and examine our activities in this life we will see. Look in the mirror. Have you caused suffering or benefit? Do you find the habit of helping others or the habit of criminals? You can see and you can change to reflect the precious triple gem within, waiting like a lotus to bloom from the mud, as all lotus must do. Rise up. Bloom, bring beauty. As it is our nature to do so, we must!

At birth we are beings with potential. Mixed karma, good and bad, mixed potential. Yes, the ultimate treasure is within. But we must uncover and polish it until every single facet shows its ultimate potential. And do it with joyful spirit. We are, after all, Buddhas. We have method, intention, and power to benefit all beings. We are free to love and deepen. Free to choose the ground, path and result. EMAHO!

Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo.  All rights reserved

Contemplating the Nature of Suffering

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The following is an excerpt from a teaching by His Holiness Penor Rinpoche called “Meditation”

The samsaric sufferings we experience are the result of non-virtuous actions of the body, speech and mind. For example, if somebody performed a negative action, such as killing, for instance, then the result based on that action, the reaction or its ripening Karma, is for the person’s life to shorten. And in the next lifetime he may be born in the hell realms where he has to suffer the result of the Karma he created. Similarly, if someone thinks that in this lifetime they could obtain material possessions by stealing or robbing, like a rat who steals all kinds of grains, such stealing ultimately ripens its fruit so that in the next lifetime, or maybe in this lifetime, this person may actually not have enough wealth and become very poor. Even the physical body’s negative actions, such as sexual misconduct, have negative results. This can be that within one’s lifetime, or in the next lifetime, one’s family will not be in harmony and will suffer quarrels and fighting. Similarly there are four negativities of speech, which are known as lies, interferences, harsh words and gossip. From these are certain negative results that one experiences, such that whatever one tries to tell, people will not believe. Even when one tries to say something beneficial it will seem like one is trying to harm somebody. Likewise with the three negative mental actions: Greediness, thoughts of harming others and wrong views. Based on these, one will not have success whatever one tries to do in this lifetime or in future lifetimes, one will experience a lot of harm from other beings, one will be unable to remain together with one’s masters, teachers or good friends and so on. These are examples of the ripening of negative actions.

So understanding all these causes and conditions are based on the actions of our body, speech and mind, we should then try to abandon all the ten negative actions and try to train ourselves so that our mindstream flows with the spiritual path. Then one can practice and accumulate all the virtuous activities. The teachings say that if one follows the worldly aspect of the Dharma practice, with good or positive behaviors, that naturally turns into a spiritual path through which one can have peace and happiness. In this way, with our bodies, speech and mind, in whatever conditions of life, it is very important to try to benefit others and have loving kindness toward everybody.

Recycling in Worldly Existence

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The following is an excerpt from a teaching by His Holiness Penor Rinpoche on Meditation, reprinted here with permission from Palyul Ling International:

In this world, as we were born as human beings, we need to have something beneficial that we can do. In general, we have some kind of activity by which to earn our livelihood, just to have something to eat and drink. Of course, not only human beings, but also animals know how to live their lives in this way. As we were born human, we can talk and understand language and meaning. That is the specific characteristic of a human being. So based on that we need to have some ultimate benefit that we can achieve within this lifetime.

Generally speaking, two main activity categories we can engage in: our normal worldly activities and then the Dharma activities. But the majority of the world’s people become very busy with worldly activities rather than following some kind of spiritual practice. These worldly works or activities are based on one’s capabilities and power and skill, and of these there are many different levels – some have more or better and some have less.

However, whatever worldly activities that we complete, whether or not they are good or meaningful, they will only endure for a few months or years. There is not anything within these activities that we can ultimately rely on. For example, from young childhood we pursue educational training, from first grade until graduation. For almost fifteen or twenty years we work very hard and study so that we can get a specific job. Then if through one’s job one becomes more successful, then possibly in twenty or thirty years we consider that we have a better or happier life. And if during all that time, if we have a very pure and sincere mind in all these works, then of course there is some benefit which is known as virtuous action. But there are also those that have the qualifications to do these activities but who have so much ego or arrogance or pride that their works, even if completed, are not really beneficial in this lifetime.

So many human beings consider the benefit for their individual selves as the most important thing. The result is we are all re-cycled over and over in what is called Samsara or the cyclic existence.

We cannot really establish or find out how long we have been drifting about in Samsara or cyclic existence. No one can know for certain how many lives we have taken in this world – one hundred, one thousand, ten thousand, perhaps one million lifetimes. We cannot calculate the countless aeons of times we have been reborn in this world, in this Samsara.

Sometimes we were able to fulfill some of our wishes and sometimes we could not. For this life, from the time we have taken birth from our mother’s womb until now, whatever our ages, we have been constantly thinking about our own benefit and how we can be more happy people. All of our education and financial developments are all just for one’s own benefit. There is not anything left out that one has not thought of for one’s own benefit.

However, whatever we do, fulfill or complete in this lifetime is mainly based on our Karma, the action, of what we have done in our many past lifetimes. One cannot complete one’s every wish immediately because of the Law of Karma. Because have never developed their spiritual side, they mainly have deluded minds. So they are not able to understand the causes and conditions based on the Law of Karma. They can only think of what is happening today, and have no idea what is really going on. They don’t have a deeper level of understanding of these spiritual practices and so they don’t understand what is involved in past lifetimes and future lifetimes. It is because of their obscurations or ignorance that they don’t have any clear understanding about the causes and conditions. They really don’t know anything about the Law of Karma.

His Holiness Pema Norbu Rinpoche

Change Your Mind

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An excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo from the Vow of Love series

In order to cure the symptom of suffering you might decide to manipulate the circumstances, or the environment. If you see people who are hungry, you give them food. If you decide you want to feed them for the rest of their lives so that they are never hungry, then you have to feed them three times a day, every day, for the rest of their lives, or teach them how to feed themselves. What are you going to do when they get sick? They will get sick. What are you going to do when they get old? They will get old. What are you going to do when they get lonely? What are you going to do when all the different kinds of discomfort pop up? What does it matter if you help a few people? What about the other 5.9 billion on the planet? What about the animals? Where will you start? What will you do, if your intention is merely to manipulate the environment so that the discomfort that you see is finished? Even if you have worked every moment selflessly and have given away all your money, and then have gotten money from other people to help, doing everything that you could to make these things happen, you wouldn’t put a dent in it, not even the tiniest dent. Why? Because you are trying to manipulate something that is very superficial.

This apparent reality that we are viewing isn’t that deep. It’s nothing. It’s a ghost. It’s a puff-ball. We can’t move it, because wherever we move it, it will appear somewhere else. We cannot manipulate our environment. We cannot manipulate phenomena and achieve any real lasting success. We can achieve temporary success. We can have the satisfaction of seeing someone fed who has been hungry, and that person can feel the satisfaction of a meal. If we fed people on a grand scale, it might be a grand satisfaction. But it is not permanent, it is not a solution, and the reason, according to the Buddha’s teaching, is that hunger and poverty and loneliness are not the causes of suffering. They are the results or the symptoms of something else. According to the Buddha’s teaching, the root causes of suffering are hatred, greed and ignorance.

We might take issue with that statement. Say we think about a hungry Indian child, or a hungry American child, or a hungry Ethiopian child. Sure, all of them probably do hate because they’re hungry; and they probably are ignorant because they’ve never gone to school; and they probably are greedy. Boy, if you handed one a biscuit, he’d just grab it and run because he’s so hungry. But we have to probe more deeply. We are only looking at a set of symptoms. According to the Buddha’s teaching there is an underlying cause that makes phenomena appear as it does in any given situation, and that cause is karmic. The Buddha’s teaching is that all phenomena arises from a cause, and that everything that is seen, felt, and heard is actually the emanation or the result of one’s own mind. The mind itself produces all visible phenomena. I hope you can really hear that. To change suffering as it appears in the world can never be permanent. It can never do much good. What has to be done is to change the karmic background or cause and effect scenario of one’s own mind. In doing so, you can hopefully come to a place where you can also be of benefit to others.

© Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo

It Really Works: Creating the Causes for Happiness

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The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Your Treasure is Heart”

We are really happiest when we are completely surrendering—letting that love, that concern for the welfare of others, that Bodhichitta—be the captain of our ship, instead of that nasty little manipulative self-serving ego that’s running around trying to control everything and making everybody, including ourselves, crazy.  We will find that the level of neuroses in our lives begins to go down. And we will find that, lo and behold, just like the Buddha taught, we have really begun to create the causes for happiness.  It really works.

There are changes that you’ll go through, changes that I go through constantly, even still.  You may find that happiness does not take the form you thought it was going to take, but let me tell you something.  I’m forty-six years old.  If you have come anywhere near my aged self and haven’t figured out that life is not going to do what you thought it was going to do anyway, then you have been asleep at the wheel!  Why not make it work for you? Because nothing is going to take the form you thought it was going to, no matter what you do.  Most particularly, if you spend your time trying to control and manipulate others, and if you live a life completely concerned with ego-cherishing, then life really won’t deliver.  But hey, figuring that out is all part of growing up.  We see that.  Your five-year plans, your ten-year plans, forget it.  I guess about some aspects of your life you can do that, but you will find that as the Bodhichitta begins to truly manifest in your life, it requires true surrender. And your life will not take the form that you thought it was going to, because this Bodhichitta cannot be controlled.  It is not a toy for you to make only you happy.  It is the display of that nature that is our ground of being and to which we are all equally entitled and ultimately responsible for.  As you begin to taste that nectar, you realize that in all the world, sentient beings are suffering. And in worlds and worlds that we cannot see, sentient beings are suffering; and that we have in our hands, like a precious jewel or a golden key, the means by which some understanding or some help can come to them. So let us now commit our lives and remain absorbed in that kindness, and transform this present life and every future life into a vehicle by which the end of suffering will be brought about and all sentient beings will be liberated.

So this is the teaching, and this is our wish. And I hope from the depth of my heart that each one of you will consider it very carefully and then make the choice for transformation.  We hate that word.  Transformation is a scary key word.  We sort of like it in theory—it sounds so dynamic and powerful. But when, let’s say for instance astrologically, someone says to you, “Well, you know you’re about to go through a major transformation,” we are terrified.  Quick, batten down the hatches.  Don’t let anything change.  But, if you live long enough, you’ll find out that life is going to transform you one way or the other.  You will go through transformations.  You will go through things.  So go through that which will benefit you and all sentient beings.

Do not leave this continent of precious jewels empty handed.  When you go into your next life, I hope from the depth of my heart that you have somehow managed to take the nectar from this life and truly internalize it, and enter into your next life nurtured by the power of Bodhichitta.

Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo.  All rights reserved

Thinking in Full Equations

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The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Your Treasure is Heart”

It is very important to understand why we practice the Bodhichitta.  First, we must examine the Buddha’s four noble truths:  All sentient beings are suffering; they are suffering due to desire; there is a cessation of suffering; and the method for the cessation of suffering is presented in the eight-fold path, or as in our tradition, condensed into the path of wisdom and compassion.  So we engage in the method for those reasons.  Do you see the logic in that?  All sentient beings are suffering.  They are suffering from desire.  However, there is an end to suffering, and this is the method.   Characteristic of the Buddha’s teachings. it is logical, because in the Buddhadharma we’re not asked to do anything on blind faith.  We’re asked to think it through. Once it seems reasonable, logical and true to us, then we are able to practice because that kind of logical activity is appealing. It seems realistic, and it makes sense to us.

So then the next thing we have to do is examine the thoughts that turn the mind toward Dharma. These thoughts that turn the mind toward Dharma are contemplations. They are interesting, thought-provoking, profound and deep sets of concepts and ideas, that help us to examine the six realms of cyclic existence and all their faults.  It is extremely important that we examine them closely so that we can see that cyclic existence is a bit like a drug. We can therefore feel for ourselves how narcotic cyclic existence actually is.  We begin to understand that cause and effect is absolutely true in every way within our lives.  Literally every experience that we have, or have ever had, has been brought about by a cause that we ourselves created.

Actually, cause and effect relationships arise interdependently.  They arise, not separately, but as one. Arising interdependently means that if we have created a cause, then just as surely as anything can be sure, we will live through the effect.  Trust me on this.  The effect can be modified. It can be delayed. It can be subdued. It can be dealt with effectively through certain kinds of practice, but we will still realize the effect of any cause that we have produced.  If you really examine that particular teaching you will learn that virtuous activity, for instance, brings about happiness and good results. Non-virtuous activity, no matter how it looks at first, always brings about unhappiness and suffering.  For example, if you stole a car, at first you might have a great time riding around in it, but eventually that event would ruin your life. If not this life, then surely in the future, it would bring about suffering and unhappiness for you, but you wouldn’t know that. Unless you have the training that cause and effect relationships are actually related, you won’t make the connection

Another thing that we learn on the Buddhist path by practicing this is the great skill of thinking in full equations.  Do you know that most of the suffering in our life is because we cannot think in full equations?  We think like chickens, “Over here this is happening, I’ll do this.  Over there that is happening, I’ll do that.”  It’s as disconnected as “whatever” to us.  We just don’t get it.  But the Buddhadharma teaches us to think in full equations.

So now we’re thinking in full equations and we’re turning our minds toward Dharma. This is a necessary step because we have to realize cause and effect relationships in order to really give rise to the Bodhichitta.

Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo.  All rights reserved

What Is Real?

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From a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

In science we have learned that objects, indeed, people are mostly space. We have atoms and molecules, and between them is empty space. So it is the case as Buddhism states. The primordial ground of being is the self-originating empty luminous state – space.

All appearances are due to the five senses, which are the five grasping skandas. We perceive by these senses all phenomena. The senses are themselves empty of self-nature.

So what is real? That empty, luminous uncompromised ground nature, and even THAT is empty if it is attached to conceptualization. It is natural vibrational attraction, magnetism so subtle that holds “view” together. We can also say that habitual tendencies, KARMA, cause and effect that rules view and condition; phenomenal display. In short we see what we are and according to habit from birth AND before. A cat is a born predator. A rabbit is born prey. Thus it is taught that every thought and action are important as they create every future, and result.

If we intentionally direct our minds toward harm, we ourselves will see the result. Cause and result. If not in this life, then soon. We are dancing in vibrationally-tuned luminosity. Every cause has result. And this is the Karma we bring into our future lives.

Try hard, indeed, accomplish virtue and view. And steer clear of harming others and causing suffering. This is what Lord Buddha taught. Eh Ma Ho.

In the end we will ALL suffer if we harm others. If we cultivate virtue (not just for show) we can benefit beings and know true bliss! Om Ah Hung Benzar Guru Pema Siddhi Hung

© Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

Like a Seesaw

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An excerpt from a teaching called How Buddhism Differs from Other Religions by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

We tend to do things that give us a rush, but it doesn’t make us happy.  For instance, let’s say we decide to drink some alcohol, and we decide to do it a lot, and we decide to get loaded every weekend, and we think, “Boy, you know that gives me something to look forward to because all week long I can be a good person, and then on the weekend I can get loaded, and then I’ll be happy.”  Of course, it doesn’t happen.  Generally, what happens is your body gets sicker.  You get dependent on alcohol in order to feel anything.  And you know eventually the mind just churns in samsara and no new habits or no new understandings or anything that will actually make you happy occurs.  We just get drunk.   And then we sober up on Monday.  And that’s it.  That’s all that happens.  But we keep thinking that if we do it every weekend, and if we do it better every weekend, then eventually one weekend it’s really going to make us happy, and it’s going to last.  And of course, that’s foolish because it never works.  There’s something about human consciousness that makes it difficult for us to learn from experience.  It’s like banging into the wall constantly.  And we go on with behavior that actually makes our situation worse rather than easing it or making us happy or making it better in any way.

For instance, let’s say you really feel that you would be happy if you had more money.  I can’t say that I haven’t thought that.  And I’m sure if I’ve thought that, pretty much everybody has thought it at least once.  And so we think, “Wow, if I had some money, I could do some things, and I would be happier.  I’d really like to go on vacation this summer, and there’s no money to do it with so wouldn’t I be happy if I could go on vacation.”  It’s that kind of thinking.  Let’s say that you put a lot of energy into getting this money.   Let’s say in fact that you put so much energy into it that you’re not quite kosher about it.  You’re not quite above board.  Let’s say you lie a little.  Somehow that brings you a little money.  Let’s say you cheat a little.  Somehow that brings you a little money.  Let’s say you steal a little bit.  Somehow that brings you a little bit of money.  You may get the money.  You may go to jail too.  You may get the money and you may go on vacation, but guess what?   You have set yourself up for more suffering than you could possibly imagine, because even if the vacation goes well, the moment that you took from others, and were dishonest and acted selfishly, at that very instant when you gave rise to a negative cause, the result was also born.  Did you know that?  We think we get away with it until we get caught.  And it’s not true.  The moment we create a nonvirtuous cause, the result is born – at the same moment.

In our lives it seems different because it seems like time is linear.  And it seems like you were really nonvirtuous on Thursday but by Saturday it is still looking good for you.  So you think, “I got away with it.”  No, it doesn’t work that way because you gave rise to the cause, so the result is already there.  Just because it didn’t ripen on Saturday means nothing.   It will happen.  You will have karma with the person that you were dishonest with or that you stole from or that you harmed in some way, and that person will harm you in the future, whether they want to or not, it will happen, because karma is exacting.   It’s cause and effect.

If you can understand how a seesaw works, you can understand how karma works.  If you can understand how you could drop a rock on one side of the pond and feel the vibration on another side of the pond, then you understand how karma works.  Although we can’t see it manifesting in front of our eyes, that’s our great loss because we still think we get away with it.  And it’s simply not true.  Let’s say we go ahead and steal, we go on vacation, and we think it all works out, and then six months later, something dastardly happens to us.   And maybe it reminds you a little bit of the situation in which you were not nice to somebody, and maybe it doesn’t.  If you do catch the connection, bully for you.  You’ve learned something and that’s excellent, but if you don’t catch the connection, and most of us don’t, then it’s unfortunate.

© Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo

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