Cause and effect (part 2)

(3) The infallibility of cause and effect

The concept of cause and effect was introduced in detail in the previous chapter.

The reason why we unconsciously commit so much negative or neutral karma in one day is that we do not understand the law of cause and effect, or even if we understand it, we do not emphasise it and do not have an in-depth appreciation of it in our mind. If we lack the right view on cause and effect, then our body, speech, and mind will not change fundamentally. On the contrary, once we understand the infallibility of cause and effect, and practice diligently, it becomes clearer and clearer. Hence, we must adopt the right view and gradually change the behaviour of our body, speech and mind. Therefore, we must first study the law of cause and effect. With this understanding, we need to practise repeatedly and continuously. We can adapt to the law of cause and effect in our daily lives. Milarepa said that if we cannot give rise to deep faith in the Buddha Dharma, to only have some knowledge is insufficient, as we will still be influenced by the eight worldly concerns. Therefore, to study Buddhism, it is necessary to study cause and effect. Those who do not believe in cause and effect, even though they may discuss emptiness, which is also Buddha Dharma, then all they are doing is talking about it. This is of no inherent value because emptiness is a very profound concept and is difficult to comprehend. If we adopt a strong faith in emptiness, we will understand that emptiness is not separate from cause and effect. The ultimate truth of cause and effect is emptiness. Accordingly, we must put special emphasis on and be very careful with respect to cause and effect. Therefore, the root of all Dharma is the belief in cause and effect. Doing good and avoiding evil is most important in studying the Buddha Dharma.

The law of karma

The all-encompassing karma

The law of karma can be applied at all times, in all places and in all worlds. It is precise and definite. The Sutra of a Hundred Actions states that

The joys and sorrows of beings
All come from their actions, according to the Buddha The diversity of actions
Creates the diversity of beings
And impels their diverse wanderings
Vast indeed is the net of actions!

Take the example of the colourful flowers on a summer meadow. They are not arranged by people, nor are they grown out of nowhere. They are there because of various seeds germinated under the right conditions. The seeds of a snow lotus will not produce chrysanthemums, the seeds of grass cannot grow into flowers, the seeds of spicy plants cannot bring about sweet fruit. Whatever seeds are planted, exactly that plant will grow. Meanwhile, without the right conditions, even if seeds are sown, plants will not grow, such as in the depths of winter, when nothing will grow. If the seeds are planted and there are suitable conditions, the plants will grow and there is nothing that can stop that.

Even if a big stone is placed over these seeds, they cannot be prevented from growing. However, if they are pulled out by the root or the seeds are burnt, after that, no matter how suitable the conditions, there will be no flowers growing. Or if the seeds are still there, but the conditions are altered, the timing of the plant growing may be deferred: in the case of too much rain or too low a temperature the time that the plant can grow may be reduced.

All phenomena in the world adhere to the law of cause, condition, and effect: a certain cause will bring about certain results, like echoes in a valley, matching the original sound exactly, without any mistake or change.

The increase of Karma

In the Treasury of Precious Qualities it is stated:

From seeds no bigger than a mustard grain Grow vast ashota trees, which in a single year Can grow branches each a league in length But even greater is the growth of good and evil.

They are like the seeds of worry-free trees, such as mustard. Every year when the fruit ripens, its branches can grow ten times, equal to forty miles or more, perhaps twenty thousand meters. One centimetre grows into twenty thousand meters. Growth is at a rate of two million times. However, in the continuous mind-stream of sentient beings the growth of positive and negative karma is much greater than this.

There is a story in the Mulasarvastivadin Bhaisajya-vastu relating that when the Buddha was crossing the Mija River, five hundred hungry ghosts approached him. They were all starving, had very thin and dark skin like burnt pillars, masses of hair, huge bellies like mountains, throats as thin as needles, and burning bodies. They put their hands together and bowed to the Buddha and asked what evil deeds they had committed that caused their suffering today. The Buddha offered them water, the hungry ghosts all drank until they passed away. They were then reborn in the god realm and later even attained enlightenment. On hearing this story, those present enquired as to the cause, condition, and results of these ghosts. The Buddha said that in the past, in the time of Kasyapa Buddha, the Buddha and his followers went around begging for alms. Once there were five hundred lay students gathered at one household, where they met the Buddha. These lay students spoke negatively: these Kasyapa Buddha’s students often beg, they look like hungry ghosts. Those lay students who commented on Kasyapa Buddha became those five hundred hungry ghosts. Due to this karma, they had to endure five hundred lives as hungry ghosts, until they now met the Buddha. Since pure belief in the Buddha arose in them, they were reborn in the god realm. Also, since they had practiced the Buddha Dharma in Kasyapa Buddha’s time, they attained enlightenment.

Those five hundred lay students had to endure long painful results, equal to two and a half million years of torture, only as a consequence of the few negative comments toward Kasyapa Buddha and his followers. The rate at which karma multiplies is difficult to describe, even by the metaphor of the ashota tree. Except for the deeds generated without any intention, or the deeds following repentance, all karma generated with either good or evil intention will grow. No matter if it is killing due to anger, or helping unfortunate beings out of compassion, karma will grow exponentially. Even the smallest intentional good or evil deeds will grow over time by a hundred or a thousand times.

Actions not committed will not have consequences
Seeds that are not planted will not grow fruit. Often we hear from news reports of a certain natural disaster sweeping an area leaving many people dead, maybe even only one person or a few people survived. People often believe that these are miracles. However, from the perspective of karma, if the causes of certain results are not planted beforehand, there will be no such results.

Karma once generated will not disappear

Karma will not lose its power and will ripen, no matter how much time passes. Since the effect of karma will not disappear, like a seed, if all the conditions for the seed to grow are still present with favourable conditions, such as earth, water, and sun, with no disturbance and no decay, it will start to grow. In the Samyuttagama sutra it is stated that even if a hundred eons elapse, karma will not disappear. When the conditions are right, sentient beings will reap the results. Unless we repent, the karma we create will not disappear. When the conditions are right, those who generated the karma will undoubtedly bear the results.

There is a story in the Sutra of Miscellaneous Jewels that in the time of the Buddha, King Prasenajit overheard two people having a discussion. The first person said that he earned his livelihood from the king. The second person replied that he earned his living himself and was not dependent on the king. The king wanted to praise the first person, who said his livelihood depended on him. The king asked the queen to pay generously to anyone who delivered some wine. He asked the first person to send wine to the queen; however, he suffered a nose bleed the moment he stepped outside. In these circumstances the first person asked the second person to deliver the wine instead. The queen then gave this person some expensive gifts. When the first person returned to the king, he was astounded. The king only understood why after he explained the reason. The king understood that what the Buddha had said was so true: karma cannot be transferred to anyone else.

Hence, the suffering and happiness of all sentient beings are due to their own karma and no one else is responsible.

Four forces determining the degree of karma

1. The power of conditions

The Guru, the Three Jewels, and the Bodhisattvas are our field of merit and virtue. When we commit even the tiniest negative action against them, our karma will be stronger in comparison to actions committed against other beings. For example, in one of the sutras it is stated that the bad karma of not being willing to look at Bodhisattvas is greater than jailing all sentient beings. Looking at the Bodhisattvas with joy is greater than treating all sentient beings with compassion. If we do not recognise the manifestations of Bodhisattvas, we should be very careful, otherwise it is possible to generate small negativities which result in severe negative karma in future lives.

2. The power of taking the precepts

The power of karma differs greatly depending on whether or not the precepts have been taken. In one of the sutras it is stated that all sentient beings who believe in Mahayana Buddhism and have the status of the Wheel-Turning King, may all offer an ocean of lights using gigantic spills. At the same time, an ordained monk puts oil into a lamp, and offers it in front of the Buddha. The merit of the former is not even one percent compared to the latter. A person who took the precept of not killing sits together with a person who did not take the precept for an hour. Even though they both did nothing, neither of them killed, the person who took the precept has accumulated one hour of merit, while the person who did not take the precept did not accumulate any positive karma, and there is no positive result. Likewise, if someone who took the precepts generates negative karma, he will bear far greater consequences than someone who did not take the precepts.

3. The power of different actions

There is a distinction between the power of different actions, for example, an offering of the Dharma and an offering of money are dissimilar. Of all the offerings, an offering of the Dharma is the most precious. An offering of the Dharma is superior to all other worldly offerings. On the other hand, dismissing the Dharma, or destroying the Dharma, will produce the most severe results.

4. The power of mind

The differing power of the mind when carrying out an activity will produce a different karmic result. For example, performing one mindful prostration with the purpose of benefiting all sentient beings will result in more merit than offering millions of prostrations for the sake of one’s own liberation. From the depths of one’s heart, wholeheartedly performing positive actions is extraordinarily powerful.

In the time of the Buddha, a poor elderly lady saw king Ajatashatru making light offerings to the Buddha, extending from his palace to the Buddha’s residence. The lady was deeply moved and therefore also wanted to make a light offering to the Buddha. She went to buy butter using the two coins, which was all she possessed. The shopkeeper asked, “You can barely make a living, why not buy food instead?” She replied, “The merit of being able to make an offering to the Buddha is very rare. I want to accumulate merit for the future.” She then went to offer the lamp. Because the lamp she offered only had a little butter, it would only stay alight until midnight. She made a wish, “If I can obtain Buddhahood in the future, may the lamp stay alight throughout the night.” Her lamp stayed bright throughout the night. The next morning, even Maudgalyayana could not put the lamp out using his miraculous power. The lamp even lit up as far as the Brahma realm. With this dedicated merit, the Buddha indicated that the elderly lady will obtain Buddhahood in the future. King Ajatashatru asked the Buddha, “Why is my merit so inferior to the old lady’s?” The Buddha answered, “Even though king Ajatashatru accumulated merit, it was not comparable to the merit gained by the wholehearted offering from the old lady.”

This is the merit gained from a wholehearted, pure and faithful offering to the Buddha dedicated to the Buddha Dharma. Due to the pure nature of this motivation, it will reap glorious positive results.

On the other hand, karma generated by a strong motivation of greed or hatred will be greater than that created by habitual actions.

The positivity or negativity of karma is determined by our motivation

To determine the nature of karma, it is necessary to look at our motivation and intention. If we act with positive motivation, even if it may appear to be negative, it may result in positive karma. In a previous life the Buddha was born as a wealthy merchant. When accompanying five hundred other merchants on a ship, they encountered a man threatening to rob and kill them all. The merchant, who was the Buddha in a previous life, thought that these five hundred people are all Bodhisattvas, if this person were to kill them all, he will experience enormous pain in hell. It is a very sad situation. However, if I kill this person before he is able to kill the merchants, he will not be banished to hell. As a result, I may have to be banished to hell for this action. After these thoughts, he took the courage to kill the robber. With such strong compassion, the merchant did not descend into the hells; rather, he accumulated merits of thousands of eons. This is karma with positive motivation that appears to be negative.

However, if we act with the motivation of greed and hatred, even if it appears to be a positive act, we are in fact generating negative karma: for example, building temples for the purpose of fame, making offerings in a competitive manner, trying to avoid embarrassment, and pretending to be a good practitioner. Similarly, pretending to rejoice in the success of others, while concealing our jealousy, will result in negative karma.

Superficially these would appear to be positive actions but negative motivation can only result in negative karma. If on the surface you rejoice in the success of others, but inside you feel jealous, you will go to the realm of Asuras. If you only appear to be a good practitioner, but have strong greed, you will descend into the realm of the hungry ghosts because of the negative karma. As long as your motivations are negative, no matter what kind of positive activities you engage in, you will accumulate negative karma. Therefore, before carrying out any positive actions, examine whether you have the right motivation.

The timing within which karma ripens

We have committed a lot of good or bad karma in our lives. Due to the extent of the karma, its strength or maturation, and its timing, there is a complex net of cause, condition, and effect. Only the Buddha can see clearly the very details of cause and effect. Whether the karma is generated without intention, with intention or with intention but no action, the nature of karma will differ in each case. Among all the different types of karma, the strongest karma will ripen first. If the karma has the same strength, then the karma which is apparent at the moment of death will ripen first. If all karma appears at the time of death, then the karma that is generated more often will ripen first. If the frequency is the same then the karma generated first will ripen first. There are many possibilities regarding the timing of the ripening of karma: some will ripen in the current life, some in the next life, while some will ripen in many future lives.

Karma that results in samsara

All negative, positive or neutral karma created by sentient beings through their body, speech, and mind will keep them rotating in samsara. Karma is the one and only driving force of the wheel of samsara. Abhidharmakosabhasya said that all worldly Dharma results from karma. No matter where people may hide after generating karma, they will never escape from it. Karma follows us like our shadow. It is like water spilling out when a cup is broken, even though the form of the cup changed, the water does not change. Karma is like water, it will not just vanish. Good and bad karma will ripen when the conditions are right and then we will undoubtedly experience the consequences.

People often think that the afflictions and pain that they suffer today are due to others hurting them, or they were not careful enough, or it is due to bad luck. In fact, none of the circumstances in this life are there by chance. They are a consequence of ripened karma that was created in the past. Due to the different levels of karma in the past, the results today are also different. Thanks to the power of karma in our past lives, we obtained the human form and came into this world. Everyone has very different circumstances, men or women, poor or rich, beautiful or ugly, clever or ignorant. Likewise, what we are thinking, speaking, and doing will determine the destination of our next life, in which the same causes will bring about the same results. No one can change this without repentance.

All karma will therefore result in related consequences: retributive consequences, aggregated consequences and homogenous consequences (including similar consequences and regenerating consequences). In general, negative actions will result in negative consequences, for example, hatred results in the descent into the hell realm, while jealousy results in the entry into the Asura realm. The ten virtuous actions will bring positive results, for example, virtuous deeds result in ascent to the god realm, while practicing the Buddha Dharma results in being reborn in the Pure Land or obtaining Buddhahood.

All sentient beings generate positive, negative or neutral karma through their body, speech and mind. There are ten non-virtuous deeds and ten virtuous deeds that affect the destiny of sentient beings.

This chapter is part of: Introduction Course - Part 1: Renunciation