THE SNOW LION NEWSLETTER

Usually, karma is referred to as a kind of destiny, but it isn't. Karma is action. That is the literal translation. It simply means 'work'. Moving your cushion from here to there is karma. It is not something done in the past; it is present. We are doing it. In Buddhism we hear 'karma, karma, karma', but where does karma lie? In the motivation.

Motivation has two levels—causal and resultant. Causal motivation is fundamental, and resultant motivation is that which is present in the moment of action. With what kind of intention did we have breakfast this morning? Sometimes it is easy to calculate how much good or bad karma is being accumulated. The fundamental intention that we have before each activity will transform one hour, say, or more into either dharma or nondharma. So, this is causal intention.

Then there is resultant or momentary intention. We might have had a good intention before a meeting, but during it some disturbance or wrong intention comes into our minds. However, that doesn't matter so much. Between these two—causal and resultant—causal is the more important; it has the greater power to transform. Positive karma still accumulates from the power of causal intention. So momentary intentions are secondary.

The Bodhicharyavatara by Shantideva points out that the root of dharma practice lies in intention. I would like to emphasise that it doesn't necessarily matter what you are doing. And awareness is the key to keeping positive intentions alive. I feel this is a very important element in Buddhist practice—a state of mind and heart which covers not only something in the beginning but also during. The first motivation is the one which determines what follows—whether it becomes positive, negative or neutral; it determines whether positive or negative karma is created.

Sometimes we may think like this, "Now I'm practicing. Now I'm not practising, I'm reading." But this is dualistic. There is no difference between practising the dharma and our everyday lives, whether preparing breakfast, going to the office, driving, or whatever—all these things should be carried out with dharmic motivation.

We may practice the dharma with three different levels of motivation—with the motive of attaining good conditions in a future lifetime, with the motive of realising nirvana, or with the motive of dedicating one's life to the causes of Buddhahood, to full enlightenment, to the awakened state. Out of these three motivations any action could become dharma practice. On the other hand, being able to sit like a Buddha statue is not dharma practice, and dharma practice is not for making oneself relaxed or getting rid of headaches, "Oh, I have a headache, I need to meditate." We don't need to practice the dharma for this; there are better methods for getting rid of headaches. Using the dharma with this kind of intention is very poor. Feeling relaxed or being relieved of a headache may, of course, be an outcome of meditation.

Buddhism teaches that we can overcome any physical problem with mental strength. Physical problems, small problems, are nothing for real practitioners; they are conditions for expanding the potential of their practice. Do we practice the dharma in order to resolve a small headache? No! If serious practitioners have headaches or some other kinds of pain or difficulties, these things become the conditions for expanding their spiritual strength of dharma, for realisation. This strength, this inner quality, has the power to overcome any external or physically-related problem. That is one special characteristic of dharma practice. To use that quality we need to know exactly how dharma works, what the process is, what it is really meant for, and how it affects us within.

Venerable Gedun Tharchin is a Lharampa Geshe from Jangtse College of Ganden Monastic University of Tibet in India. He resides in Rome and teaches in Italy and abroad.

To read more on this topic, see Bodhisattva and Lojong Training