Lama Zopa Rinpoche's Online Advice Book
Lam-rim Topics :
Karma
| Karma |
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| Rinpoche offered the following advice on how karma becomes more powerful from an action when there are many people gathered together. | |
Karma becomes powerful when there are many people gathered together. For example, if one hundred people all gather together with the intention to kill a sheep and kill a sheep, everyone receives the negative karma of killing a sheep. That also means if the government makes the decision to go to war and many people are killed, if that’s what the government and the people of the country want, then everyone receives the karma of killing however many people are killed. So, if one human being is killed, all the people who wanted that receive the karma of killing one human being. If 1,000 people are killed, they all receive the karma of killing 1,000 people. Without the support of other people, if one person kills one sheep, then this person receives the negative karma of having killed the sheep. Comparing which karma is more powerful, the previous one, where so many people had the same intention and killed one sheep, is more powerful. Just one person killing a sheep is less powerful.
Similarly, if one hundred people build a stupa or just one person builds a stupa, as far as merits received, it is the same, but the first situation is more powerful than if only one person builds the stupa.
Similarly, if you compare one Sangha1 reciting a sutra in a temple or room alone, compared to reciting a sutra with all the assembly of Sangha present, the latter one, reciting a sutra with all the Sangha, is much more powerful. This applies to reciting prayers like Lama Chöpa, for example. Reciting them in a group is more powerful. When the karma is more powerful, the result comes more quickly, whether it’s a project or realization. This is not mentioned in all the lam-rims, but it’s mentioned in the Kadampa thought transformation teachings.
Notes
1 Literally gen-dun: “intending virtue”.
| Karma |
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| Rinpoche made the following remarks about karma. | |
In some ways, you can say even just looking at flowers is an expression of your mind. In your view, you see so many different plants, leaves, and flowers of incredible designs and shapes, each having its own beauty. Anything that is beautiful, that you enjoy, that you find nice, comes from your good karma; it is a production of good karma, an expression of your mind, your positive thoughts. It is like the reflection of your face in a mirror. If your face has many pimples or cuts, or your nose is missing, that's what you see in the mirror. A clean, beautiful face reflects a clean, beautiful image. Another example is taking a picture: you put the imprint of people or a country on the negative roll of film using the camera, then after the roll is developed, the image appears from the paper as photos, a movie, a TV image, or a slide show.
In our lives, everything that appears to us – an enemy or a friend – is like that. Ugly, beautiful, indifferent, everything that appears is exactly like that – coming from our mind, a creation of our mind. We should understand, like looking at the flowers, that how a person thinks about you, talks to you, or behaves towards you, pleasantly or unpleasantly, liking you or not liking you, having pleasant or unpleasant feelings towards you – all comes from your mind and is a production or reflection of your negative or positive thoughts. They are productions or creations of karma.
| Karma is More Powerful When Created by Many |
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| Rinpoche gave the following advice on karma, along with a commentary from a Kadampa Thought Transformation teaching. | |
Karma is more powerful when it is created by many people. For example, if one hundred people all ‘gathered the intention’ and then killed a sheep, each one of these people will have the negative karma of killing that sheep.
This means that if a government makes the decision to go to war and they are supported by the population of that country, each person will receive the karma of killing, however many people die. If one human being is killed, they will all receive the karma of killing one human being. If a thousand people are killed, they will all receive the karma of having killed a thousand people.
But if one person kills a sheep without the support of other people, [only] that person will get the negative karma of having killed one sheep. If you compare to see which karma is more powerful, the previous instance, where many people had the same intention and then killed a sheep is more powerful. Just one person killing a sheep is less powerful.
Similarly, if one hundred people build a stupa or just one person builds a stupa, the merit is the same but the first is more powerful [because there are many rather] than just one person building the stupa.
Similarly, [if you compare the karma of] one sangha person—a monk or nun—reciting a sutra once in a temple or room without any other support, or reciting a sutra with all the assembly of sangha, the latter—reciting the sutra with all the sangha—is much more powerful.
This applies to reciting prayers like Lama Chöpa alone in one’s own room or in the temple, or practicing it with a group. Reciting it in a group is more powerful. The more people there are supporting the practice, the more powerful it becomes.
When karma is more powerful, the result comes more quickly, whether it is a project or realization.
| Purifying Negative Karma |
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| Rinpoche gave the following advice on how to purify negative karma. | |
The three ways that negative karmas become purified are:
1) The best way: One never experiences the suffering results of the most powerful negative karmas.
2) Although you were going to experience the negative karmas as being reborn for many eons in the hell, animal, and hungry ghost realms, instead you experience all of that negative karma in this life by being criticized by others, by having bad dreams, nightmares, toothache, headaches, or some other discomfort. Then you don’t need to reincarnate in the lower realms where you would experience heavy suffering for many eons.
3) You experience suffering due to the negative karmas, but you experience them much more lightly and for a shorter time, for example, even just for one minute or second, like the time it takes for a stone you threw to hit a rock.
This is how to experience problems and use them to develop compassion for others. It is good to meditate on these two verses from Guru Puja:
Please grant me blessings to realize that the chronic disease of cherishing the “I” is the cause giving rise to undesirable sufferings. Put the blame on that, begrudge it, and destroy the great demon: cherishing the “I.”
Please grant me blessings to cherish all mother sentient beings (the all-obscured suffering beings) and to have the thought to lead them to happiness. This is the door to infinite happiness. Even if all migratory beings become my enemy, may I be able to cherish them more than my life.
You can put these two verses on your wall and read them all the time.
Profiting from Selling Alcohol
A Chinese businessman asked for advice regarding whether it is bad to make money selling wine, caviar, and canned salmon. Rinpoche was concerned about the effect on him of mentioning the result of selling alcohol, which is to be reborn in the hell realms, and so began by speaking to him for some time about the lay vow of abstaining from alcohol.
An exception would be if a thousand people are dying of starvation and there is no other way to save them except by selling alcohol to them, then in that case it is better to sell it than to refuse them.
Selling alcohol, unless one has a great purpose and is doing it with strong compassion, is better to avoid.
It is explained in the Vinaya teachings, Dorwa Lung, that there are eight hot hells, called Black Line hot hell, and so on. A person who drinks alcohol gets born in the fifth hot hell, called Great Lamentation, and the person who sells wine gets reborn in the Great Crying Hell and also in the Iron House Hell, which is a house in a burning fire with no way to escape.
It is better to gradually change the nature of your business, and give the money that comes from these things to a good cause, such as charities. Psychologically, it feels better to do it this way, in the short term.
