Karma never chose us but we choose them instead

Question: I am new to Buddhism and a beginner to practice the Buddha-Dharma teachings and do not know much about 'Karma'. What should I do to avoid doing unwholesome or bad Karma.

Answer: As we sow, we will reap somewhere, sometime in this life or in the future birth. What we reap today is what we have sown either at the present or in the past. Karma is action and Vipaka is the fruit or result as reaction. As Karma may be good or bad, wholesome or unwholesome so is the Vipaka the fruit is good or bad. As Karma is mental so Vipaka is mental state of the mind

The Samyutta Nikaya states:

"According to the seed that’s sown,

So is the fruit you reap there from,

Doer of good will gather good,

Doer of evil, evil reaps,

Down is the seed and thou shalt taste

The fruit thereof."

"Karma" to an ordinary Buddhist serve as a deterrent to commit evil thought and action while to an intellectual being serve as an incentive to do wholesome or good deed through action and thought. Though Karma is a complex subject that binded within it, those who understood about it will becomes kind, moderate, tolerance, and considerate of others and to his /her own self.

However those who do not understand about 'Karma' but have the sincere and pure mind to perform good deeds through action and thought that bring all goodness and benefit others and to their own self are also becoming kind, moderate, tolerance, and considerate too. The Four Noble Truth and Eightfold Path of the Lord Buddha teaching is the best teacher, master and the guidelines to practice and cultivate wholesomeness to leave sufferings.

There are many Buddhists who understood and yet without any hesitation or second thought they commit all sort of bad and evil actions and thoughts and when 'Karma' retribution are seeking them, they will never stop pondering or ask 'Why me? Why not fair to me? I've been a very good person and why the Buddha and Bodhisattva have no mercy on me? and etc'. They had forgotten what they had done onto others and own self with all evil in their mind regardless whether they had committed with the intention or unintentionally thought through their actions.

The primary root cause of this happening is because of human behavior that are too ignorance and arrogance to listen to the wholesome teachings of the Buddha-Dharma and put into practice . We might have been told by those who know and understood about the Buddha-Dharma teachings to avoid evil and do goodness yet there are many who turned their blind eyes and back upon hearing that. Eventhough, we might have heard many times from others that those who create unwholesome, bad and evil karma, the consequences are unimaginable to describe however those who are not 'Mindful' enough will commit it anyway. There are times when asked to walk along the right path or Buddha path, many choose to walk along the left path, wayward path or evil path.

"Karma" is a universal law by itself, which operates on its own field without any intervention of any external influence, it is an independent ruling platform with no emotion and no mercy. The manifestation of Ignorance (avijja) within the mind, is not knowing things as they truly are and this is the primary cause of the 'Karma'. Karma never chose us but we choose them instead! Good Health and Buddha Bless! May All Sentient Beings Leave Sufferings!

Buddha Advises You to love Thyself

"Nobody deserves love from someone more from thyself. Confidence is built from believing in and loving yourself. If we don't love ourselves, how do we expect another person to give us love? Learn to love yourself before anything else."

~ Buddha ~

The Buddha Teaching on generosity

The Buddha never pressured anybody to give. When he talked on the topic of generosity, it was //after// people had given something, to make them rejoice in the fact that they'd done something good. But he was trying to make the point that we do have freedom of choice, and it's that freedom to give that feels really good. The times when you give because you have to give: they don't feel nearly as good as the times when, simply out of the goodness of your heart, you realize you have something that someone else could use it well, and you're happy to give it to them.

This relates to his teachings on karma, that we do have freedom of choice in the present moment. The people who said that there was no worth in giving either said, “Well, if everybody's predetermined to do whatever they're going to do, then those who give and those who don't give: it's simply a matter of the stars or the creator of the world or past actions force them to do that. So there's no virtue in giving.” And the Buddha's saying, “No, there is virtue in giving.”

He's also saying that the people you give to, there's worth there, it's not that there's nothing there or the people get wiped out at death. They don't. They move on wherever their cravings take them. And so when you help somebody, you give something to someone who's going to be lasting for a long time." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Spread Goodness Around", 17min mp3 audio,

The purpose of the Buddha's teachings

"The purpose [of the Buddha's teachings] is to help us create happiness. And to find a happiness that lies even deeper that doesn't have to be created. But to find that happiness, to develop the path to that happiness, we have to understand suffering. And that means we have to understand what our minds are doing right now to create suffering. Because that's the suffering that weighs the mind down.

The pains that come in from outside, the misfortunes out there in the world: they don't have to make us suffer. It's what we do as we find out about them and we deal with them: That's where the suffering comes that weighs us down. So [when] we understand this process well then we don't have to suffer that way." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Genuine Happiness", 14min mp3 audio,

Two Hands Washing -

When the Buddha talked about appropriate attention, he defined it in terms of the four noble truths. Learning to see where the stress is, where’s the cause, where’s the cessation of stress, and what you’re doing to help the stress stop. The questions should be aimed in that direction. And you use those standards to judge the answers, the results that you get.

The answers you get, many times, are not verbal answers. What you get is a state of mind. We’re dealing here with realities. The noble truths are not just words about stress and suffering. You’re dealing with the actual sensations." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Two Hands Washing"

The qualities of the heart are conditional

When we learn to appreciate the joy that comes from generosity, honor, compassion, and trust, we see that it's much more fulfilling than the pleasure that comes simply from grabbing what we can for ourselves. We realize that our happiness can't be independent of the happiness of others. We can give one another our belongings, our time, our love, our selves, and see it not as a loss but as a mutual gain.

Unfortunately, these qualities of the heart are conditional, for they depend on a tender web of beliefs and feelings — belief in justice and the basic goodness of human nature, feelings of trust and affection. When that web breaks, as it so easily can, the heart can turn vicious. We see this in divorce, broken families, and society at large. When the security of our food source — the basis of our mental and material well-being — gets threatened, the finer qualities of the mind can vanish. People who believe in kindness can suddenly seek revenge. Those who espouse non-violence can suddenly call for war. And those who rule by divisiveness — by making a mockery of compassion, prudence, and our common humanity — find a willing following for their law-of-the-jungle agenda.

This is why compassion based only on belief or feeling is not enough to guarantee our behavior — and why the practice of training the mind to reach an unconditioned happiness is not a selfish thing. If you value compassion and trust, it's an imperative, for only an unconditioned happiness can guarantee the purity of your behavior. Independent of space and time, it's beyond alteration. No one can threaten its food source, for it has no need to feed. When you've had even just a glimpse of this happiness, your belief in goodness becomes unshakable. That way other people can totally trust you, and you can genuinely trust yourself. You lack for nothing.

Purity of heart is to know this one thing." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Purity of Heart"

when You realize that happiness is something important, then you have to develop important qualities of mind

You realize that happiness is something important, and if it really is important, then you have to develop important qualities of mind.

As we do this, we find that our actions become less and less harmful; there is less and less cause for conflict. On the one hand, that makes it easier for us to practice. On the other hand, it makes the world a better place to be in general — and in particular, in terms of our thoughts, the world of our own mind becomes better, too, because, of course, our actions and words come out of our thoughts. This is where the Buddha finds the source of conflict to begin with." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "No Happiness Other than Peace"

Purity of heart is to know this one thing

"When we learn to appreciate the joy that comes from generosity, honor, compassion, and trust, we see that it's much more fulfilling than the pleasure that comes simply from grabbing what we can for ourselves. We realize that our happiness can't be independent of the happiness of others. We can give one another our belongings, our time, our love, our selves, and see it not as a loss but as a mutual gain.

Unfortunately, these qualities of the heart are conditional, for they depend on a tender web of beliefs and feelings — belief in justice and the basic goodness of human nature, feelings of trust and affection. When that web breaks, as it so easily can, the heart can turn vicious. We see this in divorce, broken families, and society at large. When the security of our food source — the basis of our mental and material well-being — gets threatened, the finer qualities of the mind can vanish. People who believe in kindness can suddenly seek revenge. Those who espouse non-violence can suddenly call for war. And those who rule by divisiveness — by making a mockery of compassion, prudence, and our common humanity — find a willing following for their law-of-the-jungle agenda.

This is why compassion based only on belief or feeling is not enough to guarantee our behavior — and why the practice of training the mind to reach an unconditioned happiness is not a selfish thing. If you value compassion and trust, it's an imperative, for only an unconditioned happiness can guarantee the purity of your behavior. Independent of space and time, it's beyond alteration. No one can threaten its food source, for it has no need to feed. When you've had even just a glimpse of this happiness, your belief in goodness becomes unshakable. That way other people can totally trust you, and you can genuinely trust yourself. You lack for nothing.

Purity of heart is to know this one thing." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Purity of Heart"

The purpose of practicing Buddhist meditation

So for [the Buddha], the purpose of the meditation is not to celebrate oneness or to celebrate acceptance. It's to develop two very different kinds of emotions: disenchantment and dispassion. The Pali word for disenchantment, nibbida, also means distaste, disgust, or revulsion, which may sound strong, but it needs to be strong. It's an antidote to our strong attachment to feeding on things. That attachment, the Buddha said, is the essence of suffering. The word upadana, which means clinging, also means the act of eating, of taking sustenance. He says that upadana lies at the essence of suffering and stress. So what we need to learn is how to look at the things we feed on until we develop a strong sense that we don't want to feed on them any more." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Disenchantment", Meditations4

Noble treasures or Noble wealth in Buddhism

The Buddha called the qualities that we develop on the path noble treasures or noble wealth. And he was not at all shy about using financial analogies to explain the path, to explain the goal. The arahant, he said, is someone who's totally without debt, feeds off the alms of the country without debt, he says.

And the forest ajaans carry out this image as well. Ajaan Maha Boowa talks about being an inner millionaire, and the state of mind that you gain with awakening as a Dhamma treasure.

So you hear nothing in the forest tradition about trying to get away from spiritual materialism. They're quite frank about the fact that you want to develop good qualities and that these are really valuable.

Ajaan Lee has a nice statement. He says when you let go, you want to let go like a wealthy person and not like a pauper. The pauper doesn't have a Cadillac and he says, "Well, I'll just let go of any desire to have a Cadillac." That's nothing compared to a wealthy person who has the Cadillac and is willing to let that go. Because there's a real Cadillac there, other people can benefit from it.

In other words, the good qualities that you develop in the mind are not only for your own good." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "The Gift of Spiritual Materialism", 9min mp3 audio,

shaping the present moment, you shape the next moment and the moment after that

you’re acting here with intention. You’re not just being passively aware of what’s happening in the present moment. You’re trying to shape the present moment skillfully, and through shaping the present moment, you shape the next moment and the moment after that, at the same time remembering your original intention to stay with the breath.

So even though our primary focus is on the present moment, we’re bringing past and future to bear on the present: a clear memory of why we’re here, and what we should be doing, what we should be focusing on. And when you find something good, what you do to maintain it." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Past & Future in the Present"

it’s impossible to be lost

You are constantly being found, whether you know it or not. ...no matter what is going on—no matter how distracted you think you are, no matter how much you feel like a terribly lazy individual who has completely lost track of her good intentions and is now hopelessly astray—even then you have the responsibility and the ability to take all negativity, bad circumstance, and difficulty and turn it into the path.

DIAMOND SUTRA – “DWELL ON NOTHING WHATSOEVER”

If a Bodhisattva retains the thought of an ego, a person, a being, or a soul, he is no more a Bodhisattva.” –Diamond Sutra, translated by D. T. Suzuki in the Manual of Zen Buddhism

It was reported on the news that on Wednesday March 8, some people celebrated “A Day Without a Woman” with various kinds of activities and protests such as walking off their jobs for the day. Apparently the intent was to air grievances and declare some level of victimhood. If people in the ordinary human world wish to spend their time doing that kind of thing, I guess it is their prerogative.

In Buddhism we cultivate a different kind of thinking and a different kind of attitude. The target in Buddhism is to transcend being a human being, which means to transcend self. We transcend self and all that it entails to be human and what it means to have human consciousness and awareness of self.

To be a human being means that one has many attributes, traits, and characteristics. In Buddhism we cultivate the mindset of recognizing that they are all empty and ultimately meaningless, and in our practice we actively and deliberately throw them all away. In Buddhism we awaken the truth—the truth that we stand nowhere. We aim to be nothing but a fresh breeze in zazen and in our activities and relationships.

What are the many attributes of a human being? We could list many of them, couldn’t we? A human being must be either male or female, to begin with. A human being has cultural and ethnic background. A human being’s cultural and ethnic background is almost always a blend of a variety of ethnicities and cultures. As well, we individuals each have a plethora of distinctions and personality traits. There are many things that distinguish each individual as compared to other humans and other beings in general.

In Buddhism we consider all these things to be empty. It becomes poisonous to attach to any of our attributes or characteristics or distinctions. In the Diamond Sutra it says, “Dwell on nothing whatsoever.” This means non-attachment. This is what compassion is: To teach others not to attach to self or to any phenomena in any way.

No attribute or characteristic exists without consciousness. The true nature of consciousness, self, and existence are the core issues of Buddhism.

A practitioner of Buddhism does not dwell on whether he is a woman or a man. We practice to throw this and everything else away. People in the general population who do not cultivate wisdom hang onto these attributes, characteristics, and personality traits very tightly. To do this is to hang on tightly to self.

The ordinary human world teaches to hold onto self, fixate self and assert self. To one-sidedly affirm self is the cause of all suffering. To hold onto self guarantees suffering. To fixate consciousness one-sidedly this way is the illness of the human world. To fixate self and always assert, “I am a woman” or “I am a man,” for example, becomes a poison. To become entrenched in one’s identity and fixate there makes one ill.

We should celebrate a day called “A day without a woman or a man”—or even better—“A day without a human being.” This would be a day that brings happiness. There was a Zen master who said, “I am not a human being.” This was told in one of the koans of the Mumonkan, Case Number Two entitled, “Hyakujo and a Wild Fox.”

The only true way to experience One World is to realize the truth of One Buddha Nature. This is the quest of one who seeks perfection of wisdom. Many in the ordinary mindset of the ordinary world think they should try to manipulate and mold the world into their vision of what it should be. That is the mindset of conquest. If one wants to experience One World, one must negate the self completely and realize true self which is no self.

One should take one’s place on the Great Mandala—the great cosmos—and do his best to manifest his true nature, his true self. True self is No Self. No Self is True Love. To manifest true self is to manifest True Love. Why is true self No Self? Because self is nothing but a production of human consciousness.

From the Buddhist standpoint, every day is “A Day Without a Woman” because there is no woman in existence. There is no man in existence. There is no human being in existence.

The primary state is the source of self, and the primary state is No Self. True self is always there, but we are not experiencing it because we have obscured the truth with layers and layers of false views created by conditioned human consciousness.

When the emperor of China asked Bodhidharma, “Who is this before me?” Bodhidharma said, “I don’t know.” This “I don’t know” was not a simple, ordinary statement. It was a manifestation of true nature, One Buddha Nature—it was the manifestation of the Thundering Silence

Mindfulness of impermanence

"If we can flip our habitual mind and see the impermanence and unsteadiness of thoughts, emotions, relationships, and events, our actions will begin to change. Our priorities will begin to shift. Our faith in the teachings will increase, and we will be lighter hearted, because we have less fixation and less pain."

How Siddhartha Seek for Nirvana

After seeing the four sights, Siddhartha could not sleep when night came. He was in bed thinking that one day, everyone would grow old, grey, wrinkled, toothless and ugly like the old beggar. He wanted to know if anyone had found a way to stop this horrible thing — old age, sick and dead. 

After many days of contemplation and distress, Siddhartha visited the city for the fourth time. As he was driving to the park he saw a happy man wearing an orange coloured robe. He asked Channa, "Who is this man wearing an orange robe? His hair is shaved off. Why does he look so happy? How does he live and what does he do for a living?"

"That is a monk." replied Channa, "He lives in a temple, goes from house to house for his food and goes from place to place telling people how to be peaceful and good." The prince felt very happy now. He thought, "I must become one like that," as he walked through the park.

He walked until he was tired, then sat under a tree to think some more. As he was sitting under the cool shady tree, news came that his wife had given birth to a fine baby boy. When he heard the news he said, " An impediment ("rahula") has been born to me, an obstacle to my leaving has been born," and thus his son's name became Rahula.

As he was returning to the palace he met the Princess called Kisagotami. She had been looking out of the palace window and, seeing the prince coming, was so taken by his handsome looks that she said loudly, "Oh! How happy must be the mother, and father, and the wife of such a handsome young prince!"

As he passed this woman, Siddhartha heard this and thought to himself, "In a handsome figure the mother, father and wife find happiness. But how does one escape obstacles and suffering to reach nirvana (escape from suffering, a lasting liberation which is happiness and genuine peace)?" With this question he realised what he must do. "I must quit this household life and retire from the world in quest of enlightenment. This lady has taught me a valuable lesson. I will send her a teacher's fee." Loosening a valuable pearl necklace from about his neck, Siddhartha honoured his word and sent it as payment to Kisagotami, with thanks.

that night Siddhartha left his palace to seek for Nirvana. He traveled for whole night passed three kingdoms reached to the place where He spend six years of seeking the way of enlightenment. 

after six years, He realized that not the way to reach enlightenment or Nirvana . Then He found the eight noble paths which is the right way to enlightenment. 

Meditation of the Four Great Elements

Before meditation, think about your generosity such as alms giving, giving foods accommodation to poor people, escape animals from killing, helping other people. This will help you to achieve some concentration level before meditating.

Then meditate like this,

1. Outside world, Excrement is element of matter, not mine. Hair is a element of matter, not mine.

like above think fir, nails, tooth, skin, flesh, nerves, bones, bone marrow, kidney, hart, liver, diaphragm, intestines, omit, excrement is not mine while comparing external excrement as above.

2. Outside world, urine is element of water, not mine. blood is a element of water, not mine.

like above think bile, phlegm, mucus, sweat, tears is not mine while comparing external excrement as above.

3. Outside world, such as a was basket generate heat. Such temperature is element of heat, not mine. Temperature of body is a element of heat, not mine.

We feel the bad smell through wind.

4. Outside world, wind is element of gas, not mine. Inhale exhale breath is a element of gas, not mine.

Why do we compare ugly outside elements with out body elements? Because consciousness is clinging on our body for many neon's. In order to escape the consciousness from body we use ugly element like urine excrement.

After meditation like above, having release the consciousness from hateful body you will reach a peaceful and pleasurable mental state which never experienced before. That state called GHANA level concentration. After liberating the mind from the body Consciousness and Space remains. It is not permanent too.

Then think about like this,

I have taken beauty in the ugly, there is a pleasure in suffering, things that are no self are mine earlier. I have done bad deed and suffered for long time in SANSARA to that misunderstanding and bad deeds. Now i eliminate such wrong understanding and bad deeds like lying.

Now think, the concentration and everything is impermanent, because it is made by giving DHAMMA to mind. Nibbana is the extinction of all the cravings. Nibbana is permanent, because it does not made of anything.

Spread Metta to all beings, not self.

You will reach infinite state of Metta and understand the great enlightenment.

Mindfulness of The Four Great Elements

The Four Great Elements are qualities used to describe physical things; they are not a primitive chemistry objects like atom. They are energy form the physical elements. These elements can also be used to categories parts of the body and bodies of all beings.

1. element of matter - solidity, heaviness are characteristics of matter element. Therefore, hair bones flesh like solid elements in our body made by most of the matter element.

2. element of water - liquidity and cohesion are characteristics of water element. Therefore, blood sputum sweat like liquid elements in our body made by most of the water element.

3. element of heat - Temperature is the characteristics of heat element. Fire has most of the heat element.

4. element of gas - Rapid movement is the characteristic of gas element. Inhale exhale gas has most of the heat element.

Every object has these four elements. Some elements are significant in some objects but others are less. Then that object have the characteristics of that particular element.The Earth elements of the body are the organs, tissues, and bones. The Water elements are the bodily fluids − blood, urine, semen. The heat element is the body's temperature. The Air (or Wind) elements are, for example, the air in the lungs, stomach and bowel gasses.

When seeing the body as the four elements, you may see it as essentially the same the elements in the physical world. For example, the bones are likened to any solid thing, like a stone. The body is not the self, or mine. It is the same as the other physical objects. So the organs are the same, physically, as clay or any other example of the earth element.

The Five Precepts - panca-silani - The basic Buddhist code of ethics

The Blessing, Peacefulness, Thoughtfulness and Wholesomeness of our noble lives as layperson depend on the sincerity in practice and upholding the Five Trainings in the Buddhist Precepts beside the Eightfold Path teachings of the Lord Buddha.

The Five Precepts (Pali: panca-silani, Sanskrit: पञ्चशीलानि panca-silani) constitute the basic Buddhist code of ethics, undertaken by lay followers (Upasaka and Upasika) of the Buddha Gautama in the Theravadan as well as in Mahayanan traditions school. The precepts in both traditions are essentially identical and are commitments to abstain. The below are the basic Buddhist Precepts for any Buddhist Daily Training.

1) To undertake the training to avoid taking the life of beings. This precept applies to all living beings not just humans. All beings have a right to their lives and that right should be respected.

2) To undertake the training to avoid taking things not given. This precept goes further than mere stealing. One should avoid taking anything unless one can be sure that is intended that it is for you.

3) To undertake the training to avoid sensual misconduct. This precept is often mistranslated or misinterpreted as relating only to sexual misconduct but it covers any overindulgence in any sensual pleasure such as gluttony as well as misconduct of a sexual nature.

4) To undertake the training to refrain from false speech. As well as avoiding lying and deceiving, this precept covers slander as well as speech which is not beneficial to the welfare of others.

5) To undertake the training to abstain from substances which cause intoxication and heedlessness. This precept is in a special category as it does not infer any intrinsic evil in, say, alcohol itself another word of saying is, alcohol is not evil by itself but taking and indulgence in such a substance could be the cause of breaking the other four precepts.

********** Buddhist practitioners who are following the Mahayana Tradition School who have taken Bodhisattva vows, will also follow a strictly vegetarian diet. If there is no additional precept given by the respective school, disciples are taught to strengthening particular of the first precept; 'To undertake the training to avoid taking the life of beings'. The eating of meats would be considered a contribution to the taking of life, indirect though it may be. There may be some additional precepts in different school of Buddhism teachings however all are equal that lead to the 'Ultimate Enlightenment' **********

Buddhist teachings compassion

When we see someone suffer and we have courage and compassion, we can intend to take this suffering away from the person and load it upon ourselve. With breathing in we imagine that the suffering comes on us and with breathing out we give our wellbeing to that person.This is called "tonglen". It is a effective way to strengthen our compassion and train in the attitude of a Bodhisattva. I have heard that without this attitude one can not realize complete enlightenment.

We might think that we can not take the karma of others on ourselve and that is true. But some might have a karma, that permits it for others to take their suffering for real.

We can start with small deeds. For example we can intend; "I take the next flu, of this person upon me". Or we might intend: "I will take the suffering of one day of this old person, that suffers in hospital upon me." Or:" I will take the suffering of this pig, while it gets slaughtered, upon me."

Like this we can start with taking a small portion of suffering upon us, untill we are strong and courageous enaugh to take more.Or we can start with a person whom we really love, untill we can also do it for strangers.We can also pray to the Buddhas that our good intention comes really true.

Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche once said that it might really work, but that we should not be afraid, as actually we recieve much more than we loose. Empowered by compassion we might find out, that we are much stronger than we thought and we might find peace in the heart of suffering.When we give, we shoud not think that our deed was somehow "extraordinary" or "holy", but remain simple, with the attitude that it is just natural for us to act in this way. Like that we overcome wrong pride, but nurture a very natural and healthy sense of self esteem.

Our compassion will empower us, untill we are able to become a medcine for the sick, a bridge over an abyss for the traveller, a protector for the victims of terror and a blessing for the Dharma practitioner.To practice the view of emptiness in union with compassion is the path of Mahayana.

Buddhist teachings dharma

The struggle we go through to have our prayers answered makes us stronger. If we were to immediately get everything we prayed for, we would become spoiled and decadent. We would lead indolent lives, devoid of any hard work or struggle. As a result, we would become shallow human beings. What, then, would be the point of faith?