This podcast is offered by San Francisco Zen Center on the web at sfcc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Welcome to this virtual Buddha field. I have to change my view so I can see all of you much better. And I decided to make an invitation when I speak to For people, if they are willing and able and they would like to take it up as a practice, to actually turn on your cameras so that we may be able to see each other and see who we are as sangha practicing together. And I think the sense of relationship that gets felt just by seeing each other's beautiful faces helps to... kind of just deepen our sense of connection and showing up for ourselves and showing up for each other.

[01:04]

So just that encouragement if it's possible for you. And it might be extenuating circumstances, but I just want to, again, extend that invitation. And then you can look at each other and see who's here, who are the Buddhists who have showed up this evening and are hanging out in this particular field of benefaction. So thank you very much for entertaining my wish to be able to see as many of you as possible. And as Kotor said, this is the first Dharma talk of a 10-week fall practice period, which we just launched yesterday morning with an opening ceremony. And also then last night we had an orientation session. And as you may know, the theme of that practice period is becoming unbound, understanding, working with, and ending karma. And beings are the owners of their karma, said the Buddha.

[02:08]

They are the heirs to their karma, the originators of their karma, and are bound by their karma. And karma is a Sanskrit word that simply means action or deed. And so the Buddha is reminding us that we are the originators. We are the product, the recipients of our actions. And thus, we're responsible for them. And it's also for this reason, the Buddha talk, that karma should be known and understood. He said, the cause by which karma comes into play should be known. The diversity in karma should be known. The results of karma should be known. The cessation of karma should be known. and the path of practice where the cessation of karma should be known. So it's with the very intention of knowing and understanding all these various facets of karma that many of us decided to embark on this intensive study of the topic this fall.

[03:16]

And this evening, I'd like to offer an introduction to the concept of karma and provide an overview of what we'll be studying, particularly some of the key aspects of this fundamental Buddhist teaching. And we'll be exploring facets of this through Dharma talks, through weekly classes, through discussion groups, and other practice opportunities. So this is how together we'll create a practice field of study of karma. Now, karma may be the most... you could say, widely mentioned and misunderstood Buddhist concept outside of Buddhist circles. Karma often has the connotations of predetermined destiny or fate, particularly bad fate, and in the face of which we are powerless. And the fatalism that's kind of implicit in this way of understanding karma can be kind of repellent for many of us.

[04:23]

folks who are in Western cultures. And karma is also viewed commonly as a form of cosmic justice or retribution. It's some kind of mechanical law that extracts payment from us for moral infractions. For example, how often have you heard the phrase, well, that's their karma? And particularly when someone more or less gets their comeuppance, if you will, And karma likewise has the implication of being a force arising from people's actions that will cause either good things or bad things to happen. Again, along the lines of what goes around comes around. And then lastly, there are ideas about how one's karma in this life. will impact their future rebirth or reincarnation in the next.

[05:25]

So many of these views of karma, however, are either not in accord with a Buddhist understanding of the concept or oversimplify the complexity with which Buddhism presents karma. And according to Buddhism, it's only when we see fully the ramifications of karma that we can understand, who we are and why we are here, our own personal and collective agency. We can connect, by understanding karma, with the blessings and the vitality of our world, and we can also experience genuine compassion for other people. Many Buddhist teachers, in fact, view karma as perhaps the most essential aspect of the Buddha Dharma to comprehend. For example, when the Dalai Lama was asked, what is more important to understand?

[06:29]

The philosophical Buddha's teachings about emptiness or to understand karma? He answered that it's more important to understand karma, to understand cause and effect. And this is because it's through a clear understanding of the workings of karma, That we realize how it is we are born empowered to take responsibility for our actions and our lives. And effectively work toward creating beneficial and transformative change. Now, it's surprisingly, in early Buddhist teachings, there are a number of warnings by the Buddha about karma. Right? He said that karmic processes are so complex and mysterious that they're ultimately unfathomable. And on these grounds, the Buddha declared karma to be one of four topics not suited to healthy philosophical meditation, as it could on occasion lead to, quote, vexation and madness.

[07:40]

Now, I don't think this is such a reassuring thing to hear from the Buddha, but when we just started a 10-week practice period on the subject of karma, right? Are you ready for some vexation and madness? No? I'm already feeling it just by studying it, right? It can be pretty overwhelming. But despite his warning, the Buddha obviously did heed his own admonition because he frequently referred to the workings of karma, and he encouraged his disciples to do the same. So there was something there, even though he gave a... a warning, he also said this is fundamentally important to understand. So, you know, karma is actually a big and complicated topic and one in which we could spend a year or more on exploring. And the complexity of karma is due in part to the fact that the concept has changed and evolved over thousands of years by different spiritual traditions and different cultures.

[08:44]

And while the teachings of the law of karma originated in Hinduism, Buddhists understand karma somewhat differently from the Hindus. In fact, much of contemporary understanding in the so-called West is often a matter of conflation of both Hindu and Buddhist framings of karma. The American Theravara monk, Tamsara Bhikkhu, has noted that many people consider concepts such as karma and rebirth as, quote, Buddhist baggage, as a set of old Indian beliefs that incorrectly or inadvertently got mixed up with Shakyamuni's teachings, but that they don't really fit into his overall dharma scheme. And because of this, it can end up being somewhat... counterintuitive or not so helpful in terms of understanding what it might mean to practice and work with karma, and particularly on an ethical level, where it's most vital to understand.

[09:54]

But the real problem is that we tend to misunderstand what the teachings of karma actually have to say. So it's important for us to engage in a process of of critical thinking about the concept of karma, right? To really study it. And particularly in terms of our practice as contemporary Buddhist practitioners, trying to use the teachings of the Buddha Dharma, which are 2,500 years old, as a means for living a compassionate, ethical, and liberated life now, in this very time and age, right? Because if the teachings can't help us to live now and figure out how to fully be in this life with some sense of ease and joy and connectedness, then they're kind of worthless, right? But I feel that they have a great worth and a great message for us for how to live an ethical, awake life.

[10:58]

So this is why I study the Buddha Dharma and why I'm studying karma. Karma's central place in the Buddhist tradition is shown by Shakyamuni Buddha's own pivotal awakening, which consisted, it said, primarily of his seeing the full range and extent of karma, including that nothing in the universe stands outside of karma's domain. Now, Majima Nakaya Sutta describes how the Buddha's enlightenment incurred in three phases. First, He had a recollection of his manifold past lives in various modes, including it said, and this is his own description, his own words, such details as his name in his past lives, his clan, what he looked like, his appearance, the food he ate, his experiences of pleasure and pain, and how his life ended.

[12:01]

In each of his, it said, hundreds of thousands of incarnations. It was this amazing recollection of past lives that was then followed by a second vision, that of countless other beings who were also enduring the cycle of transmigration. That is the process by which one is repeatedly reborn in this world, only to endure suffering, illness, old age, and death. over and over in each rebirth. This particular insight allowed the Buddha, who wasn't a Buddha yet, it was Siddhartha Gautama at that point, to observe how karma or one's actions determines the circumstances of their rebirth. And it was this, the second, the Buddha's second insight, which was essentially about cause and effect.

[13:10]

that directed his third insight, which was that one's state of mind when committing an action, that is, one's views and one's intentions, significantly influence the results of the action. So in other words, one's right and wrong views were intimately related to their behavior and to the repercussions of their actions. And it was this process of thinking that thus led the Buddha to observe within his own mind how particular views led to distress and suffering, what he called dukkha. When he dropped those particular views, his distress and suffering stopped. And what he noticed is the most distressing and harmful view of all, was the identification of one's self with what's called the five skandas, the five aggregates, with one's body, physical form, sensations, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness.

[14:25]

And the Buddha realized that even the concept of an independent, autonomous I, that we so clearly cherish, mean, is nothing but the product of karmic forces. Now, having had these three insights into karma, Siddhartha decided, again, to use his own mind as a laboratory. And he studied the mental phenomena, or you could say the mental processes, that led to negative karma, to unwholesome karma. And it was in this way that he came to recognize within himself, what he later formulated as the Four Noble Truths. The nature of dukkha, suffering, distress, the cause of dukkha, the cessation of dukkha, and the path leading to the cessation of dukkha. And it was with his final understanding that Siddhartha resolved his spiritual questions and he realized his goal of awakening.

[15:36]

And it's said in doing so, he was liberated from the cycle of transmigration. He would not be reborn again. So as we'll explore throughout the practice period, the Buddhist insights into karma on the night of his enlightenment point to many of the key aspects of karma that we want to turn and consider. As I mentioned earlier, karma is a Sanskrit word. The Pali equivalent is kama, K-A-M-M-A. And karma simply means action, deed, doing. However, in Buddhism, karma has a more specific meaning, which is volitional or willful action, right? So while there were a number of different approaches to understanding the nature and the importance of action in Buddhist time,

[16:40]

His unique insight was that the key to understanding action lies in volition, chaitana, the Pali word, that volition gives rise to the act itself. And the Buddha said, it is volition that I call karma. For having will, one acts by body, speech, or mind. So in other words, it's the things we choose to do or say or think. that set karma in motion. The force of shaitana can also be called urge, impulse, will, motivation, motive, and the word I most prefer is intention. So, in other words, intention, I tell you, is karma. Intending, one does karma by way of body, speech, and mind. And in Buddhism, Chaitanya, intention, is seen as a mental factor.

[17:42]

It's a quality of consciousness that moves or urges the mind in a particular direction, usually toward a specific goal or object. And as such, intention is the most significant mental factor in generating karma. Since it's intention that determines, it's said, the effort. the ethical quality of the action. So as we'll come to see, karma is essentially about the state of your mind, when you form an intention, then perform an action, then experience the consequence of that action, and how you can affect this whole process in either positive or negative ways. we're all karmic beings without exception. Everyone is manifesting karma through actions of body, deeds, speech, and mind.

[18:47]

However, there are also actions, body, speech, and mind that are not karmic because they're not intentional. So, you know, think of when the doctor taps your knee with one of those little hammers to check your reflexes and your leg pops up. That's a bodily action that's not intentional because you haven't decided at some level of the mind to do that. Likewise, with your lungs breathing or your heart beating, these are not karmic activities. They happen on their own court, if you will. So we might ask ourselves, on what basis does karma arise in the first place? The following is from Case 21 of the Transmission of Light, which is a collection of stories about 53 patriarchs and their awakenings. And it was written by a Japanese Zen teacher, Keizan Jokun. And Keizan, along with A. Dogen, were considered the two founders of Soto Zen in Japan, even though they lived centuries apart.

[19:53]

In fact, this morning at Bigiru's Mount Temple, we had a ceremony in their honor. And it's great to recognize these two very important figures in the history of Soto Zen and the formation of Soto Zen. So here's the story. Kumurata said to his disciple Jayata, although you believe in three kinds of karma, that's that karma past, present, and future, you do not yet understand that karma comes from confusion. Confusion is based on consciousness. Consciousness depends on ignorance. Ignorance depends on the mind. The mind is originally pure. having no origination or destruction. In it, there is no fabrication, no retribution, no victory or defeat. It is serene and spiritual. If you penetrate this teaching, you can be the same as the Buddha's.

[20:56]

All good and evil, I prefer unwholesome, contrived and uncontrived are like dreams or illusions. It's said that with those words by his teacher, Jayata understood the message and realized the knowledge of karmic consciousness. And so like the Buddha, Jayata awoke in part through his own personal direct study of karma. So karma arises through and depends on ignorance, specifically ignorance that clings to I, mind, or ego in its projections. And ignorance is said to be the primary compulsion, right, that sets in motion the whole chain reaction of karma. And this chain reaction is commonly represented by what's known as the 12 links of dependent origination.

[21:57]

You may have seen this as the tapetum of life. And it starts with the first link of the of ignorance and goes all the way around to old age and death. And then it's said back again and again and again through numerous rebirths and a seemingly endless cycle of samsara. However, when this fundamental ignorance is overcome, the first link is broken, right? Karmic cause and effect becomes like cause and effect in a dream, it's said, when you realize your dream. appears, but it's perilous. It's kind of like having a lucid dream. It doesn't have the same power over you. And this is what the well-known Zen koan about Hakucha and the Fox is about, right? Some of us will be studying that this practice period. Awakened beings are not blind to cause and effect. They see it, but they are not bound to it. They're not spun around by it like most of us.

[22:59]

The key working with karma is understanding that it is completely fluid and flexible and changeable. And in Buddhist day, most religions have been near top that karma operated in a simple straight line that past actions influence the present and present actions influence the future. But to Buddhists, karma is non-linear and non-dual. For those of you who Listen to Mary and Peggy Ward's Dharma talk last Saturday. I highly recommend it if you had to add a chance to, right? Larry said during the Dharma talk that he understands karma to be a non-linear reality, a non-dual reality. So in other words, our action takes place in the present moment reality, as do the consequences. All of time and all of space arises at once and by virtue of our activity.

[24:08]

And the Tanasara Bhikkhu, who I mentioned earlier, says that karma acts in multiple feedback loops, with the present moment being shaped both by past and by present actions. And present actions shape not only the future, but also the present. So every situation, every moment is bounded by cause and effect, as well as its dependence on some previous cause and some previous effect. And you can think of all the energy that came with it, right? And all of this is not immediately visible to our eyes. We don't see most of it. We only see the fruits of it. It affects us endlessly, ongoing. It affects everything and all things. Talking too much makes me want to drink tea.

[25:17]

Cause and effect. So now the word, well, the word karma simply means action. In kama's usage, it has two levels of meaning, depending on the context. It can connote both karma and the result of karma, meaning action and the result of action. And in other words, cause and effect. And the technical word for result of an action is vipaka, which means the ripening or the maturation of karma. And it's often referred to in Buddhism as the fruit of karma. You may have heard that phrase. So we perform an action, and sometime later, we begin to experience its results. You know, we plant an apple seed, and many years later, we taste the fruit. All of our actions have a potential for creating consequences that may manifest as results or effects in the present, in the future, or according to Buddhism, perhaps future lifetimes.

[26:27]

And it's also said that our current experiences are the effects of karma, again, created in the past, the past lifetime. So every intentional act brings about a suit and result, depending on what the actions are and the intentions behind them. And they can tend to have either positive or negative or neutral effects. Given this, we can think of karma as a... an impersonal universal law of moral cause and effect. And this is important here. Morally good and wholesome action has good consequences, for example, and morally bad or unwholesome action has bad consequences. So karma is a causal chain of conditions. Again, set in motion, directed by our intentions. And what's often said about intentions is that they are seeds. If you act on certain intentions, you are planting those certain seeds.

[27:30]

And I think it's obvious why analogies from agriculture are often used to illustrate the cause and effect nature of karma. Again, apple tree, if we intend to grow an apple tree, then act by planting an apple seed. And the tree that grows will bear apples, not mangoes. And that's according, assuming that the conditions for that tree to grow And eventually the bellappers is supported with rain, sunshine, good soil, et cetera. But once the apple seed is planted, no amount of manipulation or beseeching or complaining will induce that tree to yield any other fruits. It won't yield a mango, for example, or a pineapple. It's an apple tree. And the only meaningful action that will produce a mango, if you want a mango, is to plant a mango seed. So likewise, morally, if we act motivated by greed, hate, and delusion, we are planting the seed of suffering.

[28:37]

And when our acts are motivated by generosity, love, wisdom, then we're creating the karmic conditions for abundance, loving kindness, happiness to grow and bloom. One Zen teacher I read said that we can think of karma as a kind of moral physics. Good actions produce good consequences. Bad actions produce bad consequences. And to some extent, this is common sense, right? And to some extent, it's a matter of faith. Because we can't always see the results of our actions, whether good or bad. However, when you practice Zazan for a long time, years, and observe your mind, You can see how this is true. You can see the way in which positive, wholesome thoughts create a positive, wholesome world for you, right?

[29:45]

Your internal world, as well as the way that you relate to the external world. And likewise, if you say or do or think mean things, then your world would be mean. It's your choice. Your choice. In his book, What is Enlightenment? Dale Wright says that throughout Asia, karma defines the ethical dimension of culture and remains the key to understanding Buddhist morality. Karma is the teaching that tells practitioners that it matters what they do throughout their lives and how they do it. It articulates a close relationship between what a person chooses to do and who and what that person becomes over time. So in other words, a person's character is a matter of their karma. Your character is a matter of your karma.

[30:46]

And karma is a matter of the way we perceive and relate to our experiences. How it is that we take actions based on our perceptions, our frame of mind, And then the resulting consequences that we and or, I would say, others will be impacted. What is the nature of your character? How did your character develop? What causes and conditions contributed to the development of who you are, your character, and the way that you present and engage in the world? Something to deeply study. We can study that in Zazen. our relationship. But let me say this. Overall, when we speak of a person's karma, it means the total sum of the person's direction in life and the tenor of things that occur around that person.

[31:53]

And these are caused by antecedent conditions and the person's actions, thoughts, feelings, sense, impressions, and desires. So rather than being a fixed destiny, karma is more like an accumulation of psychophysical tendencies. They can lock us into particular behavior patterns, which themselves result in further accumulations of tendencies of a repeated nature or a similar nature. In other words, if... the mind has a habit of acting in a certain way, then that habit will continue stuck in the same groove. And it'll somehow attract circumstances that enable that habit pattern to continue to further flourish. For example, if your mind has a tendency toward anger,

[32:55]

then anger will most likely be one of the first mental energies that arise based on circumstances. And the mind will be more inclined to look for reasons to be angry. You'll scan the environment, you know, to continue that particular energy. For example, you see a homeless person on the street. And rather than feeling initially empathy and concern for the situation, Maybe you feel angry that they're blocking your pathway. And then to maintain the sense of separation or self-righteousness that gave rise to your anger in the first place, you look for additional people to blame or additional circumstances to feel anger towards, like the politicians or the police or the bad economy, anything, right? And so it's easy to become imprisoned or bound by our karma. And to think that the cause lies elsewhere with other people and conditions beyond our control and never within ourselves.

[34:03]

But it's always our responsibility. Always our responsibility. And true spiritual maturity is profoundly understanding that and doing something about our responsibility. The Buddha taught that We don't need to be a prisoner of old karma, right? Past karma. Because it's always possible to change our karma and to change our character by stepping out of the limiting conceptual and mental behavioral habit patterns that we find ourselves kind of stuck in for whatever reason, and in many cases, unconscious of. Relationship to karma is bigger than just us, than just something arising from our own free will. Karma is fundamentally relational.

[35:07]

You don't create karma by yourself because we are interdependent beings. So I told you you were responsible, right? And then now I'm telling you, wait a second, you know, you don't create karma all by yourself because we're interdependent beings. How does that work? Well, that's one of the things we'll explore. So karma has its collective aspect. It can be familiar, cultural, racial. It can be a matter of country and species. And while the collective aspect of karma isn't something that the Buddha himself emphasized much in modern times, we recognize that it's very important. Our responsibility doesn't stop at the boundary between personal lives, our personal lives, and the so-called rest of the world, as if there was a boundary anywhere. Our participation in society means we're partially culpable for what society does. And of course, we're affected by what it does as well.

[36:10]

And sadly, karma has been used at times by both Hindu and Buddhist traditions to justify social injustices. Karma has been used to Rationalized sexism, racism, caste, economic oppression, people's physical and mental handicaps, and just about everything else. It's their karma. There's no reason why we should do anything about it. There's no reason why we should change the structure of our society or our culture to help them in any way. They have to burn off their karma. And that's... It doesn't make sense at a fundamental level, as far as I understand karma, because our individual and collective karmic history is intertwined and deeply affects each other in both, I think, apparent and also unknowable ways. And this intertwining of personal and collective karma can be conceived of as a, I think of it as a karmic network or a web of karma, where

[37:19]

Each individual experiences suffering or good fortune through a mutual karmic history. Karma actually makes more sense when we include the collective nature of it, as it underscores the interconnectedness of our karmic way of life. And given us our personal well-being and happiness and liberation are ultimately tied to Whatever we can do to decrease suffering and increase wisdom and compassion within all of societal, cultural, and institutional structures that we participate in and contribute to on a daily basis, we are making those structures. Whether or not we are conscious of the fact that we're doing it and how we're participating in it, And closing out to say, I hope you can see how karma, rather than being a matter of fatalism or destiny or predeterminism, is a profoundly empowering doctrine.

[38:30]

Karma is not just the action you take, but it's the state of consciousness we choose. The American Buddhist scholar, David Lurie, says that karma can be understood as the key to spiritual development. revealing how one's life situation can be transformed by transforming the motivations of one's actions here and now. Yet karma is not something the self has. Rather, it is what the sense of self is. Because one's sense of self is transformed by one's conscious choices. So in other words, we are the product of our choices. Again, our character is a manifestation of all the choices we have ever made in our life. So by choosing to change what motivates me, I change the kind of person I am. I personally greatly appreciate Chaka Gamora's definition of a bodhisattva, of awakening being, as a person who lives by vow instead of karma.

[39:45]

person who lives by vow instead of karma is a bodhisattva. And that's why vow is so important in Zen. Our karma is the habit energy of our conditioning. But our true vow, whether it's a public vow, something we made publicly, whether that's personal to ourselves, it can serve as a compass that helps us to turn in the right direction. and turn the rudder of the mind in the right direction. And living our lives based on vow, we can continuously shift the direction of our karma towards the Buddha way. And in doing so, foster a more heartfelt, compassionate way of living. Okay. So I will conclude there. And I want to thank you very much for your... Kind attention and patience. That looks like I've been a little bit longer than intended.

[40:50]

So we'll wrap it up for this evening so we can all go home and get some sleep. And I just want to say I very much look forward to our collective dive into all the complexity that the study of karma offers. And I'm very much for myself, I feel I'm a student in this situation. So I'm just offering my own study of karma with you. And I hope that we together can share our personal and collective study of karma. And in doing so, kind of enrich the way that we together take up the Buddha way. So thank you again, everyone. Have a good night. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our Dharma talks are offered free of charge. And this is made possible by the donations we receive. Your financial support helps us to continue to offer the Dharma. For more information, please visit sfcc.org and click Giving.

[41:55]

May we all fully enjoy the Dharma.

[41:58]

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