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20090913GRAAKarma

00:6:10

Good Morning. (This section has been cut from the audio file: I hope you people are doing well. It is a beautiful September morning. I am happy to be back from Malaysia. I went there for about four weeks and did a number of teachings there at Jewel Heart, including Vajrayogini teachings. All the people within Jewel Heart Malaysia and Singapore send their very best to the Jewel Heart United States in general and particularly to us in Ann Arbor. Many of them are looking forward to come to the winter retreat and unfortunately the winter retreat happens to be over Chinese New Year, which coincides this year with the Tibetan New Year. For Chinese culture the New Year is very important.

We did change our retreats for a week later, but even then they have a little difficulty to adapt. But we will still see a few of them. Some of them have been coming to our winter retreats for 17 years continuously, every year. They will come, whether it is Chinese New Year or not.

Today’s subject is the understanding of the nature of karma. Karma is placing the power for liberation directly in our hands. That is absolutely true. Whatever is happening in our life, good or bad, joy or suffering, is all totally our own karma. There is nothing that happens without our karma, nothing, whether it is collective or individual karma. The last eight years of difficulties in the United States administration has brought other difficulties like wars, the economic downfalls, the suffering of people losing jobs and homes and also the fear of war. You know things are even happening at the Indo-Chinese border in the Himalayan region. All of those are totally collective karma. Even 9-11 was. We just had the anniversary a few days ago. It is collective karma.

I remember very clearly. It was 9-11 and my book Good Life – Good Death came out almost at the same time.

11:58

I had to go on a book promoting tour arranged by the publishers and everybody raised the same question: is it karma that happened? I was very strictly instructed by the publishers and agents not to say that it was karma. They told me that would be perceived as victim-blaming. In one hand it is the true reality. It is the collective karma of those individuals who lost their lives and also those loved ones who were left behind and the country as a whole and the world as a whole. It is the karma not only of those who lost their lives but of those who continuously suffer even now as a result of that. The people in Afghanistan, the people in Iraq and Jemen and everywhere. Also those of us who are watching day after day on television the number of people who died. You turn on the radio in the morning and hear that “today eleven people got killed” and so on. All of that is karma functioning together. But I was told not to say anything. So the only explanation I could give was that those people happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. That is also true. That doesn’t deny karmic consequences.

It is the karma, not only of we, the people, but even of George W. Bush. It is all combined together. Karma is so tricky.

But it is possible to have a rough idea. Managing karma may be very difficult. I don’t know if even Buddha can do that in all details. I am not saying that he can’t, but that I don’t know. The detailed managing and understanding of karma is extremely difficult. But with a rough idea we can think that certain activities of mine will hurt people, including myself.

I call it a rough idea. Maybe it’s not rough for some of us. It may be a very sophisticated and complicated thing, but it’s still a rough idea and knowing that will make a hell of a difference in our life and the lives that follow. Everything we experience in our life and the lives thereafter is our own deeds and our own responsibility. Whether it is individually or collectively created. Collectively created deeds will have a collective result – like what we saw on 9-11. Also economic sufferings, the loss of jobs and so on, are collective results. Particularly we, the Michigandans, face worse consequences than the rest of the country, if I may say so. In general it is the collective karma of the whole United States and the whole world. In particular is our, the Michigandans’ karma. It even applies to individual households. Some families suffer more, some suffer less. That is the individual karmic result. Karma does not mean that there is someone up there who arbitrarily decides that Michigan has to suffer. It is our, the Michigandan’s deeds. Number one, we put all our eggs in one basket, which is true. Then, when the basket is shaking, the eggs are breaking and we have no other alternative and it has become difficult. This is due to our deeds. I didn’t say out faults. I am not victim blaming. But that’s what it is.

In short, in essence karma truly means taking responsibility. Whatever I do, I will be responsible. Whether the police know or not doesn’t matter. Whether any of you know or not doesn’t matter. I am responsible. Whether I get rewarded or whether I will suffer in this or in future lives it is totally my responsibility. For example I am talking to you today. I am trying to tell you what little I know of Buddha’s teaching from whatever little experience I have. If I am misleading you I will suffer tremendously, not only in this but also future lives. That is my responsibility. That is how it works.

20:36

Anything we do goes like that. If we do something with a good motivation and sincere thought it is better, but still, the end cannot justify the means either. In that way it is sophisticated and complicated. A lot of people work on the ends justifying the means. The end maybe very good, but the means may not. If you are hurting people by how you achieve an end, then even if the end is good, it is not justified. A lot of people get into difficulty with karma through that. They say, “Yes, my action makes you suffer a little bit but I have a good motivation and if you finally get the result it will be perfect.” But sometimes it takes a whole life to go through the process and people suffer their whole life. You cannot justify that. You cannot.

Similarly, the prison camps the US has built. That cannot be justified with “national security”. That’s what our administration did. I am glad to know that at least they are now trying to open up the prison camps in Afghanistan, giving the prisoners the chance to challenge their imprisonment. That’s a good thing and that will change our karma. As long as we keep holding on to the same old functioning it is very hard to change our karma. That is true for the nation, the state, the individuals and their families. We always have to look for improvement on the basis of helping and serving and compassionate thoughts and means – not just otherwise. That’s how we improve our own lives. That’s how we will make a difference to our own lives. Our own efforts will make a difference. No one can do it for us. Not the government, neither federal nor state. It is we, the individuals who make the difference for our own lives.

We are part of society and that is nothing but the collection of individuals. Every deed of every individual counts and makes the difference. Each and every individual’s deeds not only make a difference to the individuals but also to the group and to society. We do have a huge responsibility there, not only for ourselves but for the whole world. You may think, “I am just a simple, little nobody.” That’s what I always think too. But we carry tremendous responsibility. We don’t get the pay or the title but we do carry tremendous responsibility. Karmically, that’s what happens.

We see karma sometimes as some mysterious thing. But that’s not the case. Every thought we generate is karma. Every action, mental, physical, verbal – any action – creates karma. You have for example political campaigns collecting signatures with these electronic computer. You can see the number going up on the computer. Very vividly I remember that the Chinese put up a huge clock counting the hours how long Hong Kong was still remaining with Great Britain. The clock was going backwards. Every minute counted. Now they don’t need the clock any more, since it is now part of China – unless they want to keep a clock that tells them how long they can maintain Hong Kong (laughs).

But that’s how karma works. Without knowing every individual somehow it is recorded and accumulated and collected. By the time the karmic settlement is made all this pops up. I has been calculating and updating all the time, adding, subtracting, multiplying. That’s why we have to be aware and responsible. As long as you are responsible, you are good and you have control over your life. It’s in your hand. No one can impose anything on us. No one can force anybody to do something they don’t want to do. We know that. We are Americans.

We need awareness, alertness, kindness and compassion. If you have that within you then every deed of yours will be different. You know why? No matter how much we went through this crazy period in the first four years after 9-11 the compassionate and caring love of the American people wakes up and we begin to see the growing numbers of people who oppose the wars.

0:30:18

We begin to see the numbers rising of people opposing torture. That is the kindness, love and compassion that we the people of the United States have and share. And that makes a difference throughout – the Obama administration and the whole world. That’s how we can have a big impact in the world. What we did in the November election last year has made a difference to the lives of people not only in the United States but throughout the world. That’s how compassion and caring and love in the root of our heart materialize. That’s how we create change. That’s how we improve our life and the lives of others and that is how we can handle our karma. You don’t have to ask “how”, because you did it, you know it and you can still do the same thing again.

Yes, it is true, there will always be some kind of crazy, crooked, twisted person, who wants to do it differently. But that doesn’t mean the whole society is crooked or the whole world is crooked. We have our responsibility and we can change it. I think that is how we get the control over our lives into our hands.

(this section has been cut from the audio file( Practically I have to say two things: our long time friend and member of Jewel Heart James Coats has passed away on Saturday morning in Texas. One of our enthusiastic young members called me at 1.30 am and luckily I was not asleep. I got the message and I prayed and I request that everyone should pray to fulfill his wishes, particularly that his next life will be a very good one. His life was good but we pray that his next life will be even better. We pray that in a precious human life he will meet with the precious teachings of Buddha and Jamgön Lama Tsongkhapa and will practice what he learnt and complete whatever he had left out and will be extremely helpful to all the people in the world. As you know, anyone who is connected with Jewel Heart, whether the individual has money to spend or not, Jewel Heart sponsors prayers to the monasteries in India, particularly the monastery we are connected to. There will be a couple of thousand monks praying for anyone who is connected to Jewel Heart – if we are informed. In James’ case, whether he has any money or not, Jewel Heart will pay the money to the monasteries for the prayers. For those who have money of their own, we can ask for more elaborate prayers. For those who don’t, we do a little less elaborate prayers. But it doesn’t matter. Praying is praying. There is the truth of Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. There is the truth of the collective of monks. There is the truth of great beings, the incarnate lamas. So many of them are involved. Their good thoughts and praying will make a difference, whether the prayers are elaborate or not elaborate.

Another thing is this: like every non-profit organization we in Jewel Heart also have a short fall in our budget this year. We did a fund raising campaign called “Ensuring the Future of Jewel Heart”. So if due to shortfalls in the budget the organization goes down, there will be no future. The board of directors and the executive board raised this issue. Our goal was to raise $100, 000. That was the amount of the short fall. Within five weeks we have fulfilled our goal. People donated generously and as of day before yesterday we have reached our goal. Thank you.

Lots of people donated and I was hoping that through collective karma everyone who is connected to Jewel Heart, whether you are listening occasionally or through the internet or through various centers, everyone should put something in. It doesn’t matter whether you put in one dollar or even one penny. It is the participation that does matter. It makes a difference to the individual. It is an act of generosity to your own sangha and your own sangha’s efforts to bring joy and happiness to the community, to our own future. That is personal participation of the individual. Now there is a huge gap between the number of people who have donated and the number of people who are connected to Jewel Heart. During the last weekend retreat I made an appeal and today I am repeating it: it doesn’t have to be $100. It can be $10 or $5, just any amount of personal participation.

I am not making up a new idea. This is part of traditional Buddhism. It is said that those who have enough may donate horses and yaks. Those who don’t have as much may donate needles and thread. So not everyone has to give a horse or a yak. It is about the participation and collective karma. That will make a difference throughout. We are supposed to close this campaign, but I talked to the executive board and asked them to extend it for a few weeks. They said okay, but by October we definitely will close. Some people may not have been aware of it or maybe they didn’t understand how they could participate. So in one way I am very grateful to everybody who participated. We reached our goal. On the other hand what we haven’t had yet is the full participation by everybody. It is not about the numbers alone. It is the people’s participation. I think I said a lot of things I was not supposed to say but I did.

0:42:18: So I have to conclude what you can take home today: personal responsibility is important. It is in our every function and deed. You may be all alone by yourself. You may be doing nothing but lying down and thinking. Even then you are creating your karma. Karma is so sophisticated. Even if you don’t know or acknowledge it, every action of ours counts. So always try to be alert. Be kind, compassionate. Care for yourself and others. Caring must be the principle of our life. Every deed we do must follow the principle of not hurting anyone, including ourselves. If we can help, great, but at least not hurt.

Buddha’s teaching is so strange. One part is called Mahayana, another is Theravada. What is the difference? Mahayana says we should help, help, help. Theravada says: don’t harm, don’t harm, don’t harm. So the principle of Buddha’s teaching is: be helpful as much as possible, but if you can’t, at least you have no right to harm anyone, including yourself. That is how you take control of your life. That’s what you can take home today. Thank you for being here, thank you for looking after Jewel Heart and hopefully that will benefit you.

© 2009 Ngawang Gelek 20090913GRAAKarma Page 5 of 5