WORDS OF WISDOM AUTHOR: KHENPO TSULTRIM LODRO

The minimum goal we should set for ourselves of this life is to enter the bodhisattva’s path of accumulation, which is the first step, a must, to start the journey of dharma practice. What then is the primary factor leading to the path of accumulation? It is genuine bodhicitta.

For example, good karma is likely to be destroyed when a person, after reciting the heart mantra of Manjusri one hundred million times, goes on to tell others what great merit he or she has thus accumulated and flaunts the skills in meditation with pride.

There is a classic story on impermanence in The Words of My Perfect Teacher. A practitioner did a retreat in a cave for nine years. At the entrance of the cave, there were some nettles. His robes always got caught by the prickly plants every time he left the cave. As it was kind of a bother, he thought about cutting the nettles. Then the thought of possibly not being able to return to the cave again crossed his mind, he decided to do something more meaningful with his time instead. When going into the cave, his robes got caught as well. The thought of removing the nettles arose again. But considering the possibility that this might be his last time leaving the cave, he decided against it and saved the time for training the mind. He continued like this for nine years until he attained accomplishment in his practice while the nettles remained standing at the entrance. It was his firm conviction that all phenomena are impermanent that made him treasure every moment of his life by not spending it on something meaningless but practicing the Dharma. His accomplishment came as the result of realizing impermanence, not emptiness, of all phenomena.

- Quote from The Right View, "The Four Noble Truths—the Path Out of Samsara"

The second type is suffering arising from change. This type of suffering is not obvious at the outset, but may turn into something rather painful later on. For instance, if we see a stranger die of a car accident on the street, we probably will not feel too distraught with grief. However, if the deceased should turn out to be our parent or a loved one, our grief would be very strong and immediate because of the emotional attachment we have to the person. Frankly, we would not have suffered had suffering not been a latent part of family relationship already. Besides, worldly happiness can also turn into a source of suffering. For example, the happy gathering of friends and relatives gives one pleasure, but the eventual parting makes one sad. If there had been no feeling of happiness at the gathering, there would not have been any sadness at the time of parting. Thus, happiness is in direct proportion to suffering here. Suffering arising from change may appear to be happiness on the surface, but can in fact turn into suffering at any moment. That is to say, without earlier happiness, no suffering will ensue either, just like we never feel happy or sad about meeting and leaving the strangers at the malls or other public places. Since we did not experience happiness in the first place, no suffering will ensue afterwards. Suffering arising from change is so named because the ensuing suffering concealed within prior happiness will eventually reveal itself when conditions change.

- Quote from The Right View, "The Four Noble Truths—the Path Out of Samsara"

For example, how do we dedicate the merit accrued from liberating animals? We should sincerely make a vow: “However the Buddhas of the past, present and future dedicate their merit, I will do the same as well.” This would be nonpoisonous dedication. Naturally, we can also recite the Practices and Vows of the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra as it contains many auspicious dedications. If not knowing how or not having the time to recite the whole text, we can just recite the eight verses in the two stanzas from “In whatever way valiant Manjusri and Samantabhadra know how to transfer merit” to “I dedicate all of these roots of virtue to accomplishing the deeds of Samantabhadra.” Nagarjuna once said, “These two stanzas embody the essence of the Practices and Vows of the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra .” Therefore, to recite just these two stanzas would be the same as having read the whole text. 

Buddhism holds that a glass of water seen by sentient beings of the six realms will manifest six different phenomena, respectively. By the same token, beings of the six realms will see six different worlds, somewhat like the idea of the multiverse.

- Quote from The Right View, "Buddhism—the Definition"

Also stated in the Abhidharma-kosha-shastra is that some children may suffer the effect of seriously negative karma that their parents accumulated. If children can suffer the consequences of their parents’ negative karma, is it not contradictory to the Buddhist teaching that one reaps what one sows and that no one can assume other’s karma? The Abhidharma-kosha-shastra explains that these children themselves already have certain negative karma. Due to the close relationship between the parents and their children, the ripening of the children’s negative karma may be expedited when the parents committed extremely evil karma.

If in this life we only have contrived, not genuine, bodhicitta, just as the Venerable Atisha said, “Those who have aroused contrived bodhicitta in this life will become great bodhisattvas in the next life and be able to deliver as many sentient beings from samsara as there are in Jambudvipa. " Why is that? That is due to the fact that simply arousing bodhicitta is already a supreme Dharma practice. Based on infallible karma, it is only logical for those people to attain equally supreme result in their next lives.

It is stated in the scriptures that ripening of the cause comes in four types. The first is the one that ripens in the same lifetime. For example, karma was committed in youth and the effect takes place in middle or old age. Sometimes karma ripens even sooner, and the effect can be seen immediately. The reason is that certain conditions can expedite the manifestation of fruit. Such fast ripening has something to do with the object and the motivation of the action. There are many such cases told in One Hundred Stories about Karma (Karmasakata). For example, the Sangha and ordinary people are two completely different objects. If it is a serious case of stealing from or slandering the Sangha, the retribution may come right away or in this lifetime. If the same act is committed against ordinary people, one will surely bear the consequence but not necessarily right away or in this lifetime. The different results arise from the difference between the two objects. The other condition is the difference in motivation. If the intention to kill is very strong or has been premeditated for a long time, the retribution will come swiftly, whereas the effect may not be immediately apparent if the motivation to kill is not so fierce.

The second is the effect of committing great evil, such as the five hellish deeds, or great virtue will definitely materialize in the next life.The third effect is certain to manifest but the timing of which is uncertain; it may take three or four lifetimes or even longer. The fourth, there may or may not be any effect. What could be the reason for this uncertainty in view of infallible karma? When a weak cause (or karma) encounters a strong antidote, causality may then be broken.

The first three types of karma, that is, the one that ripens in this and next life, and with uncertain timing, are immutable karma. The fourth, with indefinite fruition, is mutable karma.