ACI Course V: How Karma Works, Aug-Sep 1997, Vajrapani
RAW TRANSCRIPT
Course 5
How Karma Works
(RAW TRANSCRIPT)
presented by Geshe Michael Roach
Vajrapani Institue
Aug-Sept 1997
@@@MISSING TYPING FOR TAPES
4, 7, 11, 14, 16, 17
Vajrapani 1997
Course 5, Karma
Tape 1
970830-1.aaa
Transcribed by: Karen Becker
I’ll I’ll I’ll go through the course really fast with you, and then we’ll, you know, then we’ll start the serious part. This is basically a course in (b: Abhidharma). This is your first course in (b:Abhidharma). We studied five great books in the monastery. The the plan of the five year course is
that you spend a year on each, but but maybe one course each year on each. So you have done higher Madyamika school twice already. You’ve done the lower Madyamika school and you’ve done the Sutrist school, okay, you’ve done the the logic school already. You you’ve been introduced to those three. (B: Abhidharma) is a new school for you. In...normally in the monastery...in my monastery we don’t do it till our fifteenth or sixteenth year. We had a real rare opportunity with...Rinpoche started in nineteen seventy-four, or seventy-five, to teach (b:Abhidharma) and he taught it for ten years. And we went through the whole text...very...some people memorized it, and I I was lucky and and I got the whole thing, and memorized about half of it, and and we translated the the the trans...the commentary by the first Dalai Lama, which is one of
the things that made him famous, and then after he died it, they decided he was the first Dalai Lama (laughs) (laughter). So he was a student of Tsongkapa...Je Tsongkapa. So so that’s...I love (b:Abhidharma). It’s it’s very dear to my heart and this is your first introduction to (b: Abhidharma). We’re gonna study the fourth chapter which is dedicated to karma, and it’s probably the best
presentation of karma, if you don’t count Je. Tsongkapa’s (b: Lam Rim Chenmo), and so we’re gonna spice it up with a little bit of (b: Lam Rim Chenmo), okay? So, the first class will be an introduction to (b: Abhidharma). You know, everybody throws around the word (b: Abhidharma) and nobody knows what it is. There are a lot of strange books out called (b: Abhidharma) that have
nothing to do with (b: Abhidharma) and you’ll know that after you’ve finished tonight’s class. And then a little bit about the the school where it comes from...the school of philosophy that started the (b: Abhidharma). The second class will be a little bit about what is karma. You know, we spoke we’ve spoked about it before, about how actually a movement of the mind is is the basic kind of karma, and we’ll talk about that. And then the the Detailists, and they’re the (b: Abhidharma) school...they they believe in a certain kind of a special colors and shapes form...I should say physical matter, that you can’t see, that has to do with ethics or your morality, and we’ll talk about that. It’s a very special idea of their school. Number three we’ll talk about the different kinds of deeds...bad deeds, good deeds, what makes a good deed, what makes a bad deed and what is motivation. How does motivation affect it. Number four is...we’re gonna talk about karma and what you get back.
You know, what kinds of results do you get from certain kinds of karmas. And we’re gonna use Je Tsongkapa mostly for that and then we’ll also refer to the first Dalai Lama. I felt like a....the (b:Abhidharma) doesn’t really explain how karma is carried with you until it comes back to you. It’s not very detailed on that, so I I have found Je Tsongkapa presented the Mind Only School in his in his masterpiece on emptiness called (Gom pa rab sel) and there’s beautiful section in there about how karma is carried. The de...the way in which karma is carried, and that’s presented by the Mind Only School and that’s actually accepted by the higher schools. We accept their presentation of the
Mind...of how of how karma is carried. We also, by the way, accept...even the highest schools accept the (b: Abhidharma) presentation of karma. Lo...almost everything, okay. So, we’re gonna talk...I I think it’s important for a westerner to to hear a decent explanation of how karma is actually carried. Otherwise it’s hard to accept it...for me. And I I was just...I love that
explanation...it’s a really good explanation of how karma stays with you. Number six is even more interesting, which is what’s the relation between...the relationship between karma and emptiness and why does there have to be emptiness for karma to work. And why was it Tsongkapa’s what do you
call it...fixation...or he was fanatic...about the fact that karma and emptiness are interrelated. That morality and emptiness are are dependent on each other and that they are closely intertwined, and and he felt like most schools were either emphasizing one or the other and and missed the whole point that they are interrelated . So we’re gonna cover that from the monastic textbooks of Sera
Mey, which are the best ones. Class number seven is...there there’s a thing called black karma, white karma and there’s a very important concept called path of karma...path of action...and then we’re gonna get into the ten root non-virtues, okay? And we’ll we’ll talk about those. Class number eight...there’s a concept called most basic virtue which means the the the storehouse of virtue within your consciousness...within your mental stream, and there’s a way with certain mistaken actions that you can destroy that, and I thought we’d better get into that (laughs), okay, that’s a very important concept...the (b: Abhidharma) takes a lot of time to explain it, and I think it’s...we better know about it. And then there’s the distinction between projecting energy and
finishing energy. Karma has two different ways of producing its result and we’re gonna study those two different ways, okay. Two kinds of energy that karma has. Class number nine is the five...immediate, immediate misdeeds means immediate bad deeds means after you commit one of they these in your life and if you leave it unconfessed and unpurified, then right after you die you go to hell...the lowest hell. And that’s why they’re called immediate. There’s no there’s no other birth between that and the hell. You go through a bardo, but then you go straight to hell. There’s no other birth between that and that that life and the next life is in hell...the lowest hell. So we better know what those five are. And then the idea of a schism. Schism means...the one of the most serious maybe the most serious bad deed you can do of the five is to split up the sangha...is to cause a division among practitioners of Buddhism. So we, you know, that’s something that technically we can’t do. It has to be done during the time of the Buddha, it has to be...there are a lot of things that
you should know about that, but we can do what’s called (je tumba), you know, we can do something similar, and and we’re very close to that. I know I am...you know, I live with monks, it’s very easy for me to criticize one monk to another monk , and and that’s...or even just fellow students, and that in the higher teachings that’s a very serious infraction of your vows. So I think we’ll spend some time on the idea of being careful not to split up the sangha. And then number ten is what what bad deeds are are more serious than other ones, and what makes the same bad deed more or less serious. Okay. And what what makes a good deed very good. Okay. So we’ll study that. You know, you can’t do all the good deeds that are possible and it’s important to prioritize them, you know. So we’ll talk about that. So that’s a quick look at the syllabus. It’s my intention to finish finish by December fourth or fifth or something like that. I mean, I I don’t intend to go overseas and I don’t intent to miss any classes except what’s on here, so, you know, we’ll try to finish in time for Christmas or holidays whatever, you know, you have to go be with your families, and I I I wanna finish well before the holiday season starts. So I’ll do the best I can to to do...I don’t see any problems, but, you know, karma will tell (laughs), so (laughter), all right. So we’ll get into (b: Abhidharma). Any questions? Anybody have any...
(student: Do you have any idea when we’re gonna start the class course after this one?)
I would guess around March. In February I’ll probably be in retreat. And January I have to go to the debates, although that might be moved up, so...I’m almost sure it’ll be March. And we’re gonna try to send an announcement out like a month ahead of time. Ani-la’s very good at nunicking...nunicking (unclear) Margie (laughs). We’re we’re getting more organized, right? A
little bit. So. All right. Okay. (b: Abhidharma) is a Sanscrit word. The Tibetan equivalent is (chu ngunpa). Okay, so please say (chu) (repeat) (ngunpa) (repeat) (chu ngunpa) (repeat) (chu ngunpa) (repeat). All right. We’ll get into what it means later, all right? It’s one of the very first forms of Buddhism that came in India, it normally it’s it’s around the third council of early Buddhism. So it was one of the first forms of Buddhism. It’s a it’s a Hinayana form of Buddhism, all right. It’s some people call Theravadan or Hinayana. And Hinayana basically means, in in Tibetan it’s explained as “a school where people are working mostly for their own liberation”...to become a
Buddha, but not...mainly they can not they cannot really relate to teachings where you’re supposed to do this for the sake of all sentient beings. In Tibetan the word Hinayana means “low capacity” small small vehicular capacity”. The word (tek pa) means “vehicular capacity”...how much a truck can carry, how much a wall can hold up, okay. So that’s it’s a Hinayana school. And just...you don’t have to know it, but we’re studying the Suvastibanum tradition...there were eighteen divisions of it and...long story, okay? The main book...this you have to know...that all Tibetan monasteries use for the study of (b: Abhidharma)...and and basically most of the great scholars of each of the sects, you know, whether it...of the traditions, Sakya, Galugpa, Kagyu or Nyingma, most of the great scholars have used this root text, and that’s called the (b: Abhidharmakosha). It’s a long word...in Sanscrit there’s no dividers between words. I mean the whole...the sentence just goes on without any spaces between the words. And when two words like have an “a” that meet meet together it forms a new long “a” and then, you can’t break it up for people. It’s difficult to make it convenient for people. You just have to write it out in this long string.
So say (b: Abhidharma) (repeat) (kosha) (repeat) (b: Abhidharma) (repeat) (kosha) (repeat).
In Tibetan it’s (chu) (repeat) (ngunpa) (repeat) (dsu) (repeat) (Chu) (repeat) (ngunpa) (repeat) (dzu). That’s the main root text that we will use and that’s the main text used in all Tibetan monasteries. It’s about...I think it’s
about a hundred and fifty pages...so it’s a long story to memorize (laughs) but it’s a nice, it’s a nice (unclear). Okay.
This is the author’s name..Vasubandu...say Vasubandu (repeat) and the Tibetan is
(Lopen) (repeat) (Yiknyen) (repeat) (Lopen) (repeat) (Yiknyen) (repeat).
The Tibetans translated most of the Sanscrit names into Tibetan by syllable, which is why Tibetan is so famous for for translating Buddhism accurately, ‘cause they were fanatical about translating every single syllable. Even though it didn’t make any... it didn’t have any meaning in some cases, you know. (Yiknyen) nobody knows (laughs) what the words mean, you know, but it...have to translate it, so...it basically it means “wealth of the earth” or something. It didn’t have anything to do with...it wasn’t a descriptive name...that I know of. He was the author of it. What’s his brother’s name? Half
brother.
(student: Asanga)
Asanga, okay. He was the half brother of Asanga. You know the story of...
(student: Yes, his mother was a nun)
His mother was a nun. She she she had clairvoyance and she saw that if she had children...she saw that Buddhism was declining in her times, and she saw that if she had children they would become some of the greatest masters of Buddhism to ever live, and so she she purposely disrobed, she had one son by a king, one son by a Brahmin and they became...those two became the two greatest
scholars of Buddhism ever if you don’t include Nagarjuna and Je Tsongkapa probably. They they wrote most of the books that we study in the monastery. They wrote the whole...Asanga went andwith Maitreya wrote the great five books of Maitreya, and then (Yiknyen) is responsible for the (b:Abhidharma). Was he Hinayana follower? No. But he wrote the book about Hinayana. Why? We’ll talk about it. Hinayana is a is a valid school. The Buddha taught it and it has its use or we wouldn’t be having this class. We’ll talk we’ll talk about it. What are his dates then if he was...
(students: Six fifty; three fifty).
Yeah. Good.. Okay. Three fifty a.d.
(student Nina: Who was six thirty ad?)
Six thirty is Dharmakirti.
(student Nina: Oh, that’s right.)
Who cares, I mean we’re (laughs) (laughter)...any way, if someone asks. They don’t really know the dates. I’ll tell you, they even think there might have been two Vasubandus. I mean, that’s how little we know about them. I mean scholars, modern scholars, believe there may have been two
Vasubandus.
(student: ‘Cause he wrote so much?)
Excuse me?
(student: ‘Cause he wrote so much?)
He wrote he wrote such a beautiful description of Hinayana and then and Vasubandu also wrote on Mahayana. Fantastic books on Mahayana. They’re both in the (Tengyur). So western scholars can’t believe that the same person could write from the Hinayana very well and then and then go and refute himself. But actually he did, and and he wrote this, I believe he wrote the (b: Abhidharmakosha) as a confession for putting down Hinayana, and and he wrote the he wrote the main text as a confession for for making that big mistake. So, anyway, that’s...those are his dates. If somebody asks you, “what are you studying?”, okay, you say, (dzu), okay, say (dzu) (repeat) (dzu) (repeat) (dzu) (repeat) okay. Tibetan monks...people in Tibet when they’re studying (b:
Abhidharma) they say kosha. What’re you studying? Kosha. (Laughter) It’s like, yeah yeah, I know what I’m talking about, you know. So it’s as I mentioned before, it’s very important to know what you’re studying, you know. You’ll meet some Tibetans you know...I...I know some of you have met...there’s some big lamas in town this week...three...and they say “what’re you studying?” you can show off and say (dzu), you know (laughter) and then if they don’t quote anything you’re all right (laughter). I was in a car with Ling Rinpoche and Rabchen Rinpoche was there... Jolang Rinpoche, and he said to Ling Rinpoche, “oh, Michael knows (b: Abhidharma)”, so Ling Rinpoche quoted the first two lines in the second chapter, which I had read the day before, and I and I explained it beautifully, you know, and then he’s...he quoted the next two lines and I I didn’t know what he said (laughter) (laughs). So it’s true. He said, “it’s all right”. (laughter). So, we’re studying “kosha”...(b: Abhidharmakosha). Now, what is (b: Abhidharma...kosha) mean? What is (b: Abhidharma) mean? There’s been some popular western books written, you know, where they
sa...claim to be explanations of (b: Abhidharma)...I’ve never read them so I don’t know if they are or not. I doubt it ‘cause they’re so skinny. Maybe. But (b: Abhidharma) has the following meaning.
The word (abhi) or (ngun...ngunpa) means...it’s a very hard word to translate, and it means “up to something” or “approaching something”...you know, right up...you know...I don’t know what you say...just about to to reach something, you know...it means “up to”...or “to”. “Dharma”’s a famous...you know, very famous Sanscrit word, and the Tibetan is (chu) and it comes from a root in
Sanscrit called (dhr). And (dhr...dhr...d...h...r) okay, (dhr) means “to hold something”. All right?
(Dhr) It it comes from this root in Sanscrit...(dhr). (Dhr) means “to hold something” or “to keep something”. So what’s the main meaning of “dharma”. I mean, the main meaning of “dharma” exc...aside from meaning “teaching” is what?
(student Kylie: phenomenon)
(student: (unclear))
(student Kylie: Phenomena)
Existing thing. Phenomenon. Any existing object is a “dharma”. Okay. (Rung gyi mo dzum bey na chus)...that’s the definition...anything which has a nature, anything which (dhr)s it’s own nature,
okay. Anything which holds its own “isness”...anything which has it’s own identity, okay? That’s … that’s why a “dharma” comes from (dhr). (Dhr) means “to hold” or “to possess your own identity”.