Gesha la began the teaching by reminding everyone that this season’s Dharma talks have centred on the 10 non virtuous actions, and their flip side being the 10 virtuous actions.
But today, the focus would be to explain how all of us, who may have committed non virtuous actions from time to time whether knowingly or unwittingly, can purify such negative karmic seeds.
The importance of purification of negative karma comes from our desire to have happiness, and avoid suffering. Even if we may not have sown many negative karmic seeds in this life, or any serious ones, it is entirely possible and in fact probable, that negative karmic seeds (some of a grave nature) had been sown in our lives past. There is therefore a real prospect that these negative karmic seeds will ripen into undesirable consequences, either in this life or in future lives. We had already been taught the general principle that karma (whether negative of positive) will grow – the propensity for negative karma to grow is akin to compound interest being levied on a bank loan.. So if there is negative karma still in our karmic banks, it is important to properly address them i.e. purify them.
The importance of purification of negative karma is illustrated by the practices of Lama Atisha who was always very conscious of his own mind – when he identified that he had committed any transgressions or non virtuous actions, he would immediately get off his horse (even when in transit), and carry out the ritual of purification. This is why members of the Sangha (monastics) have a mandatory Sojong (Monastic Confession) once every 15 days – this practice illustrates the importance of purification of negative karma.
Once negative karmic seeds are there, effort must therefore be made to purify them – knowing this truth is crucial to enabling us to keep our faith in the Triple Gem, and not fall into the non virtuous action of lacking faith or disbelief in the laws of karma i.e. Wrong Views.
Some high lamas have reached their last life in samsara, and many still fall ill due to the last bit of residual karma being extant. As Geshe la has witnessed with his very own eyes, many would choose not to take medication and would choose to experience the pain in order to purify the final vestiges of their negative karmic seeds. These members of the Sangha manifest illness also in order to give real life illustrations to their students regarding the truth of impermanence of all phenomena, as did the Lord Shakyamuni Buddha during His time in our world system.
To purify negative karma, there are 4 elements that need to be applied and these are explained below. They are (1) the Power of Reliance, (2) the Power of Regret (not guilt!), (3) The Power of Remedy (Antidote), and (4) The Power of Resolve (not to do it again). We address these in turn.
1. The Power of Reliance / Restoring the Relationship
The idea is to pick ourselves up from where we fell.
(a) If we have committed transgressions vis a vis the Triple Gem such as disrespect to Spiritual Masters/ Reliquaries in our Shrine Room, which brings us into the territory of Wrong Views – this would be purified by Taking Refuge again in the Triple Gem.
(b) If we have committed transgressions vis a vis other sentient beings, such as the 4 non virtuous actions by way of speech, and the 3 non virtuous actions committed by way of bodily actions – these would be purified by compassion, whereby we develop a strong wish for the objects of/ those affected by our transgressions to be free from suffering. By parity of reasoning, any act we do which is motivated by compassion, whether it be prostrations, offering of incense, chanting of mantras or circumambulation of stupas, making offerings of food to the Sangha, helping at the old folks’ home or doing life liberations etc – these will all have extremely powerful effects for purification of past negative karma.
2. The Power of Regret (not guilt!)
It is important to confess our wrongs done in the past, many of which arose primarily due to not knowing the ambit of the 10 non virtuous actions. For us to carry out any Dharma activity, whether it be paying respects to the Buddhas and Boddhisattvas or chanting of mantras, harbouring such a feeling of regret will be instrumental in purification of negative karma. Geshe la illustrated this type of regret by way of an example. 3 friends went to a nightclub and caught COVID-19. One contracted the virus and died. The 2nd friend one caught the virus and was hospitalised. The 3rd friend was still waiting for his test report, and started to reflect on what he had done, regretting immensely his foolish actions. That is an illustration of the type of Regret that we are speaking of here.
Geshe la relayed another story from the time of the Buddha, of a murderous criminal named Angulimala who was obsessed with obtaining supernatural powers, and had been following the advice (Wrong View) of some others, who had advised him to kill 1,000 people and string their fingers onto a necklace, believing this would give him special powers. Angulimala had killed 999 people and was just about to fulfil his aim of killing the 1,000th person. But having killed an entire village, Angulimala had some difficulty finding the 1,000th person, and happened to chance upon the Buddha, whom Angulimala wanted as his 1,000th victim.
Angulimala tried to pursue the Buddha. But no matter how hard he tried and ran, he could not catch up with the Buddha. Finally, Buddha subdued Angulimala, and taught him the laws of karma. Angulimala who was a bright individual, understood the laws, and devoted the rest of his life to purification of his negative karma, and eventually became an Arhat.
Similar to Angulimala, the story of Milarepa comes to mind – he had cursed and murdered many with powers of black magic. Yet, he was able to achieve enlightenment later in his life, by the powers of purification.
These examples illustrate the wondrous effects of purification of negative karma, and which is why it is said that the wise who practise purification properly may have their negative karma ripen in a far lighter way in spite of a serious transgression, compared to one who commits a minor transgression but who does not purify his negative karma.
Therefore, one must always aim to confess one’s wrongs as quickly as possible – to get up where one has fallen. It is tempting to say “I will do it later.” But life is unpredictable, and time waits for no man. We should therefore develop this positive habit of immediate purification.
3. The Power of Remedy (Antidote)
Lama Tsongkhapa’s Lam Rim speaks of a number of positive acts which will help in this regard.
(a) Studying, reading, dissemination and preservation of the Dharma/ Sutras.
(b) To develop an understanding of Emptiness (the practice of the reducing the sense of the self or ego) and/or Bodhicitta (compassion – the wish to act for the happiness of others), along with the act of introducing these concepts to others. These will help to eliminate the darkness of ignorance in our lives, and bring light to those of others as well. A lot of non virtuous actions arise directly from our ignorance in being unable to understand that we come into existence (and exist in this way or form) because of dependent conditions i.e Dependent Arising, and are therefore inter-dependent upon all others around us, whether friend or foe. That underscores the importance of treating others with compassion.
As one can see, Emptiness and Compassion are two sides of the same coin. If one appreciates that we are Empty of Inherent Existence, it enables us to have genuine Compassion arise for all others whose presence in our lives actually define us, and upon whom we are dependent not just for our mundane lives, but also for success in our spiritual practices. This is why in our tradition we always speak of the Wisdom to realise Emptiness (Wisdom), and Compassion for all sentient beings (the Method), and it is the Unity of Wisdom and Method that leads us to Buddhahood.
(c) Chanting of mantras of the Buddhas and Boddhisattvas whilst regretting our transgressions – there are many ways to chant mantras, and those done in retreat are invariably more powerful in terms of efficacy of purification. This can also be done on one’s behalf– it is possible for one to make monetary offerings to the Sangha who can do these on one’s behalf.
(d) Building or commissioning the building or making of Stupas, Statues of the Enlightened Ones, Tsa Tsas (images of the Enlightened Ones made of clay), Temples, Reliquaries/ Thangkas, putting in physical effort in assisting so e.g. cleaning a temple, donating towards these purposes etc.
(e) Making of offerings to the Triple Gem (Fruit, Flowers, Lights, Music, Incense, 7 Water bowls, monetary offerings etc). The effects of thee offerings cannot be under estimated as they are efficacious in respect of both purificatory and increase of merits. When we speak of lights, it doesn’t have to be butter lamps. Electric lamps will pass muster too. Water, which is abundant, is also very important, and it is equally ok to offer bottled drinks and soft drinks/ fruit juice. But we should only offer those that we would ourselves drink – we should only offer what we ourselves deem as precious or fit for our own consumption. When making offerings we must be careful not to have any feelings of miserliness or lack of generosity. What we offer we must do willingly, with no sense of “second thoughts”. Sometimes people make large donations or offerings in order to look good before their peers, or for own fame or ego – these will not generate the merits required. Any sentiment that relates to the 8 Worldly Concerns, will never give rise to the intended merits. For reference, the 8 Worldly Concerns are variously: gain vs loss, pleasure vs pain, praise vs blame, and fame vs disgrace.
This brings us to a story during the time of the Buddha. There was once a wealthy monarch who made food offerings to the Buddha and his disciples. At the end of the feast, the monarch thought to himself that he would be the beneficiary of all these merits generated, but did not want to say so, and asked the Buddha to decide to whom the merits would be dedicated during the customary dedicatory rite. To the monarch’s surprise, the Buddha dedicated these merits to an old lady outside the city walls who was not even privy to the feast. The monarch was immensely surprised, and asked the Buddha why. The Buddha explained to the monarch that his motivation for the offerings was done with impure motives, and afflicted by the 8 Worldly Concerns. In contrast, the poor old lady outside the city walls had rejoiced in her heart at the merits that the monarch would obtain from this offering, and wished in her next life she would be able to do the same to the Triple Gem. It was for that reason that the Buddha believed she was the most worthy beneficiary of those merits.
This shows why the purity of one’ own heart is important and also illustrates the powers of rejoicing at others’ meritorious deeds. Even if one does not have the means to carry out certain meritorious deeds, the simple act of rejoicing at those deeds carried out by others brings one immense merits! This power of rejoicing at meritorious or virtious deeds therefore cannot be underestimated.
(f) Carving of Mantras, Dharanis etc on rocks, on prayer flags (lungtas) etc. It is similar to the chanting of Mantras/ Dharanis mentioned at (b) above.
(g) Performing Prostrations to the Enlightened Ones – this is not only good for purification, but also helps us to keep healthy and helps one to have a fantastic constitution. It also carries the benefit of protection by the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas from harms caused whether by humans or non humans. The deities of the celestial realms will guard those who practise this daily. The merits it generates will also help us obtain success both in our business and health, including longevity. The act also creates the causes for rebirth in higher realms, and speed up one’s path towards enlightenment.
The importance of prostrations is illustrated by a story from the days of Lama Tsongkhapa, when he had direct visions of Lord Manjushri who taught him Emptiness. There was a stage when Lama Tsongkhapa was unable to understand certain aspects of Lord Manjushri’s lessons on Emptiness, upon which Lord Manjushri directed Lama Tsongkhapa to carry out a retreat, during which Lama Tsongkhapa carried out extensive prostrations and making of mandala offerings for further purification. It was only after that that he was able to fully understand Lord Manjushri’s teachings.
4. The Power of Resolve
This is to lay down a commitment to carry out these negative acts again. This is indeed difficult for most. We cannot possibly promise not to carry out any of these acts again in this life, so one has to be realistic in what one promises, so as not to end up cheating the Triple Gem. So in promising not to kill, we caveat its ambit to say for example, that we promise not to kill human beings. We can also, as a matter of strategy for practice, caveat that resolve/ vow by reference to time – we can choose to practise such Resolve (and take these vows) only on merit-multiplying days, on which we strictly abstain from all non-virtuous conduct for that particular day.
In conclusion, the good news about negative karma is that it can be purified. Which is why the above 4 opponent powers are so important. Whilst they cannot make all the negative karmic seeds disappear immediately, they can help us to purify them step by step and gradually, life after life. The time will eventually come when all negative karma is purified.
We can also now understand that practitioners at the very early stages of learning ought not to be looking at Empowerments and the practise of tantra etc, but should instead first learn these basics. A solid grounding in the Four Noble Truths and the purification of negative karma are, amongst other things, so crucial and are pre-requisites to any of the more advanced practices. We see many examples in history, including how Milarepa was made by his master to build a stupa only to have it demolished again and again, and only transmitted the appropriate oral lineage to Milarepa when he was ready.
To be free from suffering, one has to first rid oneself of the causes of suffering, and that is why we have gone through the 10 non virtuous actions in considerable detail. It is hoped that today’s lesson on purification of negative karma created from having done any of the 10 non virtuous actions, will help everyone in their practices. These practices will help us when the time comes for us to depart this world system, in that we will be ready to leave with no regrets, having confessed our wrongs and done our best to purify our negative karma.
In the lessons to come, Geshe la will speak about Taking Refuge in the Triple Gem, and also about Past, Present & Future Lives.
We dedicate the merits from this Dharma activities to all of you, your families and loved ones, and may the Buddha Dharma flourish forevermore. May all be well and happy.
The Maha Tare Team