Q: What can we do to become more attuned to karma, like develop a karma radar, if you like, so that we can stop or slow down this tendency to be tossed around by everything?
A: Yeah, that’s right. I understand. Listen, there are so many things about karma in the teachings, but the thing that has really grabbed me, and that I go on repeatedly about, is the four ways that karma ripens. It is so so helpful because it covers every element of an entire life.
The first one is the actual type of rebirth you get. There you are as a human, so we have to look at what’s the cause of this. Well, the cause of being a human is a positive karmic seed, planted in our mind in a past life and then triggered at the time of our past death: a strong action of non-killing, done, no doubt, as Lama Zopa says, in the framework of living in vows of non-killing.
Now we look at the second way our past actions are ripening within this human rebirth: the kind of mind we’ve got – our tendencies.
This is a big one because we all assume that I’ve got this tendency because of my mother, and I’m this way because of my daddy, and I’m this way because of my genes. It’s true, they are causes, but they’re secondary causes. The main cause of why we have the tendency to steal or lie or be good at music or be good at patience is because we’ve practiced them before: they’re just a bunch of habits.
We come into this life, from the first second of conception, programmed with our own habits.
This is crucial to understand, because all the scientific and psychological views of the modern world only talk about the brain, the mother and the father, that the child was produced by the parents, etc. And they were, but again they are secondary causes. We ourselves are the main cause of who we are. This is a massively important point, and we’ve got to really think it through.
My mother was a classical musician, and she noticed that her little Bobsie – me – had a tendency to be good at music. Everyone says, “Oh, Robina’s good at music because she got it from her mother.” Well, no, I didn’t. My mother came into this life with a tendency to be good at that type of activity from having done it before, I came into this life with a tendency to be good at that type of activity from having done it before.
We’ve got to spell all this out. You see, it’s not that my mother doesn’t play a role, it’s not that the genes don’t play a role – they do – but the first cause of who I am, what I’m good at, is always the action of my own mind, in some past life, that drops a seed into my mind that then ripens as my own tendency.
Then there’s the third way in this life that our karma ripens, which is basically how we’re seen and treated by others. We’re very social beings, aren’t we? The world is full of other people, and how they see us and treat us – it’s a simple way to put it – is the third kind of karma called “experiences similar to the cause.”
From the time we were born, we’ve been connecting with mummies and daddies and aunties and uncles and the cat and the rats and the cockroaches in the kitchen and the pet dog and the neighbors. We create the cause to meet every one of them, and our past treatment of them is the main cause of how they treat us. And in my case, of course, I had created the cause to be born to that mother with the tendency to be good at music who could then teach me, who could help nourish my tendency.
From the time we’re conceived up until now we’ve been interacting with other people: people will like us, or not like us, or steal from us, or lie to us, or be loving to us, or be kind to us, or not give us credit at the bank, or not believe our words. Every moment of our life we’ve been having experiences at the hands of others, all the good and all the bad.
This is massive, because all we feel is that we’re innocent victims: I didn’t ask to get born, it’s not my fault. It’s like everything is just bad luck and good luck. But every tiny experience is the fruit of my own past actions; I’m the main cause. The people and the external world are merely catalysts.
The fourth one is called “environmental karma”: the very physical world we exist in, the way it impacts upon us: that’s the fruit of our karma as well. The result of non-killing, for example, would be you’d be fat and healthy, the food would nourish you, you wouldn’t get sick. And the experience similar to the cause kind of karma would be that you wouldn’t get killed and wouldn’t die young.
In other words: 1. my own body, 2. my own mind, 3. our experiences at the hands of others, and 4. the entire environment: my actions from many past lives are the main cause of all of this. As His Holiness the Dalai Lama says, karma is like self-creation.
Now, knowing this as a natural law, you apply it every second. Someone smiles at you, “Wow, that’s the fruit of my past virtue,” you know? Someone steals your money, “That’s the fruit of my stealing.” Someone doesn’t believe your words, even if you’re telling the truth: “That’s the fruit of my past lying,” Every tiny thing that happens, you apply these four things, and you own it – each one, each one.
Buddha uses the concept of seeds. Well, our life is our garden! Everything in our mind, everything that happens to us, everything the environment does to us: we sowed the seeds and now we’re experiencing the fruits: our own happiness and our own suffering. The entire external world is merely the catalyst, not the main cause.
That’s the way to say it, to spell it out to ourselves, and that’s how we apply it. But we can’t apply it if we can’t say these words. You understand me?
The trouble is, we only remember the bad things. But every tiny good thing that happens – you know, a person smiling at you in the street, you see a pleasant rose in someone’s garden, the weather is peaceful – tiny baby events – every one of those is the fruit of a virtue. Do you understand?
We have to remember it every day: everything that arises out there, it’s your garden. Your life is your garden, and what ripens in it, you sowed the seed, baby. And this way we can begin to take responsibility. This is very powerful. Otherwise, we just become angry and depressed and confused – and only create the causes of our future suffering.