Planting seeds.

Our life is the garden, and our kamma is the seed that we sow. If we plant an apple seed, it is sure that an apple tree will grow. If we plant an orange seed, it is sure that an orange tree will grow.

This is also how it is for our kamma. If we plant something pleasant, something pleasant will grow. If we plant something unpleasant, something unpleasant will grow. The garden of our life does not reward or punish us, it only responds to what we plant.

On our spiritual path we are continually reminded to live a beautiful life established in love and compassion, where we should not judge others, but live peacefully and harmoniously with all beings, without exception. Even the ones we don't like, even the ones we disapprove of, even the ones who are trying to hurt us.

This is planting the seeds of a real and profound love, (metta bhavana) and a real and profound compassion (karuna). The fruit of these seeds will be abundant for us in the future and ultimately manifest into every moment of our life. Even if we meet difficulties, our teaching is to always respond to the situation as best we can, with our pure love and compassion. In this way, we will always benefit, not only now, but also in the future, as we empower the habit of a beautiful mind.

No matter how others may treat us it is always to our benefit to respond with love and compassion.

One time, whilst I was teaching in Israel somebody asked this question:

“If a person doesn't respect me, why should I give respect to them?”

I replied, “Because it is better for you, and so better for the whole world.”

We train ourselves to live a beautiful life, because it is better for us and better for the world. We do this by realising at the heart or intuitive level, our own responsibility for the personal world that we experience.

With awareness and blossoming wisdom, we will take care with the seeds we plant.

Traditionally, we speak about two kinds of kamma, two kinds of seeds that we plant:

Akusala Kamma:

Akusala means unwholesome.

It is the thought, or movement of mind and then the action on this thought or movement of mind, to be unhelpful, unkind or hurtful to the other. It is any negative action based on an intention. These thoughts arise many times each day, we act upon them and so create akusala kamma.

 

We are what we think.

All that we are arises with our mind,
and with our mind we create our world.
Speak or act with an impure mind and difficulties will follow you,
as the wheel follows the ox that pulls the cart.
(Dhammapada: verse 1)

 

Kusala Kamma:

Kusala means wholesome.

It is the thought, or movement of mind and then the action on this thought or movement of mind, to help, to give or to serve the other. It is any positive action based on an intention. These thoughts also arise many times each day, we act upon them and so create kusala kamma.

 

We are what we think.

All that we are arises with our mind, 

and with the mind we create our world. 

Speak or act with a pure mind  

and happiness will follow you 

like your shadow in the brightest part of the day, inseparable. 

(Dhammapada: verse 2)

 

Our usual life is determined by these two kammas and because each kamma carries with it a result, our journey is never completed. How can we ever be free from our kamma if everything we do brings with it a consequence? If we take even a moment to look at our life calmly, peacefully and honestly, we can see how true this really is.

We continue to blindly follow our habits in life and so make the same actions, first mentally, then physically and verbally, over and over. It can be no surprise that we continue to receive the same results. As always, it is not a punishment, it is only the consequence.

It is the law of kamma.

The teaching of the Buddha is to essentially be free from the cycle of our kamma and vipaka. This means to wake up to the reality of life, far from imagination and delusion, and stop accumulating new kamma and to exhaust the old kamma (vipaka) from the past.

But how can this be done? How can we be free from the cycle of cause and effect?

It is here that we meet the third kamma.

Kiriya Kamma:

Kiriya kamma is the non-resultant kamma.

Here, no new seeds are planted, and so there are no new fruits as a consequence for the future. Kiriya kamma therefore is any mental action empowered without a self-interest. It is pure and so has no consequence. It can be called Selflessness, or Love. It has many names, but it is the way an enlightened or liberated being naturally lives in the world.

By not making their life personal and always about themselves, they are free from creating new kamma and so free from its consequence.

Desires and preferences:
It is said that ‘in the heart of the wise person there are no desires, only preferences’, and this is how we live from kiriya kamma.
Once we are able to let go of the concept of self, the part of us that controls every action and the motivation behind every action, our desires to gratify that illusionary self fall away. What is left are only preferences, relevant to time and place. This is how we are able to flow with life and live easily in the world.
If we are asked, for example, if we would like a cup of tea or a cup of coffee, we are able to choose the one we want without difficulty. However, if our choice is a cup of tea, only to be told later, there is no tea available, we can accept the reality of that situation without suffering, because our choice was based upon a preference rather than a desire.
Desire is always a two edged sword.
When our desires are met immediately it creates the kammic conditions for the future, with its ultimate consequence of suffering. When our desires are not met immediately, we have instant suffering or dissatisfaction, as a consequence.
The moment we put down what we carry from the past, our karmic habit of desiring one thing above another, we are free from the consequences that must be met in the future.

 

May all beings be happy.

 

From ‘The Reality of Kamma in our daily life’

By Michael Kewley.