KARMA RESIDES AS IMPRINTS IN THE MIND
KARMA RESIDES AS IMPRINTS IN THE MIND
There is always a great deal of discussion of karma in Lord Buddha’s instructions. We often think of karma as something physical, because it is defined as “action.” But karma is simply the placing of habits in the mind. Of course, at the time of the creation of karma, it is created through actions of body, speech, and mind, as can be seen in the list of the ten virtuous and non-virtuous actions carried out with an intention. Nevertheless, the imprint or habit rests in the mind, not in the body. If karma were a physical thing, one could easily throw it away and thus eradicate non-virtuous karma and gather virtuous karma instead. It is not the case that karma is something physical, rather it is a habit that is generated in the mind of the person who performs actions, the reason it is somewhat difficult to purify and overcome. Should karma be physical and reside in one’s body, then at death karma would end. However, since one’s karma resides in one’s mind as a habit, one can’t get rid of it at death. Therefore, as long as the basis for the accumulation of habits – which is the false apprehension of one’s experience of an apprehending subject and apprehended objects – is not relinquished or liberated, one will never be free from suffering.
In Tibet, there is a saying and it’s a true and accurate description of karma: “If you want to know what you did in the past, look at your body now. If you want to know what will happen to you in the future, look at what you are doing now.” This saying illustrates that karma is not limited to one life or ends when the life in which the actions were carried out is completed. This saying means that it is on the basis of one’s actions that one experiences results.
An extract from a teaching by His Eminence the Third Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche entitled Buddhism and the Mind, given in Montreal, Canada in 1990.
There is always a great deal of discussion of karma in Lord Buddha’s instructions. We often think of karma as something physical, because it is defined as “action.” But karma is simply the placing of habits in the mind. Of course, at the time of the creation of karma, it is created through actions of body, speech, and mind, as can be seen in the list of the ten virtuous and non-virtuous actions carried out with an intention. Nevertheless, the imprint or habit rests in the mind, not in the body. If karma were a physical thing, one could easily throw it away and thus eradicate non-virtuous karma and gather virtuous karma instead. It is not the case that karma is something physical, rather it is a habit that is generated in the mind of the person who performs actions, the reason it is somewhat difficult to purify and overcome. Should karma be physical and reside in one’s body, then at death karma would end. However, since one’s karma resides in one’s mind as a habit, one can’t get rid of it at death. Therefore, as long as the basis for the accumulation of habits – which is the false apprehension of one’s experience of an apprehending subject and apprehended objects – is not relinquished or liberated, one will never be free from suffering.
In Tibet, there is a saying and it’s a true and accurate description of karma: “If you want to know what you did in the past, look at your body now. If you want to know what will happen to you in the future, look at what you are doing now.” This saying illustrates that karma is not limited to one life or ends when the life in which the actions were carried out is completed. This saying means that it is on the basis of one’s actions that one experiences results.
An extract from a teaching by His Eminence the Third Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche entitled Buddhism and the Mind, given in Montreal, Canada in 1990.
