Karma

His Holiness Gyalwang Drukpa, Jigme Pema Wangchen

Ego is the creator of the world in which we are suffering. For example, when we take rebirth, we do so without any understanding or knowledge; without freedom. Also, after being born, when we are in the process of growth, we do not have any freedom.

KARMA IS THE LAW OF CAUSE AND EFFECT

Those people who are crippled, blind, sick or suffering very much do not have any freedom or choice about their situation, even though they may not like that kind of life. But they have to go through it because their “karma” has pushed them into that situation. I hope you understand what karma means; it is the law of cause and effect. It is the result of the seed that you have previously sown, but this kind of seed can be destroyed before it comes to fruition. This is possible. One should not think that “karma is karma”, and that you have to experience it as such. It is not like this. You do not have to suffer if your wisdom works well and correctly.

There are many ways of reducing or destroying karma before its result ripens. It may be a bit late if you are already born with the karma of past lives, but you can still do something. There are still solutions to get rid of these sufferings, even if it is a bit late. It is very important to know this. However, like a disease, it should not be too late to deal with. I guess that many of you are doctors and so you know this very well. If you can detect a disease in its early stages, it can then be cured very easily. But when you detect it at the terminal stage you say, “Now it is too late. It is hopeless.” Karma is something very similar to this. Therefore, we have to work with our karma from today onwards. This is the reason why we should start taking care of ourselves from today, and act from today instead of waiting for tomorrow. We say this because life is impermanent and no one knows what is going to happen tomorrow. We should work immediately to destroy any negative karma.

Unfortunately, out of ignorance we are planting a lot of negative seeds. One may have to face the negative consequences because many such seeds have been sown. Then one has to work to deal with these consequences and neutralise them. This is the way that one destroys the negative karma.

THERE ARE SO MANY SOLUTIONS TO GET RID OF NEGATIVE KARMA

You should not wait for the negative karma to come into effect. You do not have to suffer because there are so many solutions to get rid of negative karma. Therefore, we need teachings and guidance, and this is why spirituality is very important. Spirituality does not help in any other way. We are, in a sense, quite well-off in this world; we have food to eat, clothes to wear, house to live in, etc and so we do not really need anything worldly from spirituality. The main idea of spirituality is to get rid of the negative seeds that you have planted. This is the main focus of the spiritual path because we do not want to suffer. If any of us need suffering, then we do not need to work for spiritual development. We can just sit tight and do nothing. Then we will definitely suffer. However, since we do not want to suffer we have to work to demolish all these negative accumulations. In order to demolish them, we need to develop wisdom.

YOUR MIND HOLDS THE ENTIRE WISDOM OF THE UNIVERSAL TRUTH

Where does karma come from? How does it exist? What is the make-up of karma? These are the things that you should understand with genuine wisdom, which by itself will demolish all the negative karma. So all you need is to develop wisdom. Wisdom is not something that you do not know and that I can show you. Wisdom is something that you can find within yourself. However, I can tell you where to look for it; it is in your mind. Wisdom is not something that you can buy or steal; it can only be found within yourself, within your mind; within your heart. Your mind holds the entire wisdom of the universal truth. When you realise this wisdom, you will then know everything.

Creation is an aspect of the mind, ego is an aspect of the mind and wisdom is also an aspect of the mind. Therefore, the mind holds everything, including wisdom and ignorance. We live in confusion because we do not recognise anything spiritually; spiritually we are very ignorant. Because we are ignorant and confused, the mind has two faces: the face of wisdom and the face of ignorance. The real nature if our mind is pure wisdom; there is no ignorance in this, but as long as we are not realised the mind holds two faces.

Since beginningless time until today, you have been doing everything with your ego. So what is ego? It is actually your confused mind. This confused mind brings about the desire, which can give rise to all kinds of emotions, which in turn can influence your body and speech.

WISDOM IS YOUR INNER GURU

Wisdom is actually your “inner” guru, which indicates what your confused mind is doing. The “external” guru is the one who teaches you this and initiates you on the path of spirituality. But it is your own wisdom, as the inner guru, that reveals the functions of the ego to you. By knowing how your ego functions, you will definitely understand the teachings about cutting this ego a hundred times more effectively than just through the teachings of the external guru.

Therefore, we say that there is the “inner” master, “outer” master and “secret” master. A person who finds all the right circumstances correctly will find his or her own mind full of wisdom. Then suffering will come to an end. There will be no mistakes and no influence from the ego or from desire. One will be free from everything. Whatever you do after that, you will do knowingly and freely. Maybe you do not like to live, so then I would say that your death would be a “free death”. If you want to be reborn, your rebirth would be a “free rebirth”. You will have achieved the great freedom, the so-called enlightenment. That freedom is the so-called Great Bliss or Buddhahood.

THE MIND IS THE CREATOR OF EVERYTHING

However, people do not understand this because of their ignorance. When they hear terms like “God”, “Buddha” or “Khodah”, they think that they exist somewhere “out there”. There is the notion of looking outside for everything, and so you are left with no direction. If you think that the Buddhas and Gods are outside, you are left somewhere else without any help. You will expect that a messiah will come to liberate you, but then nobody comes. So, you find yourself in a hopeless situation and by the time you realise this it will be too late. You will be too old or dying soon. Hence this is not the right approach to spirituality. The right way is to understand that everything is within yourself, if you understand that the mind is the creator of everything, then even if you are not free right now you will psychologically feel that everything is in your hands. This means that some kind of atmosphere of freedom is already there. Even though you are not accomplished in respect of practice and so forth- you can still feel a kind of freedom. This is my experience. I hope you understand.