PRECEPTS AND KARMA | Zen Wisdom

QUESTION:
Shih-fu, you once said that speech and action create karma, but thoughts do not; that thoughts can lead to speech and action which create karma, but thoughts by themselves cannot. Previously I had understood thoughts to be dharmas just like speech and action. As such they have a certain force, and therefore they can affect things. You have also said that mental power can help, hurt, even kill. This is neither action nor speech. It is purely mental. For instance, at the end of retreat we silently transfer merit with the intention of helping sentient beings. Lastly, the Mahayana tradition says that thoughts alone can break precepts. Can you clear up the confusion?

SHIH-FU:
Of the three activities ─ actions, speech and thought ─ thought is most important. If an apparently conscious person acts or speaks without mental awareness, then either the person is being directed by an outside force or the person is insane. Therefore, if the mind is not involved when the body acts or speech occurs, then no karma is created.

What if the mind is active but neither speech nor actions manifest? In this case one must distinguish between precepts and karma. The Hinayana tradition says that precepts are broken only when acts and speech are involved. Hinayana takes the perspective of ordinary sentient beings. When we speak or act we influence others, perhaps conspicuously. On the other hand, if only the mind moves, the influence is much lighter and much less conspicuous. Thinking about stealign is not a crime. You have to follow through with actions to break the law. Therefore the Hinayana tradition does not consider bad thoughts as breaking precepts.

Mahayana recognizes the mind as the most important component, so the mind alone can break the precepts. That is to say, intention is paramount. Furthermore, bad thoughts can create bad karma, but the karma created is much lighter than that created by speech or action.

Remember, also, that you are ordinarily thinking constantly. Some thoughts are good, some bad, some neutral. They all create light karma. If you focus only on the bad thoughts and condemn yourself for them, then you are doing yourself an injustice. You are thinking good thoughts throughout the day, too, and these create good karma. So there is a balance. For instance, right now all of you are here listening to and trying to understand Buddhadharma. This is good. You are creating good karma. Hopefully, during the course of our lives we will think more good thoughts than bad.

Even if you take the Hinayana approach, that evil thoughts do not break precepts, be aware that when one has too many evil thoughts that continue and continue, eventually they may lead to questionable speech and action. It is better to deal with evil thoughts right from the start and try to maintain a mind of purity.

STUDENT:
What about the question of free will versus predestination in terms of karma? The Buddha once related a story about how he, after becoming the Buddha, still experienced retribution for a mild, boyish prank performed lifetimes before. This posits a tit-for-tat, fatalistic interpretation of karmic retribution which I find difficult to accept.

SHIH-FU:
I think there is a bit of confusion in your understanding of this story. Yes, the Buddha did experience the consequence of an action he performed lifetimes before. However, he did not experience it as retribution. There may have been pain, but there was no suffering such as we would experience. To enlightened beings, receiving retribution is the same as not receiving retribution. If there is no self, how can there be retribution? Only beings who have an idea of self experience retribution.

QUESTION:
If you break the precepts in your dreams, have you still broken Mahayana Precepts?

SHIH-FU:
Having taken the Bodhisattva Precepts, whether you have bad thoughts while awake or dreaming, you will still break the precepts. In a dream you may steal something or kill someone, but you haven’t truly done so, so you shouldn’t concern yourself with it, and you shouldn’t punish yourself.

If a person is completely enlightened, then it is impossible to break precepts, even in dreams. If you are on the Bodhisattva Path, you can always repent your bad actions, speech and thoughts and still practice the precepts. Precepts are guidelines for behavior, not commandments.

The Bodhisattva Precepts alert us to what we should or should not do. We should not break precepts, but if we do, what is done is done. We should then repent and continue with our practice. Nevertheless, we are still responsible for the karmic consequences.

Precepts in Buddhism should not be thought of as commandments that are either kept or broken. You should think of precepts more as clear bodies of water. If you break a precept, then you pollute the waters. The precept is still there, but it is not pure anymore. By repenting and vowing to try harder, you help to purify the precept once again.

STUDENT:
Can thoughts alone cause harm to others?

SHIH-FU:
If you think bad thoughts about someone all the time, day after day, the cumulative effects of those thoughts can grow very strong. Eventually you may be lead to say or do something that will harm that person. If you have bad thoughts about someone for a day, it is doubtful that something bad will immediately happen to that person.

On the other hand, there are people who cultivate mind power and use methods with which to harm someone directly with their thoughts. This is extremely rare and not relevant to what we are talking about. For most of us, thoughts remain within the mental realm. You must speak or act in order for things to happen.

STUDENT:
Good thoughts generate good karma, but what if the intention behind having good thoughts is to get good karma?

SHIH-FU:
Good thoughts do create good karma. But thinking good thoughts with the purpose of generating good karma is like having such thoughts in dreams. It is like daydreaming.

We should not think of the precepts as mysterious or mystical, but try to understand them from a common sense, humanistic point of view. Think of what is reasonable and normal. If you just sit there and think of giving someone gifts, but never do it, and then later tell that person, “I’ve done good things for you, ” does that work?

STUDENT:
Then what about transferring merit at the end of retreats?

SHIH-FU:
At the end of a retreat you have earned personal merit. In transferring merit you are saying that you wish to give it to others in hopes of helping sentient beings. This is the way of the bodhisattva. You do this with your mind. You can transfer merit only when you have such merit. If you don’t have such merit, then you can think and imagine all you want, but no merit will be transferred. Likewise, if you have done bad things, you cannot transfer the bad thoughts to someone else thinking that you will be free and clear of them.

When you transfer merit you should do so with a mind of generosity and compassion. In other words, you should give it all away without your own benefit in mind. If you are thinking that by transferring merit you will gain even more merit, then you have not transferred any merit.

STUDENT:
What accumulates merit? Does saving a puppy from drowning earn merit, or does merit come only with deep cultivation of Buddhadharma?

SHIH-FU:
If you have done some good in the future you will receive good karmic effects. Good speech and actions accumulate merit. Some speech and actions create more merit than others. In your mind, you should say that you don’t really want this good effect. You wish to give it others so they can benefit. This is tranferring merit. It is like giving money to someone. If they try to pay you back, you tell them to give it to someone else instead.

The less people dwell on themselves, the greater their cultivation will be. Transferring merit should not be done with the idea of gaining more merit. One of the six paramitas, or perfections, of the Bodhisattva Path is dana, giving. People on this Path simply give because they are on the Path. As a result, egocentrism may be reduced, but that is not the purpose. Transferring merit is just another way to practice this paramita.

STUDENT:
In the past you have said that your karma is your karma. You can’t take other people’s karma and you can’t give yours away. But if you are giving your good karma to others when you transfer merit, that is precisely what you are doing. And if it is possible to give it away, then why shouldn’t I get rid of my bad karma as well? I don’t want it. I’ll give it to Harry over there.

SHIH-FU:
The difference is good karma is like money earned. You have a right to do with it what you want. But bad karma is like owing money. When you owe money you don’t have a say in the matter.

STUDENT:
When you talk about karma in this way, it sounds too neat and structured. It sounds like a man-made invention. Is karma really set up like a banking system? I think of words like principal and interest and it seems a bit too pat. It also makes it seem like there is some standard of measurement for the severity of actions committed. It all sounds a bit hokey to me.

SHIH-FU:
The Buddha taught that there were certain questions that were inexplicable and unfathomable; and if people contemplated these concepts in hopes of coming up with answers they could become deluded or confused. One of these is to try to understand what the Buddha’s mind is capable of. Another is to try to understand the workings of karma. Karma is difficult, in fact impossible, to fully and clearly explain. Yet, people insist on knowing more about it. They want crystal-clear, concrete descriptions to help them understand their existence and experience.

The point is, while karma is inconceivable, we have to come up with analogies to try to explain its facets. None of them does justice to the actual thing. This time around I used a banking analogy. If you don’t like that analogy, I’ll come up with another one. But all of them will be analogies, and all will therefore fall short of the real thing. As Buddhists, the main thing for us to understand is that our thoughts, speech and actions have consequences for our karma, in this life and in future lives.

PREVIOUS: MARIANNE CARR | Zen Wisdom
NEXT: THE BUDDHIST CONCEPT OF MERIT AND VIRTUE | Zen Wisdom