Impermanence

The second of the four thoughts deals with impermanence. There are many ways for a human life to end before coming to a death from old age. A butter-lamp consists of a container with butter and a wick. When such a lamp is filled to the brim with butter and the wick is not yet lit, this corresponds to the situation of a person that is not yet born. A butter-lamp that has fully exhausted its fuel corresponds to a person who has died of old age. Between these two examples there are a great number of variations. There are in fact many more conditions that can cause death than there are conditions that support life. Our life can be compared to a drop of dew on a blade of grass - it is very fragile and as soon as the sun comes up it evaporates.

Life is very precious not just because it is very difficult to obtain, but also because it is very easy to lose. The precious human body brings many possibilities, but there is one certainty and that is death. Uncertain, however, is the exact moment when it will come. It doesn't follow any rules. Children don't necessarily live longer than their parents. Teachers don't necessarily die before their students. Even though people actually know this from their own experience, they seem to think it's normal to believe that children will naturally live longer than their parents. However, if you take a look around and take your own experience into consideration, you will conclude with certainty that these things are not predetermined. Although one has the good fortune to still be alive, it is absolutely not a matter of course that this will continue so. The moment of one's own death can come at any time. That is the problem with life. It is so fragile, so easy to lose, and so easy to destroy.

At the moment of death one is very alone regardless of how close one is to one's family, how many brothers or sisters one has, or how many close and dear friends one has. They cannot accompany or help one at the moment of death. Even the material things which seem so important to us, regardless of how much money we save, how big and attractive our house and our car are, we will not be able to take any of it with us when we die. This also applies to that which is closest and most dear to us - our body. Our shadow has accompanied us throughout our entire life. We do not have to carry it along or worry whether it is there or not; it is automatically there. But even our shadow cannot accompany us beyond the point of death.

The only things that really count at the moment of death are the tendencies that we have accumulated in our mind. Both the positive and the harmful impressions will accompany us whether we want them or not. We cannot just take the positive impressions and leave the negative ones behind. These tendencies will determine our state of mind. They determine how we experience our death and the time afterwards. If we have accumulated a great amount of positive impressions in our mind, then we will experience the appropriate result. We will experience a lot of happiness and won't encounter the suffering that goes along with harmful tendencies. However, if negative tendencies are dominant in our mind, these will determine our experience in the sense that we will experience suffering and pain. We should be aware of this. For our death and that which follows, nothing other than the way in which we have lived can help us.

Karma - Cause and Effect

Karma deals with causality. A specific action leads to a specific result. A positive act will lead to a result of a positive nature, hence, to the experience of happiness and joy. On the other hand, a negative act will unavoidably lead to a painful result. It will most certainly cause suffering. This happens of itself because the result will unavoidably correspond to the nature of the cause. For example, if you plant a seed, a certain kind of plant will grow from this. From a rice seed, a rice plant will grow and not any other kind. Therefore, it is very important to be careful and to do everything possible, from the greatest to the seemingly smallest acts, in order to strengthen positive behavior.

The dominant tendencies in our mind will be the first to ripen. If they are characterized by negative kinds of behavior, then we will experience this first and they will be dominant in our lives. We will then experience suffering and will not be happy. This exacerbates our problems because we won't manage well in life and will get into more trouble. If, on the other hand, we strengthen our positive and useful behavior, then our happiness and joy will increase and become our prevailing experience. This then reinforces our ability to strengthen positive behavior.

The four thoughts were not simply "invented" by somebody in order to deceive you. They are authentic, completely true, and were taught by the Buddha Shakyamuni. The Buddha gave these teachings out of his all-knowing wisdom, his loving kindness, and his exceptional ability. Everyone has strong obscurations in his or her mind, of which the main disturbing feelings are attachment, anger and ignorance. On the basis of these disturbing feelings, a great number of other disturbing feelings arise in our minds. These influence our actions and so lead to many other negative activities. In our present situation, disturbing feelings are pretty dominant and lead to physical, verbal, and mental activities through which we accumulate negative karma.

Generally speaking, there are a great number of negative activities, but they are divided into specific categories. Three have to do with our body: killing, stealing, and causing sexual harm. Four have to do with our speech: lying, slander, divisive speech, and idle talk. The three negative actions of our mind are ill will, envy, and the cultivation of false views.

These ten negative actions should be avoided at all cost. In the meantime, one should do the opposite, namely engage in the ten positive actions which are the reverse of the negative actions already mentioned.

There are five negative actions that carry an extreme amount of negative force. They are referred to as "the five extremely harmful actions." These are:

1 - to kill one's own father
2 - to kill one's own mother
3 - to kill an Arhat
4 - to physically injure a Buddha or one who represents the Buddha, such as one's own teacher - this also applies to the destruction of representations of the Buddha
5 - to divide the sangha

Carrying out one of these actions means accumulating extreme negative karma. The result of this action ripens especially fast after death, without an intermediate period. As a result of this action, one will immediately find oneself in a state of paranoia. This is why the literal description of these actions is "the five actions with which there is no intermediate state."

There are five further actions that are very similar to these:

1 - to destroy a stupa
2 - to kill an "ordinary" bodhisattva - one who has not yet reached a level of direct realization
3 - to kill one's own lama
4 - to engage in sexual intercourse with a realized Arhat
5 - to steal from the Three Jewels- Buddha, Dharma, Sangha - for example, to take back an offering

In general, negative actions don't have a single good quality; they are simply harmful. The Buddha however said that negative actions do have one good aspect, and this is that one can purify oneself from the negativity one has created. This purification is possible through the application of the so-called "four powers" - regret for the action, reparation of its ill effects, resolution not to repeat it, and renewal of our refuge in the Three Jewels. Even with the four powers it is extremely difficult to remove the tendencies that have been created by the five extremely harmful actions. It is also difficult to deal with negative impressions in the case where one has absolutely no trust in the Three Jewels and clings to false views.

>>>