The Karma of Mindfulness : The Buddha’s Teachings on Sati and Kamma by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu

Author:Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu [Bhikkhu, Ṭhānissaro]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Dhamma, Dharma, Buddha, Buddhism, Kamma, Karma, Sati, Mindfulness, Jhana, Concentration, Theravada, Pali Canon, Thai Forest Tradition, Meditation
Publisher: Metta Forest Monastery
Published: 2015-12-08T08:00:00+00:00

This takes the last contemplation and extends it from yourself to all beings. It gives rise to a different quality of mind. It goes beyond heedfulness and extends to something called saṁvega. Saṁvega means a sense of dismay, a sense even of terror, at having to stay in this world with no end in sight, always being required to do good actions, and otherwise in danger of falling into deep suffering. In other words, in order to find wellbeing, we constantly have to keep doing good actions again and again and again. No matter where we go, no matter what level of being we’re reborn on, we’re constantly doing actions and it’s very easy when we’re suffering to say, “Oh, I don’t have the strength to do good actions.” When we’re very happy, it’s very easy to become complacent and to let our good actions slip. So when you think about the danger of continuing to stay in this world of actions, with the constant requirement to be heedful and skillful no matter where you go, it gives rise to a sense of saṁvega.

But on this level, too, the reflection on kamma also gives rise to a sense of confidence that there must be a path of practice to get out of all this. And that’s what the noble eightfold path is: a path of action that leads to the end of action [§5]. As the passage says, when you reflect on these facts, it gives rise to the motivation to follow the path to awakening so that you don’t have to come back to any world at all.

Now it turns out that actions inspired by heedfulness and those inspired by saṁvega are in many cases the same: generosity, virtue, and meditation. So as we’re following the path, we try to contemplate kamma in order to make sure that we’re heedful to act in ways that are skillful, and also to give us the inspiration to find the path that leads to the point where we can go beyond action entirely. In other words, we look for the actions that will lead us to the end of action [§5].

It’s in this way that contemplation of kamma is a useful adjunct to meditation and is something that we should always try to keep in mind.

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