Dear Dharma Friends,

Last time we spoke of the effects of negative actions, the "Three Poisons" and the importance of motivation and intention. This time I would like to continue to explain the law of "Cause and Effect" or "Karma".

All types of negative karmas are summed up into 10 negative actions (10 non-virtues). You can make it simpler and say that there are 2 types of karma. One is "Conscious" or "Mental Activity" and the other is known as the "Activity of Thought". When we divide them into activities of Body Speech and Mind it becomes 10.

Starting with the body, there is the act of taking life. As long as we don't understand the way things are, we will commit such actions. It can come from desire, like hunting out of the desire for rare trophies or skins for fame. Some can be done from anger or out of ignorance. For example, in some cultures it is still common to sacrifice animals for particular rituals to achieve a particular outcome.

The second is taking things that don't belong to you. This is committed out of the "3 poisons".

The third is sexual misconduct. This applies to people who lead a family life. In a worldly sense, to have such contact with someone other than your partner is known as being harmful in all parts of the world. One has to understand that such karma is totally negative because such karma will never be committed out of Compassion and Loving Kindness. This applies equally to both genders.

The next of the 10 non-virtues is of speech, such as lying. There may be a question of whether it is better or worse depending on if it is a big lie or a small lie. However, the intention is the same. So they are all equal. We live in an age of confusion so one must be aware if one is committing such karma. These days, one word can change the whole course of history. We are not born knowing how to lie but out of difficult situations we develop this habit starting from when we are small. We may lie to get candy but gradually this develops and as we grow up we must be conscious of this.

Some of the most common negative karma accrued is coming from speech. None of us can read each other's mind and so we don't create much bad karma directly with our thoughts. However, if we have negative intentions they take root and they can manipulate our speech. Each day we rely heavily on communication. It is something we have to be careful about whether we are Buddhists or not.

Another negative act of speech is deceiving others so that it breaks the bonds one individual has with another. This is called "Divisive Speech". This is very harsh and unpleasant. Out of anger, someone may brutalize another person. This is very painful. However, the use of negative speech can really hurt someone deeply. This may be done out of wanting to cover one's own mistakes or wanting to deceive someone. Using harsh speech one can hurt another very deeply. Whether we are Buddhist or not, it is negative and should be avoided.

Also, there is meaningless speech. From time to time, without being conscious, we participate in meaningless speech. We create unnecessary karma. This is karma that is not helpful to anyone and is a waste of our efforts.

All these I have mentioned so far are in the category of the "Activity of Thought". (Body and Speech)

As usual, I hope these teachings are beneficial to you all. I will continue to explain the last three of the 10 non-virtues known as the thoughts accumulated out of desire next time. Until then, make the most out of your precious human existence and do your best at becoming a good human being.