So most of you i'm sure have heard the word Karma, and to some degree understand what it means. The very short definition is cause and effect, that only pertains to sentient beings. You don't use Karma when explaining cause and effect of inanimate objects such as rocks, cars, buildings, ect. You are probably have heard someone say "they got what they deserve, that's karma for ya"! This is a true statement for the most part, but not the truth in it's entirety, there is a lot more to karma then just do something bad and something bad will happen. First off Karma works for both positive and negative actions, and may or may not activate in one life time! The concept of Karma has its origins in Hinduism and then was carried on into Buddhism, it is the accumulated actions of a being in this life and any future life. These actions can be either positive or negative, where in a beings Karma that is set to activate could be either negative or positive depending on what they did! Let me simplify that for you now, If you do something bad, something bad will happen to you. If you do something good something good will happen to you. OK makes sense doesn't it, well that is just the tip of the iceberg LOL! See there are levels to the entire Karmic concept that most people have no clue about, and when you understand karma in it's entirety you begin to understand why things turn out the way they do.
ACTIONS/KARMIC IMPACT
Now to begin with, there are three karmic actions that every being in all of Samsara do.
1. Thinking (Positive or negative)
2. Speaking (Positive or negative)
3. Doing (Positive or negative)
Each action, and yes thinking is an action, has its own karmic impact. I will now explain what that means, I will use a scale so it is easier to understand how it works.
Thinking = Small Karmic Impact (positive or negative)(SmKIP)(SmKIN)
Speaking = Medium Karmic Impact (positive or negative)(MeKIP)(MeKIN)
Doing = Large Karmic Impact (positive or negative)(LaKIP)(LaKIN)
INTENT
One last thing to add before I go into the examples to tie it all together. I must go over Intent, this element is kind of like the multiplier behind all actions! A being can have a positive intent, a negative intent, and no intent at all. Positive and negative intent speak for themselves, but no intent is another thing in and of itself. This is the middle ground of intent, a neutral state if you will, and is the state of being I try to stay in for majority of my day. It also ties into Purity of Action, which I will not go into today. There is one last intent, but is debatable on how it it is viewed, it is Instinct. This form of intent is actually the most prevalent on earth, more animal beings on earth then humans!
THINKING
Now lets say you are think of something, and we do that every day all day long, and depending on what you are thinking & (the intent behind it) you will accumulate Karma. Now since it is thinking it will be (SmKIP)(SmKIN). Here are two examples;
Thinking to yourself: "I really love all beings" It will be (SmKIP) if you are thinking it with no intent or positive intent. Now if you are thinking this positive thought with the intent to gain positive Karma, it will create negative intent and cancel out the (SmKIP).
Thinking to yourself: "I really hate all beings" It will be (SmKIN) if you are thinking it with no intent or negative intent. Now if you are thinking this negative thought with negative intent it will compound the (SmKIN), and if you have no intent it will lessen the (SmKIN). This thought has no positive intent so therefore it does not apply here!
OK I will now tie this into a broader statement for you so it completely make sense.
If you are thinking positive Thoughts, with positive intent, you gain the same (SmKIP) as if you were thinking positive thoughts with no intent! The moment you want to get something for that positive thought, you don't get a thing! Moral of this story is, think positive cause it is the right thing to do,, that's it!
If you are thinking negative thought about things, with negative intent, you gain compounded (SmKIN) but not as much if you were thinking negative with no intent! Moral of this story is thinking negative is not good at all, if you do think negative at least do it with no intent.
This is why I have trained my mind to think with no intent, it is the middle ground and is the best karmic position.
SPEAKING
Now lets get into speaking, as humans this is one of the aspects that separates us by a great deal from other animals. Although we are not the only animals on the planet to speak to each-other, we do have the most sophisticated speech structure on the planet. Speaking to other humans is how we have worked together to build the civilization that exists today, as well it has also destroyed civilizations! Speech is such an important part of human existence, we even find ways to speak if we can't use our vocal cords called sign language! Now lets say you are speaking, again depending on what you say and (the intent behind it), you will accumulate Karma. Since it is speaking it will be (MeKIP)(MeKIPN). I will only go into intent when needed at this point. Here are a few examples;
You say out loud to yourself: "I love all beings" you will get (MeKIP). Again if you say it to get something back no gooder, won't happen!
You say to someone: "I love all beings" you will get a little more (MeKIP). If it is a lie or you say it to make yourself look good, then it not only cancels out but you get (MeKIN)
*Rule of thumb; At the very least use positive intent in all positive actions!
You say out loud to yourself: "I hate all beings" you will get (MeKIN). If you say something negative like this at the very least say it with no intent.
You say to someone: "I hate all beings" you will get (MeKIN). At this point you will get the full amount of Medium Karmic Impact if your intent is negative! Little less if no intent.
Moral of this story is what you say matters, and if you speak positively about everything, without expecting anything in return you will get the full amount of positive Karma! If you are going to speak negative about anything at the very least do it without any intent! There are times you might have to lie in order to help or say something negative for the sake of others well being. There are examples of this but I believe you know when this applies.
DOING
Have you ever heard the saying actions speak louder then words, i'm pretty sure you have, well it is true not only from a proof stand point but in a karmic stand point as well. Doing has the highest karmic impact (LaKIP)(LaKIN) of all actions one could take. I will not break this one down like I have been doing, I believe you get the point!
If you do something positive with positive intent or none at all you will get (LaKIP), the amount of positive karma depends on the action that is taken. Again if you do something to get positive karma out of it you will cancel the karma of that act. As well if you do something positive and there is a negative agenda behind it you will in fact get (LaKIN). This also applies to speaking as well.
If you do something negative with negative intent you get (LaKIN), the amount of negative karma depends on the action that is taken. If you did the same action with no intent the (LaKIN) would be less, and if you did a negative action with positive intent then the karmic impact would be at its lowest for that action, this also applies to speaking.
An example of this so it makes sense is;
You punch a person with the intent to kill premeditated no reason, 10 points (LaKIN) for this example
You punch a person with the intent to kill just snapped, 9 points (LaKin) for this example
You punch a person with the intent to kill defending self or others, 8 points (LaKIN) for this example
you punch a person with the intent to harm premeditated no reason, 6 points(LaKIN) for this example
You punch a person with the intent to harm just snapped, 5 points(LaKin) for this example
You punch a person with the intent to harm defending self or others, 4 points (LaKin) for this example
As you can see they all will give you negative Karma but the points you get vary depending on the severity of the action and the intent behind it and the reason. The intent and the reason are intertwined, if you intend on doing something there is a reason behind it, if you have a reason to to something you most likely have an intent already embedded in that reason.
I just made up the points for the example, I find it makes it easier to explain that way.
SUMMERY
I would like to sum it all up for you now, you have Thinking, Speaking, and Doing. Each has a different karmic impact on you, and in each category there are varying levels of karmic impact as well. It all depends on what action you take, the intent behind it, and why you did it. Remember intent and the reason are intertwined. Hear is one last example of what I am talking about;My intent in "Doing/Speaking" this post is to help, the reason is I want people to understand a little better.So I have thought about what I want to say with the intent to help, I spoke/typed what I wanted to say with the intent to help, I did the post with the intent to help. The entire reason is so that people can understand Karma a little better. One last thing before I conclude, even though DOING has the highest karmic impact it is the easiest to stop, SPEAKING has a medium karmic impact and a medium difficulty to stop doing, and THINKING has the lowest karmic impact but is the hardest to stop doing. This is all in regards to negative actions, it is easy to not hurt someone, it is medium difficulty to stop from saying something that would hurt someone, and it is hardest to stop thinking bad about that person. The difficulty in stopping and karmic impact are inversely proportional to each other. Even though it is hard to stop negative thoughts, I get the least amount of negative karma for it! Well that is about it, if you have any questions about any of this I will be more then happy to answer them in the reply. Thank you and have a good evening!
