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Meditation: Aware in the Midst of the Karmic Stream

Greetings, friends. Greetings. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, good day—whatever time zone you're joining in. May it be mindful, may it be good, may it be wholesome with awareness.

Lovely to be with you in this moment in time and to practice together. So let us continue today with our exploration of this important, profound teaching of karma^[1].

Without further ado, let's practice together. Let's land in our bodies and arrive. Of course, I'll say more later about the theme for today. Arriving. Arriving here.

Every moment, a new arrival. This self, what we call a "self" or this being—every moment is a new one. Know sensations, know thoughts, know emotions, know experiences. Greeting all that's arriving in this moment, all that has been passed down and is arriving in this moment, and all that is being passed on.

This moment right here is just on the edge of receiving and passing on, and yet with its own intentionality, its own creation, forming formations. So let us form wholesome formations of awareness, appreciation, wakefulness, alertness, ease, and peace.

Arriving, arriving spaciously in this moment, in this body.

Letting the breath be received. Each breath, the entirety of the in-breath, the entirety of the out-breath, the pauses in between. Soothing, calming the mind. Calming a restless mind, an agitated heart. Soothing, calming the body. All formations.

Awareness of this breath in the body.

Let the breath be natural. Let awareness be natural, not forced; it's already here. Let the body be natural. Nature—we are nature. Receiving from nature, giving to nature. Our breath, our being intertwined with nature.

And if thoughts arise, as they will, it is not a problem. That's what the natural inclination of this mind is in this moment. So try not to see it as a problem, having a spacious heart with a spacious awareness.

Spacious, easeful breath.

Letting it arise and pass without getting entangled. Staying aware, staying in your station of awareness as to what's arising, what's being handed down, coming downstream. Coming downstream from earlier actions, thoughts forming formations.

Spacious knowing.

And as awareness knows sensations in the body, the breath, thoughts, emotions, sounds, whatever is arising, see what is passed down through causes and conditions, through past actions, formations, doings, makings—especially thought patterns that are "us" as the stream passes through.

Observe. Know. Be aware.

No need for judgment for the person you were previously. Are you even the same person you were a year ago? Letting go of that concept of self for a moment, and just seeing these streams that arrive in this moment. And deciding, intending for the stream of kindness, awareness, and wisdom to be passed down from this moment.

Not judging, not hating, not being greedy about what arises. Meeting it with kindness, with spaciousness, as much as possible. And if that's not possible, can there be acceptance and equanimity that it's not possible in this moment? That too is planting the seeds of ease, equanimity, and wisdom, instead of being reactive and entangled.

Watching the stream being passed down and adding drops, as if taking a dropper that has color in it and dropping a drop or two of kindness, acceptance, ease, wisdom, patience, and spaciousness into the stream in this present moment.

As the stream is passed down, one breath at a time.

Present here. Here.

Can we appreciate this moment, the aliveness of awareness? Even if we were lost in thought a moment ago, it's okay. In this moment, a new arrival, fresh with possibilities like the spring.

And as we bring the sitting to a close, appreciating what was, without judgment. Through appreciation and kindness towards ourselves, through the stream that was passed down, we can plant wholesome seeds. More kindness in the stream, in the river, as we pass it down into the future.

Appreciating our good fortune for being able to sit together, practice in community, and listen to the dharma^[2]. Such good fortune. Appreciating that we have showed up, that we have done what we could today, in this moment, as best as we could.

With appreciation, gratitude, and kindness to this person who is me, and our sangha^[3], our beloved community. Intending in our heart to offer with generosity. It's all about generosity; we receive generously, we offer our goodness, the best of ourselves, generously to others. It's not for us to keep.

To share, to offer the merit, the goodness of our practice to all beings everywhere. Past, present, future. May all beings everywhere, with whom we are inextricably intertwined, be happy, well, and free, including ourselves.

Thank you for your practice.

Karma (4/5) Reconsidering Rebirth

Hello, friends. Hello, sangha. Today we continue our exploration with karma, this important, profound teaching.

Today being Thursday, the fourth day, we are going to turn our attention to this teaching and how it impacts our lives. In the past few days, we've discussed three different aspects of karma: as action with intention, the action of the mind, body, and speech (actions from different sense doors), and the leading and trailing edges. What is left from the action, from the intention, which is the leading edge? The action itself, as well as the trailing edge—what is left, what is created, what formations are created?

It's important to also pay attention and talk a little bit about rebirth as we talk about karma. As Buddhism has come to the West, almost all Western Buddhists don't really subscribe to the concept of rebirth. In the West, there is this concept of the self: there is "me," I'm here, I have a fixed identity, thoughts, and emotions. This is the "fixed me." The idea of rebirth can actually loosen that. It is concordant—it goes along with the idea of impersonality, ungovernability, and uncontrollability.

Let me speak about that for a moment. Just to say, you don't have to believe in anything. These are just invitations to consider a different way of seeing. For the next ten minutes, let us enter into this world, this thought experiment together, where we assume the reality of rebirth.

If you were reborn, and there was someone else who was your previous self, they would have a different body, gender, upbringing, language, memories, dreams, and attitudes. With all of that being different, would that still make them the same person? And if you were reborn as someone else in a future life—assuming that is true in our thought experiment—that person would still have a different gender, upbringing, language, memories, and dreams. So they would be a different person. Could you still consider them to be yourself? Right.

So there is no continuity of the self in rebirth anyway, because in the Buddhist doctrine, it doesn't even make sense to call yourself a self, let alone another rebirth being a continuation of yourself. The idea is that even here, in this one lifetime, we are not this coherent, independent, controlled being because we are made of causes and conditions, and a strong interdependence with others.

The idea of rebirth, as it is mentioned by the Buddha in the suttas^[4], is like the way milk changes into curds, and then changes to butter, and then changes to ghee. In the same way that milk, curds, butter, and ghee are all connected, however they manifest very differently. If there is rebirth, you manifest very differently, so there is not a sense of keeping the same person if they have different dreams, memories, parents, and dispositions. There is not a "self" in the idea of rebirth that is kept.

If there is rebirth, the idea is that I am heir to the actions of someone who is long dead. Even though my body, nationality, and language are all different, I have this composition here in this life. Yet, that gives rise, at least for me in this universe assuming there is rebirth, to a sense of gratitude that there was this person who passed down these formations. It's like they were my ancestor. The same way my great-great-great-grandmother or grandfather were different beings, but they passed something down to me in terms of genes. This previous reborn self passed down these karmic formations that now I'm grateful for, and I am the beneficiary of.

In the same way, I pass down these karmic formations for the benefit of someone else who, in some ways, is related to me. The same way my children or great-great-great-grandchildren would be related to me, and I want the best for them. Basically, the teaching of rebirth and karma pivots on generosity and gratitude. A sense of gratitude that we have received life, first of all, and we have received these karmic formations, and we are going to make them the best possible and pass them down.

I don't know if you have the same feeling, but when I stay at a friend's place, I like to leave it better and cleaner than I found it. It's the same idea. This karma that you have been passed down—thank you. Can we make it better? Can we improve it? Can we make it kinder? Can we make it more patient? Can we make it more loving, less reactive, and pass it down to others? Is that possible?

All we really have is this moment's knowledge, this moment's awareness, and our intentions and actions in this moment. Now, we can perhaps exit this universe where rebirth is definitely true—exit this thought experiment together. But even if it were true, it wouldn't make much of a difference in terms of, "Oh, I'm going to live forever and I'll come back and I'm not going to die." No, of course you're going to die. It just brings a sense of interconnection that we already feel with all the living beings living with us on this planet, because our lives are strongly intertwined with theirs. The air we breathe, our actions, etc.

In the same way, we are inextricably intertwined with beings from the past and into the future, not just genetically. This can give us inspiration and aspiration to be kinder, to feel that whatever remarks we make, whatever we do, is not without reverberations in the world, not just in this moment but wider.

Basically, the teaching of karma with respect to rebirth makes us realize even more that we're not living for ourselves, for our own benefit. It's such a small-minded thing to think that I'm just living for myself. We're living for the benefit of all beings, whether or not we like it. So, with what quality do we live in this moment for the benefit of all beings? It's not about me. How do my actions and my intentions affect everyone?

I thank you all. I thank you for your practice today. Thank you for your dedication, planting wholesome seeds of kindness. Take good care of yourselves, and I hope to see you tomorrow. Take care.