Karma and Its Result

You have now seen the sufferings of samsara — realm by realm, torment by torment. A natural question arises: Why? Why do beings experience such different fates? Why is one person born into comfort and another into misery? Why do some suffer devastating illness while others live in robust health? Is it random? Is it punishment? Is it simply bad luck?

Gampopa's answer is karma — action rooted in intention. Not fate, not divine judgment, not cosmic lottery, but the natural principle that actions produce corresponding results. What you do shapes what you become. And this chapter explains exactly how.

Karma serves as an adjunct to the teaching on suffering. As Lama Jampa Thaye explains: "If one asks the question, 'All these various sufferings that have been depicted in samsara—where, specifically, do they come from?' the answer is of course from karma, from our actions."

The Sutra of a Hundred Karmas declares:

From many diverse causes of karma, Were created the diversity of these migrators.

The White Lotus of Great Compassion Sutra elaborates:

This world is produced by karma; this world manifests by means of karma. All sentient beings are produced by karma; they appear through the cause, karma; they are fully classified by karma.

Unlike theistic systems that attribute creation to an omnipotent deity, Buddhism locates the creative force within beings' own actions. Who you are now results from your actions; who you will become results from your actions. As Vasubandhu states in the Treasury of Abhidharma: "The various worlds are created by karma."

What Is Karma?

The Treasury of Abhidharma states:

Karma is created by the mind and by its force.

Nagarjuna's Fundamental Treatise of the Middle Way records:

The Supreme Sage said, "All karma from the mind and its thought..."

This establishes the critical distinction: karma is fundamentally mental. There are three types of karma:

1. Karma of mind (yid kyi las)—the intention itself, the motivation arising in consciousness
2. Karma of speech—verbal action stemming from mental intention
3. Karma of body—physical action stemming from mental intention

As the Treasury of Abhidharma says:

Mind is the karma of consciousness. By its force the karma of body and speech manifest.

This understanding distinguishes Buddhism from other Indian systems where karma was sometimes conceived as purely physical or ritualistic. For Lord Buddha, if the mind is not engaged, actions of body and speech alone have no karmic force. Mind must be involved.

Lama Jampa Thaye illustrates with a famous debate: A person absent-mindedly scuffs his feet at the top of a hill, accidentally dislodging a stone that causes an avalanche killing someone below. Is this the karma of killing? For those who believe karma inheres in physical action alone, yes—the person is guilty of murder. But for Buddha, no—because the intention to kill was absent. The person is guilty of carelessness, a form of ignorance, but not of killing. The physical action alone does not determine the moral quality.

The Six Topics of Karma

Gampopa presents karma through six topics:

Classification and primary characteristics, Ascription and strict result, Increase from the small and inevitability— These six comprise karma and its result.

I. Classification

There are three types of karma and result:

A. Non-meritorious karma (mi dge ba)—actions producing suffering, rooted in the three poisons

B. Meritorious karma (bsod nams)—actions producing happiness, done in the absence of the three poisons

C. Karma of stillness (mi g.yo ba)—the unshakable karma of meditative concentration

Defining Merit and Non-Merit

Nagarjuna's Precious Garland defines non-virtue: "Non-virtuous actions are all those that proceed from desire, hatred, or ignorance." These three poisons—rooted in self-clinging—characterize all non-meritorious action.

By contrast, virtue means actions done "in the absence of desire, hatred, or ignorance"—not mere neutrality, but states where these poisons have been overcome. Actions done from love (which conquers hatred), from contentment (which conquers desire), or from wisdom (which conquers ignorance) are inherently virtuous.

Merit (bsod nams, Skt. punya) is the force created by virtue that ripens as happiness. Non-merit is the force created by non-virtue that ripens as suffering.

II. Primary Characteristics: The Ten Non-Virtuous Actions

Non-meritorious actions are summarized as ten: three of body, four of speech, three of mind. Each has three aspects: classification, threefold result, and distinctive (most severe) form.

A. Three Non-Virtues of Body

1. Taking Life

Classification: Three types based on motivation:

• Through desire—killing for meat, pelts, sport, wealth, or to protect oneself and loved ones
• Through hatred—killing out of anger, resentment, or competition
• Through ignorance—killing as religious sacrifice, mistakenly believing it beneficial

Why is taking life intrinsically non-virtuous? Because every being values their own life; to deprive them of it is to privilege oneself above others and inevitably cause suffering.

Three Results:

Maturation result: Rebirth in the hell realms—the most severe destination, fitting for the most severe privileging of self over other.

Result similar to cause: Even if born human, one's life will be short or plagued by sickness. Having shortened others' lives, one creates a disposition for one's own life to be shortened. This is the "passive" result. The "active" result (mentioned in other texts) is the tendency to repeat the action—having killed once, it becomes easier to kill again.

Environmental result: Born in an inauspicious place where life is poorly supported, reflecting the mind that disregarded life.

Distinctive Act: Taking the life of one's father who is also an Arhat—combining intimate violation of the one who gave you life with destruction of a realized being.

Note on motivation: Killing through hatred produces more severe results than through desire, which in turn is more severe than through ignorance.

2. Stealing (Taking What Is Not Given)

Classification: Three types:

• Taking by force—robbery without justification
• Taking secretly—breaking into homes, theft unnoticed
• Taking through deceit—cheating through false measurements, scales, and similar means

Stealing is intrinsically non-virtuous because beings depend on their possessions for wellbeing; depriving them creates suffering.

Three Results:

Maturation result: Rebirth as a hungry ghost—fitting for an action primarily motivated by desire and avarice. As Nagarjuna says, "The hungry ghost realm all has the flavor of avarice."

Result similar to cause: Even if born human, suffering from insufficient wealth—having deprived others, one cannot attract or retain wealth.

Environmental result: Born in a place with excessive frost and hail, where crops are easily destroyed.

Distinctive Act: Stealing from one's spiritual teacher or the Three Jewels—how strong must self-cherishing be to rob those who support one's liberation?

3. Sexual Misconduct

Classification: Three categories based on who is "protected":

• Protected by family—relations with mother, sister, or other prohibited relatives
• Protected by a partner—adultery, the most intrinsically serious form
• Protected by Dharma—five subcategories even with one's own partner:
  • Improper parts of body
  • Improper place (near monastery, stupa, or in public)
  • Improper time (during retreats, pregnancy, nursing, or in daylight)
  • Improper frequency (more than five times in succession)
  • Improper behavior (coercion, violence)

Among these, adultery and coercion cause the most suffering and are therefore most severe. Other categories, particularly those related to time or place, reflect cultural and monastic values and are relatively less serious.

Three Results:

Maturation result: Rebirth as a hungry ghost—sexual misconduct objectifies others for self-gratification, a form of grasping and greed.

Result similar to cause: Even if born human, one's partner becomes an enemy—having misused others, one attracts abuse from partners.

Environmental result: Born in a dusty, unclean place.

Distinctive Act: Sexual violation of one's mother who is also an Arhat—the ultimate objectification of one who gave you life and embodies liberation.

B. Four Non-Virtues of Speech

4. Lying

Classification: Three types:

• Spiritual lies—false claims of realization (a monastic defeat)
• Big lies—lies that create harm or benefit for self at others' expense
• Small lies—lies with no particular consequence

Lying is non-virtuous because it privileges oneself through deceiving others, leaving them helpless if they cannot trust what is said.

Three Results:

Maturation result: Rebirth in the animal realm—lying obscures the connection between cause and effect, and habitual lying causes one's reasoning capacity to atrophy.

Result similar to cause: Even if born human, one will be slandered.

Environmental result: Born with bad breath (a vivid image of the unpleasantness lying produces).

Distinctive Act: Slandering the Buddha or deceiving one's spiritual master—to deceive one's lama is, in Mahayana, one of the four dark actions that destroy bodhicitta.

5. Divisive Speech (Slander)

Classification: Three types:

• Dividing forcefully—causing enmity directly, in front of both parties
• Dividing indirectly—using subtle language whose meaning becomes clear later
• Dividing secretly—telling one person privately what another said

Even if what one reports is true, if the intention is to cause division, it is non-virtuous. The motivation to cause trouble creates the negative karma.

Three Results:

Maturation result: Rebirth in the hell realms—slander is motivated by hatred, the wish to inflict suffering.

Result similar to cause: Even if born human, separation from loved ones.

Environmental result: Born in uneven terrain—a beautiful image of the division slander creates.

Distinctive Act: Slandering the Noble Sangha—turning others away from realized beings who could benefit them.

6. Harsh Speech

Classification: Three types:

• Direct—forcefully attacking someone's faults
• Circuitous—using sarcasm or humor with intent to wound
• Indirect—speaking badly to someone's friends or relatives

Three Results:

Maturation result: Rebirth in the hell realms—harsh speech expresses aggression and hatred.

Result similar to cause: Even if born human, hearing much unpleasant news.

Environmental result: Born in a dry, hot place with many evildoers.

Distinctive Act: Harsh words toward one's parents or Noble Ones—those to whom one owes the greatest debt or who embody one's highest aspirations.

7. Idle Talk (Frivolous Speech)

Classification: Three types:

• False—reciting texts of non-Buddhist systems (not harmful to non-Buddhists, but a waste for Dharma practitioners)
• Worldly—useless chatter about business, gossip, etc., stirring worldly emotions
• True—giving Dharma teachings to those who have no respect or are improper vessels

Speech is precious—a vehicle for beneficial communication. Frivolous speech clogs this channel, degrading one's capacity to communicate anything worthwhile.

Three Results:

Maturation result: Rebirth in the animal realm—idle talk expresses and reinforces ignorance, causing intelligence to decline.

Result similar to cause: Even if born human, one's words will not be respected.

Environmental result: Born in a place with inappropriate weather.

Distinctive Act: Distracting Dharma practitioners with frivolous talk.

C. Three Non-Virtues of Mind

8. Covetousness

Classification: Three types:

• Regarding one's own—attachment to one's family, body, qualities, thinking "there is no one like me"
• Regarding others'—wishing to possess what belongs to others
• Regarding neither—wishing to appropriate common resources (mines, etc.) for oneself

Three Results:

Maturation result: Rebirth as a hungry ghost—covetousness is rooted in avaricious desire.

Result similar to cause: Even if born human, even stronger covetousness—the habit grows.

Environmental result: Born where harvests fail—greed burns up the world's prosperity.

Distinctive Act: Desiring to rob a renunciate who has almost no possessions—revealing the extremity of one's greed.

9. Harmful Thought (Malevolence)

Classification: Three types:

• From hatred—wishing to destroy enemies, as in battle
• From jealousy—wishing harm to competitors
• From resentment—wishing revenge for past wrongs

Malevolence is the wish for destruction not yet enacted. Even the thought alone is karmically powerful.

Three Results:

Maturation result: Rebirth in the hell realms—malevolence is hatred.

Result similar to cause: Even if born human, experiencing even stronger hatred.

Environmental result: Born where food is bitter and coarse.

Distinctive Act: Commission of the five heinous crimes (killing father, mother, Arhat, causing schism in Sangha, drawing blood from a Buddha with harmful intent).

10. Wrong Views

Classification: Three types:

• Wrong view of cause and result—not believing happiness comes from virtue, suffering from non-virtue
• Wrong view of truth—not believing cessation results from following the path
• Wrong view of the Three Jewels—not believing in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, slandering them

Three Results:

Maturation result: Rebirth in the animal realm—wrong views deepen ignorance.

Result similar to cause: Even if born human, deeper ignorance.

Environmental result: Born where no crops grow.

Distinctive Act: Believing only in literal, observable truths while denying the subtler workings of karma and liberation.

Additional Factors Affecting Results

The specific realm of rebirth depends on three factors:

By afflicting emotion:

• Acting from hatred → hell realms
• Acting from desire → hungry ghost realm
• Acting from ignorance → animal realm

By frequency:

• Countless non-virtuous actions → hell realm
• Many non-virtuous actions → hungry ghost realm
• Some non-virtuous actions → animal realm

By object:

• Non-virtue toward beings of higher status → hell realm
• Non-virtue toward mediocre beings → hungry ghost realm
• Non-virtue toward ordinary beings → animal realm

As the Precious Garland summarizes:

Desire, aversion, ignorance, And the karma created thereby are non-virtues. All sufferings come from non-virtue, As do the lower realms.

B. Meritorious Karma and Result

The Karma: Avoidance of the ten non-virtues constitutes the ten virtues. Furthermore, actively cultivating their opposites: protecting life, practicing generosity, maintaining moral ethics, speaking truth, harmonizing those who are unfriendly, speaking peacefully, speaking meaningfully, practicing contentment, cultivating loving-kindness, and engaging in correct view.

The Results:

Maturation result: Rebirth in the human or god realms of the desire world.

Result similar to cause: Long life from avoiding killing, sufficient wealth from avoiding stealing, and so forth.

Environmental result: Birth in good places with strong properties and special environments.

The Precious Garland says:

Non-attachment, non-aggression, an unobscured mind, And the karma created thereby are virtues. All the higher realms come from virtue, As do peace and joy in all other lifetimes.

C. Karma of Stillness (Unshakable Meditative Concentration)

The Karma: Practicing meditative concentration produces results "born of meditative concentration." There are eight preparatory steps, eight levels of actual meditative concentration, and one special concentration.

The Results: The seventeen realms of the form god realm and four realms of the formless god realm.

The progression moves through increasingly refined states:

• First concentration: Dissolving gross appearances and mental factors, retaining subtle discursive thought, reflection, joy, and bliss → Brahma realms
• Second concentration: Calming discursive thought and reflection, experiencing joy and bliss → Gods of Lesser Light and above
• Third concentration: Avoiding joy, experiencing only bliss → Gods of Lesser Virtue and above
• Fourth concentration: Avoiding all four factors → Without Cloud and above

Beyond form, one enters the formless absorptions:

• Limitless Space → Infinite Space realm
• Limitless Consciousness → Infinite Consciousness realm
• Nothingness → Nothingness realm
• Neither Perception nor Non-Perception → corresponding realm

All eight concentrations are based on a one-pointed, virtuous mind.

The Precious Garland says:

By the infinite meditative concentration and formlessness, One will experience the bliss of Brahma and so forth.

Thus the three types of karma—non-meritorious, meritorious, and of stillness—create the entire range of samsaric experience.

III. Ascription

Ascription means karma ripens for the one who created it, not for others. Results mature in the aggregates (skandhas) of the actor, not in external elements or other beings.

The Collection of Abhidharma says:

What does the ascription of karma mean? One experiences the maturation of the karma one has created. It is uncommon to others and, so, is called ascription.

If this were not so, karma could be wasted or one could face results one did not create. As the sutras say:

That karma created by Devadatta will not mature in earth, water, and so forth, but will ripen in the aggregates and sense-bases of that particular individual. To whom else would this karma result?

IV. Strict Result

The results of karma are unfailing: virtue leads to happiness, non-virtue to suffering.

The Collection of Abhidharma says:

What does strict result mean? One strictly experiences the virtue and non-virtue of the karma one created.

The Surata-Requested Sutra uses agricultural metaphors:

From the hot seed will be born hot fruits, From the sweet seed will be born sweet fruits. With these analogies, the wise understand: The maturation of non-virtue is hot, And the maturation of white deeds is sweet.

V. Increase from the Small

A small karma can produce enormous results. Regarding non-virtue:

The Buddha has said that whoever bears an evil thought Against a benefactor such as that bodhisattva Will remain in hell for as many aeons As there were evil thoughts.

One or two instances of negative speech can produce suffering for 500 lifetimes.

The Verses Spoken Intentionally say:

Even from a small non-virtue, There will be great fear in the next life And the source of all sufferings— Like poison entering into the stomach.

Regarding virtue:

Even if one creates small merit, It will lead to great happiness in the next life. One will achieve a great benefit Like a prosperous harvest.

VI. Inevitability

Unless purified by its antidote, karma will inevitably ripen, even after limitless kalpas. Karma may lie dormant, but when conditions come together, the result emerges.

This understanding produces two responses: fear of samsara's suffering and confidence in karma's workings.

The Sutra of a Hundred Karmas declares:

All the karmas of all the beings Will not be lost even in a hundred kalpas. When all the causes and conditions come together, The result will mature.

The Smaller Close Contemplation drives home the point:

It is possible even for fire to become cold. It is possible even for the wind to be leashed by a rope. It is possible even for the sun and moon to fall to the ground. But the maturing of karma is infallible.

Conclusion: The Power of Understanding

Understanding karma empowers choice. Knowing that actions create results, we can select the wise actions that produce happiness and create a platform for liberation.

This is not cosmic punishment or reward—no external judge dispatches beings to various realms. Everything arises from our own actions. As Lama Jampa Thaye emphasizes: "You are not sent to the hell realms by any agency doling out punishment. It is entirely through the force of your own actions. No god or devil sent you."

The same principle that binds us can free us. Understanding the mechanism of karma, we can redirect our actions. This is why karma follows the teaching on suffering: having seen samsara's faults, we now understand how to escape.