Thought Does Not Create Karma

Thought Does Not Create Karma 1 had one other important meeting that February that was interesting. A private meeting was arranged at extremely short notice with Urgyen Tulku, who is considered by Tibetans to be a hving Buddha. It had been suggested to me by another western practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism that

meet him as he is deemed to be, hke Chatrul Rinpoche, one of the few fully awakened living adepts of Dzogchen. The meeting was difficult. Initially the Lama asked me several questions that created confusion as 1 was unfamiliar with much of the terminology that he was using. For example, found out later that in Tibetan Buddhism, simply put, the word "mind" refers to awareness itself; whereas in my own teaching, "mind" refers to the movement of thought alone. This made direct communication slow and difficult. At one point he asked me if there was still identification with the story or events that unfolded in the midst of dreaming. said yes, but went on to explain how that was not neces- sarily an indication of freedom or bondage. Thought Does Not Create Karma 1 7 I had conic lo ihc realization that ihc movemeni of thoughl, and any kind inlcrnal response lo thai move- ment, in and of itseil in no way necessarily indicated the depth or level of spiritual attainment. In fact, 1 had discov- ered something very interesting. It was only the individuals ability to respond spontaneously and fearlessly to life in spite of the experience of thought and feeling that ultimate- ly demonstrated true freedom and real detachment. I tried to explain this in greater detail, but time and circumstance didn't allow the opportunity to communicate it clearly enough. Then the meeting became even more confusing. The Lama said that as long as there was the arising of thought, then full awakening had not been achieved, 'is there still the arising of thought?" he asked me. Looking out the window and motioning toward the clouds moving over the valley in the distance, 1 said, 'if there are clouds in the sky, then there is the arising of thought." At the end of the meeting, the Lama said to me, "Very good. Continue and eventually youil be able to fly through the air and read peoples minds." 1 thanked him for seeing me, but 1 couldn't help feeling perplexed by our interchange and slightly dissatisfied as there was not more time lo clari- fy these matters with greater depth. I was surprised to liear a lama of his stature equating a fully awakened condiiion with a silent mind. For a long time, 1 had been con\ inccd that there was not necessarily any direct relationship between the experience of the nonarisingof thoughl and ihc An { 'M(()Nc/iM()M(i/ Rclalionship lo Li/t event of profound awakening. When I pursued this ques- tion later with Chatrul Rinpoche, he agreed: Buddha mind is not hke a rock that has no kind of thoughts, nothing arising. But through the ukimate reahzation, the Buddha reahzation, then they reahze that these thoughts have no essence. They may arise, but they understand them. They have perfect reahza- tion of them, but they have no chnging to them. Other than a rock, everything has some kind of ideation aris- ing. But with the Buddha we call it wisdom. It is called wisdom. It is not called thought because there is no clinging. He has thoroughly understood them, he has thoroughly realized them, so that is what is called Buddha. Just to have no thoughts is not very special. That January in Bodhgaya, quite a stir was created amongst some of the western Buddhist practitioners when word got out that I had said during one of my teachings that thought doesn't create karma. What I meant by this, and what I explained in detail at the time, is that the mere arising of thought in and of itself need not create karma. This point is of profound importance to anybody who is seriously interested in emancipation from fear, delusion and ignorance. The mere presence of thought in and of itself means nothing. That means thought and the movement of thought do not necessarily indicate anything about the thinker. Like photographs in a photo album, thoughts are only Thou^^ln Doc^ Not Create Karma abstract representations of reality—historical references and prior conclusions based on past experience. They have no independent self-existence. That means thai there is no significance in ihcir mere presence except that which we choose to give them through our own volition, conscious or unconscious. We are what we do and not what we think. That is the whole point. Liberation can be realized in the discovery of this alone. On an intellectual level this is not too difficult to understand, but practically speaking this kind of teaching often takes many years for the practitioner to fully realize for themselves. Final acceptance of the fact that thought is not self represents the potential of final liberation from fear, delu- sion and ignorance. If thought in fact did have independent self-existence, and its mere arising automatically meant something about the individual, then that would mean there was really no way out of the endless misery and distortion of actuality that belief in the independent self- existence of thought creates. The importance of this point cannot be overstated. So many spiritual practitioners of different faiths live in fear of the arising of thought, because out of ignorance they are endlessly drawing conclusions about the nature of their own identity based on ihc mere arising of specific thoughts. To live in fear of the arising of thought is the intentional praetiee of superstition. W wc arc conxincccl ol llic scll- exisling reality o\ llioughl, llicn wc w ill conslanlK li\c in An I UuondiHonal Rchuumsiiip (o Life fear of specific thoughts and endlessly suffer in our desire for the presence of others. Our actions will express this common form of spiritual slavery and will demonstrate fear, delusion and ignorance. Final emancipation from the illusion of the independent self-existence of thought reveals to the individual that they have always had the free- dom to choose, but due to ignorance haven't realized it. Thought Docs Not Create Karma Impersonal Enlightenment