| Article Index |
|---|
| Instructions at a Dharma Session |
| Karma |
| Mindfulness |
| Patience |
| Desire & Fear |
| Ego & Self |
| True Listening |
| Parents |
| Continuous Practice |
| All Pages |
Page 3 of 9
Part 2, Mindfulness
Awareness of every moment
Its relationship to karma …
Every experience that we have is an interpretation of our senses (or on a more generic level, our consciousness). Since interpretations are based on past karma, everything that happens to us is also based on past karma. In our daily lives, we can gain control over our karma by being mindful. To do this, we need to be aware of how our senses work:Suppose our senses were quiet and have just become active. The mind starts out from a neutral state and begins making contact with sights and sounds. Next, it starts evaluating them (attractive, ugly, etc.) followed by a determination (like or dislike). Part of being mindful is to become aware of how our mind “makes contact.” If we can catch ourselves at the point of contact, the control we exercise over our karma becomes profound. Right until the moment of contact, there is still a great deal of freedom. Right until then there is just a form. But the mind quickly follows that up with like or dislike, and then other subsequent emotions like desire or fear. Your “self” is also changing every minute, being molded by the experiences that you are accumulating from the likes and dislikes on contact during your everyday life.
If you can gain control early enough in the process and be mindful at the split second of contact, it puts you in control over all else that results—the feeling, the craving, the grasping, the becoming, birth, and finally death. The earlier you gain control of the mind in the process, the more freedom you get. The further you go along this process into action, the more karma you are creating for the future. Your karma is the sum total of everything you have ever felt, craved, grasped, and become, and represents who you are at that moment in time. It is ultimately manifested in the endless cycle of life and death, which continues at every moment of every lifetime.
Being mindful is critical in our everyday practice. Since most of us cannot sit in samadhi throughout the day or even just for a few minutes, being mindful will create the conditions under which our meditation will become clearer. It will also give us some freedom and power over the karmic process and will allow us to perceive our experiences in a different light.
