KARMA AND DEPENDENT ORIGINATION

KARMA AND DEPENDENT ORIGINATION: THE CHAINS OF SUFFERING

Ozmo Piedmont, PhD

In the scripture of the SANDOKAI one reads the following:

Here born we clutch at things

And then compound delusion, later on,

By following ideals;

Each sense gate and its object all together

Enter thus in mutual relations

And yet stand apart in a uniqueness of their own,

Depending and yet non-depending both.

In form and feel component things are seen to differ deeply;

Thus are voices, in inherent isolation, soft or harsh.

Such words as high and middle darkness match;

Light separates the murky from the pure.

“Here born we clutch at things…” is what we have learned to do ever since our childhood.  When we are children, we have an intuitive connection to the Infinite.  At about 7 years of age, we lose this awareness, learning instead from society, our parents, and our school teachers that we are rational, intelligent, individuals, focusing us on the mundane world of the senses.   The price we pay, however, for this conditioning is to experience ourselves as separate from the Eternal, creating a strong desire and longing to return home, with its security, stability, and peace.   We tend to substitute the true return home, that of connecting to the Infinite, with distractions such as hyper-activity, entertainment, idealism, material comforts and possessions.  

When at last we have tired of the illusion of control, that we can dominate the world with our reason, our science, and our intellect, when finally we are no longer satisfied with new acquisitions, the new relationship, or the new job, when eventually comfort, entertainment, ideas and philosophies no longer bring us happiness, is when we realize we can’t go on this way, and we surrender to the Infinite, asking for help to heal the empty hole we carry inside our hearts.  In that same moment of asking for help, we reconnect ourselves to the Eternal.  We sit in meditation to re-establish this connection to the Divine.  Our daily practice is the opportunity to see our relationship with the world of forms and how those forms, and ourselves, are related to the unity of oneness.  We can neither attach ourselves to the multiplicity of form nor to the unity with the Absolute in order to understand the Truth of who we are.  For this reason, the scripture says, “Each sense gate and its object all together enter thus in mutual relations

and yet stand apart in a uniqueness of their own, depending and yet non-depending both.” There is a relationship between the individual things as well as transcendence of apparent duality, united with the Infinite.    

            The senses give us an illusion of an individual person, separate and contained within a body, who is operating on that body as if a ghost within a machine, which is connected to the outside world through the senses.  Our eyes see something, which gives us the impression that the subject seeing is separate from the object seen.  In reality, there is only one event arising in the present which involves the entire process of seeing: that which sees, that which is seen, and the act of seeing.    The ego separates these aspects, creating the impression of a subject isolated and independent, with its likes and dislikes, preferring the pleasant and rejecting the unpleasant.  Our karma is based on mental intentions, resulting in consequences experienced as pleasant and unpleasant within our little self mind.   But these preferences lead to cravings, attachment, and discontent which results in suffering.  Due to ignorance, we cannot see the connection between our intentions, our actions, and the consequences they create around us. Our sensations, emotions and feelings are the inheritors of the karma of our intentions.  In turn, these sensations create patterns of behavior that maintain the same chain of stimulus with positive and negative reactions.   Nevertheless, there is always the possibility of awakening ourselves to the reality that we are responsible for our experience of the world, whether it be pleasant or unpleasant.   It is exactly due to this tension of opposites in duality that we are able to discover that which is constant in the Eternal.   One can transcend this duality, seeing it for what it is, momentary and impermanent.  We can find a satisfaction that is constant and permanent within the love and the peace that are only perceived when they are not obscured by the agitations of thoughts related to desires and aversions. 

            All circumstances, all events, and all forms arise owing to prior conditions, that which is called Dependent Origination.  Our mental intentions produce such profound effects, that all the characteristics of our body, our small self mind, and the circumstances of the world, are all consequences of them.  In order to return to our true home, to the Infinite, we must begin by focusing our attention on the present moment to whatever is arising in us, that which is referred to as mindfulness.  We focus on the sensations, emotional reactions, and feelings that arise, particularly when they are strong, such as when we feel any kind of repulsion, aversion, anger, fear or hate.  Also feelings of desire, craving, and greed are to be noted when they appear.  In the act of observing these sensations, we begin dis-identifying ourselves from them, and we have the possibility of purifying our karma.  We choose in that moment not to react unthinkingly with habituated patterns of anger and grasping.  Instead, we abstain from reacting at all for the split second to consider other options.  In that split second, we open our hearts and minds to the Infinite, and consciously ask, “What is it good to do now?”  This simple act allows us to put our faith in the wisdom and the understanding that is far beyond our little ego self, giving us the opportunity to appreciate the pleasure that is beyond momentary pleasure.  We understand the difference between the multiplicity of forms which is forever changing and moving, with that which is real and constant, the Infinite.  “Thus are voices, in inherent isolation, soft or harsh.  Such words as high and middle darkness match…” Regardless of the relative differences in qualities, abilities, and capacities in each of us and in each form, when the many things are all in the dark, they appear all the same.  This is a symbol of darkness to illustrate the oneness of all.  Yet, at the same time, the passage indicates how we distinguish what is true and real from that which an illusion, “Light separates the murky from the pure.” The image of light represents the wisdom emanating from the Infinite that we open our hearts and lives to, allowing us to see that which is unchanging within the changing, the Eternal that is right here in each one of us as individuals.  In truth, there is no separation.  We have only misperceived our true self for a time, mistaking the shadows on the wall for the reality that Is.  Understanding karma and Dependent Origination, we begin to know our Buddha Nature, our true identity here and now.  In that knowing, we have truly arrived home at last.

Bibliography

Morgan, Daishin.  Buddha Recognizes Buddha. Throssel Hole Press: Northumberland, United Kingdom, 2010.

Shasta Abbey.  Zen Training.  A Special Issue of The Journal of Shasta Abbey. Vol. XIII, May-         August 1982.  Mt. Shasta, CA., 1983.