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Karma: The Choice Is Yours
BY?AJAHN BUDDHADASA|?OCTOBER 20, 2017

There are two ways to understand dependent origination, teaches Ajahn Buddhadasa. But only one leads to liberation.

Ajahn Buddhadasa. Courtesy of Buddhadasa Indapanyo ArchIves (Bangkok).
In the Pali suttas there are two descriptions of what occurred under the Bodhi tree at the time of the Buddha?s great awakening. In one version, appearing in various texts, the Buddha realized the three supreme knowledges. In the first true knowing, as it is generally understood, he recollected his former lives. In this account, as traditionally understood, he is able to recall his own previous births far into the distant past. These are invariably described as happening to the same person. In the second true knowing, he reviewed how beings carry on according to their actions (cutupapata?ana), how beings pass away and reappear according to the karma they have done. Through the third true knowing, he realized the destruction of the impulses (asavakkhya?ana). The out-flowing fermentations (asavas) are the deepest level of defilement; when they are completely ended, no further defilement, egoism, or suffering is possible. This is the more commonly recounted description of the night of the Buddha?s awakening.
Elsewhere, the?Pali texts?state that the Buddha awakened to dependent co-arising. There also are accounts of the Buddha contemplating dependent co-arising immediately after his awakening, while he was still sitting under the Bodhi tree. Together, these give a second description of the Buddha?s great awakening. In the immediate aftermath, during the first four-hour watch one night, the Buddha examined dependent co-arising in the forward order, starting with ignorance, then concoctings, and so on, one after the other. During the second watch of the night, he reviewed dependent co-arising in the reverse order, starting from suffering, then birth, becoming, clinging, and so on all the way back to ignorance. Then for the third watch, he examined dependent co-arising in both forward and reverse orders until dawn.
Between these two versions, the second is more reasonable and acceptable in light of the overall themes and threads of the Pali suttas. In the other account, the first knowledge concerning the recollection of past lives is in the language of eternalism, just as in the pre-Buddhist Upanishads, which speak of a self or an individual being born again and again over many lives. The belief that the same person is repeatedly reborn is eternalism, which Buddhism aims to eliminate. This idea has more in common with popular beliefs and the philosophy of the Upanishads than with the core of the Buddha?s message.
At heart, Buddhism teaches the end of karma, living beyond karma, rather than carrying on according to karma.
The second knowledge is about beings passing away and reappearing according to karma. This is generally understood to mean that the same being disappears from one existence (bhava) and reappears in another according to karmic influences somehow carried over from one existence to the next. However, this is not directly or specifically a Buddhist teaching. At heart, Buddhism teaches the end of karma, living beyond karma, rather than carrying on according to karma. The noble path is for freedom from karma; living under the sway of karma is limiting, distressful, and burdensome. It is not good enough to merely surrender to karma, to die and be reborn according to the fruits of our actions. In Buddhism, liberating insight must go further than that.
Neither of these first two knowledges can be considered truly Buddhist principles. Why, then, are they included in the Pali scriptures? My own view is that perhaps the compilers of the discourses included these passages for the benefit of ordinary people. For those people unable to understand dependent co-arising and the end of karma, these passages were included for the sake of morality. Consequently, this is an account of the Buddha?s awakening for the moral benefit of ordinary people.
The second account puts dependent co-arising at the center of the Buddha?s awakening. Not only did he express his awakening in these terms but he also described how he pondered and contemplated dependent co-arising both before the awakening and immediately after. After experiencing the bliss of liberation for a week, he examined and investigated dependent co-arising throughout at least one night, the first watch of which focused on how dependent co-arising occurs. He repeatedly investigated this in the forward order from ignorance to concoctings on through suffering. He spent four full hours thoroughly penetrating this truth. In the next four hours, he investigated the causality of dukkha in careful detail all the way back to ignorance. In the final four hours, he examined dependent co-arising in both directions, forward and backward. This shows the central importance of dependent co-arising. The formula recorded is brief and succinct?the Buddha looked into it forward and backward for twelve hours without a break. He had the most profound spiritual experience of this through each of the watches: forward order, reverse order, and both forward and backward, each for four full hours. Please consider how profound, how difficult, how subtle, and how important this is. This ought to be of great interest to all serious meditators.
The words we have translated as ?forward order? and ?reverse order,? or ?forward? and ?backward??anuloma?and?patiloma?can be understood rather broadly. Thus, for clarity?s sake, we can explain?anuloma, ?with the hairs,? as the examining of the arising sequence, that is, dependent co-arising. The reverse,?patiloma, ?against the hairs,? is the quenching of dependent co-arising, that is, dependent quenching. In the first watch, the Buddha investigated and reviewed how dependent co-arising arises. In the second watch, he investigated and reviewed how it quenches. In the final watch, he investigated and reviewed both. This understanding is eminently reasonable and fully supported by the core themes of the discourses.
Please consider this important question: Have you ever practiced like this? Have you ever investigated dependent co-arising in the way that the Buddha did before, during, and after his awakening? We suggest that you examine and scrutinize dependent co-arising in the same great detail, with the same sincerity and intensity. Then, you might understand it like he did. You will find it worth your while to follow the Buddha?s example.

Two Understandings of Karma
This is a good place to consider karma. After all, it parallels the dependent co-arising teaching, though with less precision and depth. In the first account of the Buddha?s awakening, the second knowledge suggests that beings carry on after death according to their karma. The difficulty with this understanding is that we cannot take this as the understanding of karma in line with core Buddhist principles. Rather, this understanding is simply the standard version of karma that existed in India before the Buddha?s time. Before the Buddha?s awakening, the Upanishads already taught that beings are reborn after death according to the workings of karma. Even Christianity, at least mainstream forms, teaches pretty much the same. If that is not the true Buddhist teaching, then what is?
In Buddhism, the central teaching on karma is about the practice that makes karma meaningless, ?the karma that ends karma.? This karma transforms us beyond all the influences of karma, which is the unique, more profound aspect of the Buddha?s karma teaching. The idea that doing good deeds leads to good results and doing bad deeds leads to bad results was a general teaching that existed before the Buddha?s time. The Buddha did not deny or object to such karma doctrines, which were already common before he appeared and are found in some form in all religions. However, such teachings were not sufficient for his purpose: the end of suffering. Therefore, the Buddha went further. His real teaching is about not being trapped by karma, thus transcending karma and its consequences.
To be trapped forever in the prison of karma is not Buddhism. If everything constantly happens to us according to karma, there could never be any liberation.
Allow me to reiterate that most of the books on Buddhism with chapters on ?Karma and Rebirth? are not correct, not if they really intend to represent Buddhism. If we are to explain ?Karma in Buddhism,? it is not enough to teach that good actions bring good fruits, bad actions bring bad fruits, and we inevitably receive the fruits of our good and bad karma. Properly, a Buddhist explanation must focus on ?the karma that ends all karma.? The practice of the noble eightfold path is that karma that ends all karma. The Buddha?s teaching on karma is to be free of karma, not trapped by it, so that karma has no more power over our lives.
The Buddha Perfected the Teaching of Karma
To be trapped forever in the prison of karma is not Buddhism. If everything constantly happens to us according to karma, there could never be any liberation. For a teaching and practice to be Buddhism, we must be liberated from the power and oppression of karma. A teaching that merely reiterates the old approach cannot be the true Buddhist teaching. It must be completed to the extent of liberation to be Buddhism. Thus, the Buddha needed to teach the karma that ends karma. He took the kind of karma that does not explain liberation and perfected it so that liberation from karma became the central point.
?Beyond karma? is a teaching above and beyond the world, or a?lokuttara?teaching. The ordinary karma teachings are part and parcel with the world (lokiya).?Lokiyadhamma?is for the mind still trapped in worldly conditions.?Lokuttaradhamma?is for the mind free of and beyond worldly conditions. The Buddha accepted a number of the old teachings, perfecting them within his?lokuttaradhamma?system as he did so. The Buddhist teaching on karma?the noble eightfold path that ends karma?is a perfect example of how the Buddha completed the old teachings and traditions.
The Buddha accepted some teachings that existed in India before his awakening, such as non-vengeance (avera), non-harming or nonviolence (avihimsa), the five?sila, various?samadhi?practices, and the form and formless?jhanas. All of these are older teachings and practices that he did not reject. Instead, he further developed, completed, and perfected them. Please be aware that Buddhism contains a certain amount of older teachings and practices that the Buddha included, deepened, and completed for the sake of quenching dukkha. Understanding this fact is important so that we will not confuse the old versions of such teachings with the new, perfected versions.
The Buddha completed the Upanishadic teaching on karma and the like. To do so, he taught the end of karma.
Two Levels of Teaching
These examples clearly show that there are two levels of teaching, both of which are necessary. One is for the sake of morality, for those who still believe in and hold to self. The moral level of teaching is necessary for those who can only understand things in terms of me and mine, who require moral and therapeutic teachings that operate on a worldly level. It teaches people how to live in the world morally and peacefully, to be less selfish about the selves to which they cling, and thereby suffer less.
You can continue rebirthing yourself in a worldly way, but with healthy morality, not harming others and living relatively peacefully.
For those aiming higher, the Buddha?s teaching focuses on letting go of self, that everything is not-self and nothing is worth clinging to as me or mine. This level does not ignore or reject the moral teachings; it simply goes beyond them. This is the more comprehensive transcendent level of ultimate truth that truly liberates from all suffering. If both levels are understood, there is no conflict between them. They can coexist for the sake of both those who want to live in and of the world (lokiya) and those aiming to live above and free of the world (lokuttara), in it but not of it.
Each person decides their own preference and way. If you want to travel the paths of the world and have no wish to transcend the world, you can follow the worldly teachings and receive the moralistic explanation of dependent co-arising given by various commentators. You can continue rebirthing yourself in a worldly way, but with healthy morality, not harming others and living relatively peacefully. If you want to be free, to transcend the world and no longer be caught by all its trappings, you must study the transcendent teachings such as ?the end of karma? that do not involve self. For this, we have the dependent co-arising of ultimate truth that enables us to see through all the concoctings of self. Dependent co-arising also has these two levels or two models. The choice of which to follow is yours.
Adapted from?Under the Bodhi Tree, from Wisdom Publications, 2017.

My visit to Wat Pah Nanachat
Date of Arrival: 8 July 2023
Date of Leaving: 24 July 2023

My experience:
Before I went to Wat Pah Nanachat I had to send them an email which can be found on the website. The request has to be 2 to 3 weeks before arrival, but I sent an email about a week and a half before the date of arrival I requested so I was unsure of them accepting me. But they did!
The arrival is preferably in the morning and has to be before 4 pm. I arrived in Ubon a day before, spent a night in a hotel and went there at 10 am. The taxi was unsure if he can enter the temple so he dropped me outside the gate, but you can surely get in the temple with a car if you want to. When I got in I asked a lay guest I saw there about the guest monk because for anyone who wants to stay he has to ask the guest monk. So I followed him to the guest monk Ajahn Akaliko and I found that there is already someone who is going to join on the same day as me. We introduced ourselves and the guest monk saw no problem of taking us as lay guests so he got a copy of our passports id and we were welcome to stay! Staying in Wat Pah Nanachat has some rules, for example there is no use of any electronics so the day you join you have to give your phone (and my kindle too) or any electronic for safe keeping. You get them back when you?'e leaving. I stayed the first three days or so without shaving. Usually the first days are to see yourself if you really want to stay for longer and I think also for the monks to see if you are ready for that. After that period, they would ask you to shave your head beard and eyebrows, usually on the weekly holy day (half moons, full moon and black moon) 
About my stay there:
The day I joined it was me and James from the US who came also on the same day. While he was staying for 6 months I was staying for 2 weeks. We soon became friends and started to discover the place together. While staying we have to wear white clothes, if you didn?t bring some there are white clothes at the temple that you can borrow, then we went to the place where we sleep, there are kutis and some rooms, I stayed at the ?dorm? it?s an open area, I found it really nice, so I set up my place there.
The daily routine: we wake up at 3 AM and go for the morning chanting and meditation in the sala at 3:30. The chanting is sometimes in Pali and English and sometimes only English. There is a book there we follow for the chant, I find it helpful to understand the meanings of what we?re saying. After chanting we do meditation. We are free to practice our own meditation method whether sitting or walking or standing meditation. After we finish at 5am we do sweeping the leaves until 6am. We have some free time until 6:45 when we come to help with putting the food we receive in its places, then we help with offering the food to monks, then we go to the sala where we see Thai people also join there and sometimes there is a short talk in Thai. Usually on Sunday it gets crowded as many people come and they take the precepts at the temple. After that finishes the monks leave the sala first then the pah kaws then we the lay guests  leave and go to a room for lay guest?s meals. We sit in the order of joining. The guest monk comes everyday at that time to tell us the daily schedule and inform us if there is any unusual event. After we wait for the monks and the pah kaws to get their meals we go to fill our bowls, and after us the Thai lay people. In Wat Pah Nanachat we get only 1 meal a day. So it is the only meal for the day. The food is plenty thanks to the generosity of the Thai people. After the meal we clean the toilets. And then we have free time. I usually take a nap, then go practice on my own. At 3pm we have sweeping until 4pm. And at 4:30 we have drinks: some juice/pepsi/ hot chocolate/tea. Then at 6 pm there is the bell and the evening chanting and meditation at 6:15.
On special occasions of Uposatha days we have a group Q&A  with senior monks at night and we can join the Thai people who come to the temple for night chant which is in Pali and in Thai. We also have a special drinks time around midnight with the monks where we can have discussions and ask questions.

What I liked:
The environment is clean, peaceful and harmonious. The place is in the forest, and everybody monks lay guests and Thai people love it and respect it and they?re all taking care of it. In Wat Pah Nanachat you get to meet new people from all over the world, each with a different background. But everyone is there for the Dhamma. You get to know good people but make sure you are a genuine person yourself. In Wat Pah Nanachat it is the Dhamma 24h, but everybody is doing that willingfully. Only people interested in the Dhamma want to stay there. And you will find many guys among the lay guests interested in ordaining and becoming monks, maybe not at their current stay but some time in the future. The chores we do, everybody does it because they want to, there is no one who is watching to tell us we did something wrong but everybody follows the schedule. I personally enjoyed the afternoon sweeping, I felt I was doing something wholesome and it helped me clear my mind. 
The focus is on meditation. And we have contact with the monks and we can ask them questions when we want which I find it very helpful. Ajahn Siripannyo the acting abbot was a very warm and inspiring monk. The way he answers our questions is satisfying.
The 1 meal a day can be hard at first but you can adjust and I find it really good because it gives us a lot more free time for practice, and it disciplines the mind: that there?s going to be only 1 meal each day at the same time. At first I took too much food because I was so hungry but I learnt by the end of my stay how much food I really need.
The day before last I asked to go to alms round with the monks and they said yes. I didn?t do any work but I liked following the monks and see people offer them food. After alms round I saw many people line up in front of the temple gates to offer food. I helped collect the food from the monks and bring it inside the monastery.  It was so wholesome and reminds me of the generosity of Thai people and their intentness to protect the practice and keep the Buddha?s teachings alive. Not just by words but by their devoted actions.

During my stay there I was pleasantly surprised by the arrival of Ajahn Jayasaro, who is a famous monk, who lives in a quite secluded hermitage in Thailand. I used to watch his Dhamma talks on youtube so I was very delighted to see him and talk with him! He came with 1 day prior notice. We met him after the meal and had the chance to ask him questions.

There are books for free distribution there that we can get and usually the guest monk gives us some more when we are ready to leave. I found some very interesting books there. There is also a library in the dorm with a variety of books but only for borrowing.

The day I was leaving, I felt sad. It was very wholesome and I was happy being there. I do recommend it for people who are genuinely interested in the practice, people who want to learn and not to impose their views about Buddhism. It is peaceful, relaxed place for practice where the rules are being followed which makes the practice more genuine.

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For those wishing to share the Dharma from a place of open hearted generosity, we can connect you to students who understand the opportunity and responsibility around dana in the student-teacher relationship. We also provide a platform where dana based courses and retreats can be listed.

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Buddhism really has no variety, It’s all about stop hurting

Beth Upton on Generosity

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