This is a lecture by Geshe Michael Roach on April 3, 2010 in Detroit, Michigan about identifying the real causes of things we want to happen in our lives, and then introducing a four-step method to assure those causes ripen as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Options for Further Study
To deepen your study on some of the topics introduced or alluded to in this lecture, please refer to the following on The Knowledge Base website:
What is Nirvana and How Do We Get There?
What is Nirvana and How Do We Get There?The word “nirvana” brings up many different ideas. Is it some kind of space into which we disappear? Is it some strange place where we are happy all the time, without a care for the problems of the rest of the world? In this series of talks, we will explore what nirvana really is, and practical ways of getting there, learning both the theory of nirvana, through the study of the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras and practical meditation practices. We will see that nirvana is actually a very engaged state of being, where we are in total happiness but serving the world at the same time.
Daily Practice Series Course 06: The Four Powers to Remove Negative Karma (1999, California)
The Four Powers to Remove Negative KarmaTo become enlightened and be happy all the time, one must be virtuous towards every living being all the time. Unfortunately, at present, most of us can not do this. Instead, we routinely behave badly towards others, harming with our thoughts, words, and actions. The result is that we collect negative karma throughout our lives.
Karmically, every instance of negativity we generate towards others will definitely come back to us as a similar unpleasant, painful experience in our lives. The good news is that it’s possible to purify and remove the past negative karma we collected, before it can ripen upon us as our own personal suffering and pain. This practice teaches how to clean up and purify our past negativity to prevent that old bad karma from ripening upon us as difficulties, problems, pain, or suffering in our life.
The Four Steps to Make a Karmic Seed More Powerful (2012, Moscow, Geshe Michael Roach)
The Four Steps to Make a Karmic Seed More PowerfulIn this video clip, Geshe Michael Roach is explaining a four-step method for making assuring that a karmic seed will ripen faster and more powerfully.
ACI Course 05: How Karma Works (1994, New York, Geshe Michael Roach)
ACI Course 05: How Karma WorksAll Buddhist practices are based upon the laws of karma, and so it is crucial to understand thoroughly how karma works to succeed in any and every Buddhist path. This Course is based upon the Treasure House of Higher Knowledge (Abhidharma Kosha) by Master Vasubandhu (350 AD).
Topics include: an Abhidharma overview; the definition and nature of karma; good, bad and neutral karma; karma of body, speech, and mind; the definition of virtue and non-virtue; black and white deeds; projecting and finishing karma; karmic consequences; how karma is carried; how emptiness allows karma to function; karmic paths; the five immediate misdeeds; how to make a karmic result powerful; and the purification of karma.
