What is karma?
Venerable Thubten Chodron 
Guided Meditations 
May 5, 2015 Part of a series of meditations appearing on the Daily Dharma Gathering, a cloud-based meditation group that features live-streamed meditations by a rich spectrum of Buddhist teachers.
The four general characteristics of karma
- Virtuous actions bring happiness, non-virtuous actions bring misery
- A very small action can lead to a very large result
- If we don’t create the cause, we don’t experience the result
- Our actions will definitely ripen and bring their corresponding result
- Guided meditation reviewing the general characteristics of karma
Questions and answers
- Methods for purification of our negative karma
- Cause and effect for those who do not believe in past lives
- Recommended resources on karma: Open Heart Clear Mind, Buddhism for Beginners and Venerable Thubten Chodron’s website
Guided meditation: What is karma? (download)
Venerable Thubten Chodron
Venerable Chodron emphasizes the practical application of Buddha’s teachings in our daily lives and is especially skilled at explaining them in ways easily understood and practiced by Westerners. She is well known for her warm, humorous, and lucid teachings. She was ordained as a Buddhist nun in 1977 by Kyabje Ling Rinpoche in Dharamsala, India, and in 1986 she received bhikshuni (full) ordination in Taiwan. Read her full bio.
