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Good Karma: Karmic consequences of the ten nonvirtues

Good Karma 14

Part of a series of talks given during the annual Memorial Day weekend retreat based on the book Good Karma: How to Create the Causes of Happiness and Avoid the Causes of Suffering, a commentary on “The Wheel of Sharp Weapons” by Indian sage Dharmarakshita.

  • Questions and answers
    • Do we wish for sadists to have happiness by causing others to suffer?
    • Misunderstanding karma as justifying suffering
    • Cause and antidote to feeling powerless 
  • The ten nonvirtuous actions
    • How Buddhism differs from a theistic worldview
    • Three physical nonvirtues: killing, stealing, unwise and unkind sexual behavior
  • Commentary on verse 14
    • What impure and pure perceptions refer to
  • Questions and answers
    • Getting curious about the view of the other side in a conflict
    • Mentally giving away something that has been stolen from you
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.