Karma

"The Buddha's teaching reveals moral justice in an impersonal universal law, the law of Kamma, which reigns over all sentient existence. Kamma means action springing from intention, as bodily deed, speech, and thought. Unwholesome kamma is action rooted in mental states of greed, hatred and delusion; and wholesome kamma, action rooted in mental states of generosity or detachment, goodwill and understanding. The willed actions may fade from memory but they leave subtle imprints on the mind, seeds with the potential to come to fruition. The objective field in which the seeds of kamma ripen is the process of rebirths called samsara.
Life is not an isolated occurence beginning with birth and ending in death. Each single lifespan is part of series of lives having no discoverable beginning in time and continuing on as long as the desire for existence stands intact. Rebirth can take place in various realms. There are not only the familiar realms of human beings and animals, but ranged above we meet heavenly worlds of greater happiness, beauty and power and ranged below infernal worlds of extreme suffering. The cause for rebirth is kamma. Kamma determines the sphere into which rebirth takes place, wholesome actions bringing rebirth in higher forms, unwholesomeactions rebirth in lower forms. After yielding rebirth, kamma continues to operate, governing the endowments and circumstances.
The second level of teaching found in the Dhammapada is to follow this ethical law leading upwards--to inner development, to higher rebirths and to richer experiences of happiness and joy. However, all states of existence in samsara, even the lofty celestial abodes, are lacking in genuine worth: for they are all inherently impermanent, without any lasting substance, and thus, for those who cling to them, potential bases for suffering. The disciple of mature faculties, does not long even for rebirth among the gods. Having understood the intrinsic inadequacy of all conditioned things, his only aspiration is Nibbana, the unconditioned state where there is no more birth, ageing and death, and no more suffering.
The third level of teaching found in the Dhammapada emerges out of this aspiration for final deliverance. The Four Noble Truths provide the framework for this aim. The first truth concerns various forms of suffering, existence itself being impermanent and substanceless, is intrinsically unsatisfactory. The second truth is craving for pleasure and existence which drives us through the round of rebirths, bringing in its trail suffering. The third truth declares that the destruction of craving issues in release from suffering, and the fourth prescribes the means to gain release, the Noble Eightfold Path: right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration (Chapter 20)."

INTRODUCTION

DHAMMAPADA