What Is Karma?

Karma, also known as the habitual force of actions, is categorized into wholesome karma, unwholesome karma, and neutral karma. For instance, consider a car speeding at full throttle toward a dangerous area ahead. Though the driver recognizes the peril and feels the need to slow down, brake, and change direction, the car cannot decelerate or turn for two reasons. First, the driver, despite being aware, lacks the willpower to act, or is mentally confused, flustered, and weak in resolve. Second, the car's inertia is too great, or its brakes have failed. These two factors cause the car to continue hurtling toward danger.

Awareness alone does not necessarily translate into action. Awareness means knowing with the conscious mind, yet this knowing fails to manifest in action because the manas (the root mind) has not made a decisive choice. How, then, can action be achieved? The vehicle of the five aggregates, propelled by immense unwholesome karma accumulated since beginningless time, hurtles habitually toward the three evil destinies. Who is the driver or owner of this vehicle? It is none other than the sovereign manas. To break free from the path leading to the three evil destinies, to turn the vehicle toward the three wholesome destinies, or toward the Pure Land of Buddhahood, the driver or owner of the five-aggregate vehicle is absolutely crucial. Why would the manas steer the vehicle toward the three evil destinies? Some say consciousness is the driver. But when consciousness ceases, is the five-aggregate vehicle still running or has it stalled? What happens to the car when consciousness is "intoxicated"? Consciousness can only serve as a co-pilot, a navigator, guiding and urging the driver to grasp the steering wheel firmly.

Sentient beings gravitate toward the three evil destinies due to the three fetters, which bind the five-aggregate vehicle to the path toward those destinies. In truth, it is the manas driver’s three fetters that compel it to drive toward the three evil destinies. Therefore, so-called karma primarily refers to the karma of the manas. When the manas severs the view of self and cuts off the three fetters, it will redirect the vehicle toward wholesome destinies.

When confronted with the six dusts (objects of the senses), karma manifests. For example, in the face of wealth and sensual desires, the manas of different sentient beings exhibit distinct karmic forces, displaying different habitual responses to such temptations. If unwholesome karma is strong, greed for wealth and sensual pleasures arises. If wholesome karma is strong, one disregards or even renounces and donates wealth and sensual pleasures. Those with neutral karma follow conditions and adopt a middle path. When sentient beings’ karma manifests, all admonitions become like wind blowing past the ears—unheard and unheeded. If wholesome karma is potent, even in adverse circumstances, one remains undefiled, refusing to compromise and maintaining a pure mind. Those who remain unstained amid filth are called Bodhisattvas. If the manas does not transform its unwholesome karmic force, if afflictions remain unconquered, then severing the view of self, cutting off the three fetters, and escaping the three evil destinies is absolutely impossible. Diligently practicing the four right efforts—abandoning the unwholesome and cultivating the wholesome—is essential. Without abandoning the unwholesome and perfecting the wholesome, the three evil destinies cannot be avoided.