Tag: Karma

Why is it that sometimes we aren’t well received by people even when we want to do something useful for them?

Lama Ole’s answer:

I always think that the karma of the people was not good enough, and then I happily go on to the next job. If you always do your best, then the rest is the other people’s karma.

Everyone has their own karma. One can only help others if a ring and hook come together—if openness is present. If this is not possible, one has to passively give them some positive energy, and at some point, when they forget to think about themselves, it will sink in.

Naturally, it is also a question of how skillfully you present things. There are people who could sell long underwear in the Sahara and others who couldn’t even sell it in Greenland. If you don’t manage to get through to someone, then chalk it up to experience and try to learn something. Maybe later there will be a situation where you are able to handle it better.

Why does the unenlightened mind always seek out a body again?

Lama Ole’s answer:

Our actions, thoughts, and words from former lives—our karma—work like a kind of glue, like something that makes things crystallize out of the possibilities of space. We then find parents when they make love—we tether ourselves to the fertilized egg and are born. And what binds us here is cause and effect and our ignorance in thinking that we are limited. We are bound here because the conditions are there, because a hook and a ring came together, because we aren’t able to see mind as clear light but instead identify with the body.

If we think we are our body, we are deluding ourselves. Rather, we have a body. The body is something through which we can work, but our true nature is clear light. As long as this is not recognized, we believe that we are our body and experience old age, sickness, death, and all the difficulties that go along with these concepts. Buddha shows us the experience that we really are clear light. This is the goal. The body is our tool to use for the benefit of all—without experiencing ups and downs, without expectations and fears, but simply because it feels so right.

Is it really true that my actions in this life determine what kind of body I will be reborn with in my next life?

Lama Ole’s answer:

Yes! The body we have now is a consequence of karma. What we do in this life has four results. First, it determines the experiences we will have when we die—which subconscious impressions come up and whether we experience happiness or suffering. Second, if we are reborn as humans, it governs what kind of body and genetic constitution we get. Third, it determines the country we are born in—a pleasant or unpleasant one, a rich or poor one, and so on. And finally, what we do in this life molds the attitudes we develop when we’re reborn—whether we are basically friendly, like people, and want to help them, or whether we are generally difficult and bring people suffering and problems.

These are the four results of previous thoughts, words, and actions. One can say that the body is the solidified state of consciousness; it reflects the impressions that lie in the mind. And thus one can influence the mind through the body and the body through the mind.

Is it possible to remove bad karma through negative dreams, or is the dream only a mirror reflecting what happens in life?

Lama Ole’s answer:

Whenever body, speech, and mind are involved simultaneously, the energies built up and liberated are the strongest. If you have built up something subconsciously for a long time, then it might be confirmed to you in a dream.

Everything that you don’t have to live through to learn from is washed away by the power of the Buddhist refuge and your practice. The power of Mahakala steers everything. The blessing allows potential big dramas and suffering to be processed as smaller difficulties or as a headache. Since very intense things are also processed in this way, one can sometimes see characteristics of these processes in a dream. If one has gotten rid of something, then, for example, one can fly or one kills someone or is killed oneself. In this sense, we can experience different ego barriers falling away during the night, but the removal itself happens both day and night.

Is it true that we use up our good karma if we have no patience?

Lama Ole’s answer:

To have no patience means to get angry. And getting angry burns all the different good karmas. The many positive impressions in one’s mind burn away and disappear.

There are a lot of beings in the world who think, say, and do good things—beings who build up a lot of positivity. But every time they get to a level where a change—a new dimension of awareness—is required, fear and uncertainty arise. Then the beings start to get angry and fall down. When the old habitual feelings and thoughts spread out again, the beings build up good things once more, fall down again, build up again, and so on.