— The Beginner Bodhisattva Forging the Karma for Buddhahood
Contributed by the Buddhas’ Practice Incorporated, Australia
Mentor: Bennie Spirit
Editor: Yinyue(Ivy)
With gratitude to Google AI Gemini
With gratitude to Gemini NotebookLM
Draft Date: August 20, 2026
Location: BPI Meditation Center
Attendees at the Dharma assembly: Bennie, Ivy, Ellie, Grace, Enid, Dawn
Proofread by: Wenshu, Qingdeng, Xiaoju
Starting the Practice
This is very important: when a Bodhisattva (*Bodhisattva*) first begins to practice and has not yet attained the power of wisdom (*prajñā-bala*), how can they attain it? How can what is unborn be brought to birth, and how can what is already born be increased? What are the obstacles in between? “What dharmas should be abandoned” means you must know what the obstacles are and how to remove them.
What is the obstacle at the very beginning of practice? It is affliction (*kleśa*). Knowing how to recognize the faults of afflictions is extremely important. Only by thoroughly recognizing the perils of afflictions can you remove these obstacles.
The Faults of Afflictions
The Bodhisattva who is just beginning to learn how to cultivate the karma of Buddhahood must now clarify what afflictions are, and what greed (*lobha* or *rāga*) is. Constantly revolving around one’s own self-interest is greed. The karmic retribution of greed is that the more you grasp, the less you will have.
This is not something you can just glance at, nor is it enough to merely memorize it. This is like sharpening a knife: afflictions are the whetstone, and you must constantly sharpen your knife on this whetstone to make it sharp. Now, polish one sentence repeatedly every day; if one day is not enough, take two days… Ultimately, you must pass this hurdle. This is a mandatory practice for a beginner Bodhisattva (*ādikarmika-bodhisattva*).
As for what specifically to practice: first, look at all gains and provisions; they will give rise to your greed. You will generate greedy desires for whatever benefits you. Think carefully: are all your points of greed not just serving to maintain your own interests? Whether you covet fame, profit, wealth, food, drink, or entertainment—no matter what you covet—it is nothing but your own self-interest. Continually being greedy in pursuit of your various interests, if you fail to get what you want, hatred and anger (*dveṣa*) will arise.
The *Sūtra on the Ten Wholesome Ways of Action* (*Daśabhadrakarmamārga Sūtra*) speaks of how sublime the karmic rewards of non-greed are. If you are greedy, just look at the opposite of the rewards of non-greed, and you will understand how tragic the consequences are:
1. Your three karmas (of body, speech, and mind) will be fraught with hardship, and your sense faculties will be incomplete.
2. Your wealth will not be sovereignly yours, as it can be plundered by all enemies and thieves.
3. Your merit and virtue (*puṇya*) will not be sovereignly yours; you will not be able to do as you wish, and you will lack all necessary provisions.
4. You will hold a lowly status and inferior position, with no one offering you rare and wonderful treasures.
5. The things you obtain will be far less than what you seek, due to your stinginess and jealousy in the past.
Do you understand this? Knowing this is having wisdom (*prajñā*); knowing this is seeing things as they truly are (*yathābhūta-darśana*). If you thoroughly memorize this, would you still dare to be greedy? We have always emphasized that the Ten Wholesome Ways of Action constitute the great earth of all Buddha-dharma. All your Dharma practices must be established upon this great earth. Without the great earth of the ten wholesome actions, you cannot achieve anything; you cannot even attain the karmic rewards of the human or heavenly realms. Do you realize that these are all teachings from the *Sūtra on the Ten Wholesome Ways of Action*? Knowing this, why do you still dare to be greedy?
If you are not greedy, you will have whatever you want. The moment you become greedy, you will lack whatever you want. Just remember this single sentence. It is concise and clear, for it encompasses everything.
You have experienced all of this, so why don’t you remember? The standard for self-harm, self-mutilation, and self-destruction all comes down to one word: greed. Can you draw examples from your real life to solidify your wisdom? Only when it is solidified will you not dare to be greedy. If it cannot be solidified—if you only apply it when you happen to think of it, but act greedily when you forget—it is equivalent to using the bluntest knife to chop the thickest tree. The damage you inflict on it is slower than its growth; you will never be able to cut it down. This is crucial. If you can thoroughly master this single word—greed—everything else will be easy to manage. This is because all suffering arises from greedy desire. Without greed, there is no anger. Nor will there be arrogance (*māna*), seeking for others to look up to you. Seeking the respect of others and elevating yourself are all forms of greed. Without greed, there is no arrogance. Without greed, doubt (*vicikitsā*) does not exist. You will truly live a magnanimous life. At the very least, you will bear the appearance of a noble person, because a noble person is open and magnanimous. You will have completely shaken off the disposition of a petty person (who is constantly distressed, and becomes arrogant upon achieving success).
This is so important; it involves your own vital interests, determining whether you will attain well-being or suffer worse circumstances. Such a vital matter is the sole key point. For example, whenever you think of the karmic retributions of greed, would you still dare to commit it? Do you dare not to remember it? If you remember and act accordingly, you will attain well-being. Since you have attained well-being, would you willingly abandon it?
The Issue of Causes and Conditions
The Buddha has spoken so much, yet pitiful sentient beings without the proper causes and conditions (*hetu-pratyaya*) simply cannot attain it. The wisdom of a Bodhisattva also arises from causes and conditions; it can only arise from the convergence of causes and conditions. Do not merely think about how wonderful the Bodhisattva’s wisdom is. Whether the Bodhisattva’s wisdom is wonderful or not has nothing to do with you. Only by establishing the causes and conditions for Bodhisattva wisdom can you generate Bodhisattva wisdom; this is very important.
When your causes and conditions are sufficient, you will value it. Because you value Bodhisattva wisdom, you will naturally look down upon greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance, and doubt (the five poisons). If you value greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance, and doubt, wisdom will naturally not stay in your mind for more than a few seconds. This is because your predominant cause and condition is affliction. The causes and conditions you have established with afflictions are so profound and vast that they completely occupy the depths of your mind, leaving no room for wisdom. Naturally, wisdom cannot establish a foothold in your mind; there is no place for it, so where could it stand? This is the key point. Let alone completely clearing away all afflictions, you should at least make a little room for it. However, we are reluctant and unwilling, afraid that we might lose even a fraction of our greed. This is precisely because you still believe that greed is a good thing; you simply haven’t established true wisdom. A person with wisdom would never consider greed to be good.
Why can you never seem to value it? It is an issue of causes and conditions. For a person with the right causes and conditions, believing is extremely easy, understanding is extremely easy, practicing is extremely easy, and realizing is extremely easy, all because they have the right causes and conditions. With these causes and conditions, they will experience excellent sensations and can generate a mind of joy (*muditā*), just as worldly people have excellent sensations toward afflictions and derive immense joy from them, naturally and vigorously engaging with afflictions with great diligence. If you establish the causes and conditions for the Buddha-dharma, you will similarly experience immense joy, excellent sensations, and great diligence toward the Buddha-dharma; that is inevitable. Therefore, within the Buddha-dharma, it is said that the first step of practice is, foremost, respect, making offerings, and compliance.
The Buddha-dharma emphasizes dependent origination (*pratītyasamutpāda*). Respect, making offerings, and compliance form a dependent condition; it is because of this condition that the function of contemplation can arise, expanding further into your ability to practice, and eventually to realization. All of this follows the principle that “dharmas do not arise independently; they arise only by relying on conditions.” You must rely on these conditions to produce an effect. Therefore, when we go to make offerings to the Buddha, have you thought about it? Have you taken it seriously? If you do not comply with the teachings of all the Buddhas, yet you still want the Buddha-dharma to arise within you, that is impossible.
In a passage from the *Mahāvaipulya Tathāgatācintyaviṣaya Sūtra* (The Sutra on the Inconceivable Realm of the Tathagata), the Buddha teaches Bodhisattvas how to plant a single Buddha-seed. (Because a seed contains the gene to grow and the power to grow—broadly speaking, it is vitality. Therefore, using “seed” as a metaphor, it refers to the seed of Buddhahood. This seed can mature into Buddhahood; this is the very first foundational seed issue on the entire Great Way to Buddhahood). What is the seed? Technically speaking, the Great Vow (*mahāpraṇidhāna*) is the seed. However, possessing only the empty shell of a seed is useless; you must fill it with boundless merit and virtue. The embryo (the sprout) comes from your respect, offering, serving, and compliance. It is also fine if you just remember the exact words—just one single sentence of the original text.
ENDING
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