Collective Karma

In Buddhism there is the notion of karma, which means action. This includes the act of thinking, the act of speaking, and the act of performing physical action. Every thought that you produce is your continuation. Every word that you speak is your continuation. Everything you do with your body is your continuation. Even our thoughts are a kind of energy that we produce. We produce energy in the way that a cloud produces rain. Rain is an action performed by the cloud; the cloud is transformed into the rain. We are very much like the cloud. Just as the cloud produces rain, we produce thought, speech, and actions that will continue us forever. When this body disintegrates, you are continued always by your karma.

You don’t need to wait for the disintegration of your body to be reborn in new forms of life. A cloud doesn’t need to disappear completely in order to become rain. It’s wonderful to be a floating cloud but it’s also very wonderful to be the falling rain. When I look around outside me, I see myself in many directions. I have been reincarnated already in many forms. If you think that I’m only here in this body, that’s a wrong view; you have not really seen me. We are more than what we can see. We produce many thoughts, words, and actions, and they continue us a little bit everywhere.
With the practice of the Five Mindfulness Trainings, we can assure that our continuation is contributing to a more sustainable and peaceful world. The Mindfulness Survival Kit is not just for our own survival, it is for the survival of future generations and the planet, today and after our bodies are gone.

We can begin practicing at any time. Yesterday, we may have produced an unkind thought. Today, we can produce another thought that can modify and transform the thought produced yesterday. As soon as today’s thought of understanding and compassion is produced, it can counteract the thought of yesterday. With mindfulness we have freedom to change ourselves and to help change the world. Practicing the Five Mindfulness Trainings is not just an individual path, but part of a larger global ethic that can change the direction we are currently heading as a people and as a planet. The trainings are there for all of us, wherever we live, whatever our cultural and spiritual traditions might be. If we can each practice these trainings, individually and together, we will find ourselves hand-in-hand, walking the path together toward a sustainable and more joyful future.