Dalai Lama Quote of the Week - On Karma

Nice passage from Hid Holiness on the nature of karma, courtesy of Snow Lion Publications.

THE DALAI LAMA AT HARVARD:
Lectures on the Buddhist Path to Peace
by H.H. the Dalai Lama of Tibet,
translated and edited
by Jeffrey Hopkins
more...

Karmas that are accumulated for the sake of internal pleasure, upon having overcome attraction for external pleasure and having become attached to the pleasure that arises with internal meditative stabilization [which is meritorious], are involved with the first three concentrations. These are called unfluctuating karmas in that they bear their fruit only in those concentrations. Then, karmas that are accumulated upon having turned away even from such pleasure of internal meditative stabilization and within seeking just neutral feeling are unfluctuating karmas associated with the fourth concentration and the four formless absorptions. However, if, through understanding this presentation, you develop renunciation of all types of such cyclic existence, and accumulate karmas for the sake of permanent bliss, these karmas will bring about liberation from cyclic existence.

--from The Dalai Lama at Harvard: Lectures on the Buddhist Path to Peace by H.H. the Dalai Lama of Tibet, translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications

Tags: Buddhism, karma, Dalai Lama, Snow Lion Publications, The Dalai Lama at Harvard, Lectures on the Buddhist Path to Peace