Karma the Mechanism

Author(s): Hermann Kuhn
Publisher: Crosswind Publishing Germany

Page 40

SUTRAS
ATTRACTION TO KARMA
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The karmic effects of actions originating within our consciousness are shaped by the following factors: Whether we
- only decide to act - actually prepare for the action (e.g. by collecting materials etc.)
or - physically begin with the action. Whether - we ourselves carry out the act - others carry out the act as a result of our instigation or - we only silently assent to the act (without taking any further
part in it). The instrument of activity through which we act (body, speech or mind) and whether we are motivated by anger (rage), arrogance (pride), the intention to deceive others (manipulation) or greed (addiction) - the four negative passionate emotions - further affect the karmic consequences. (8)
We attract and bind karma not only when we physically perforin an action, but also when we provoke an action, when we indirectly participate in it, prepare for it and also when we only give our silent assent.
The deeper and more directly we immerse ourselves in an action, the more intense and long-lasting will be the character of the karma we bind. The less we engage in an action, the milder and shorter will be its karmic effects.
Yet this does not mean that karma will manifest with less intensity, the further away we are from the physical execution of an action. The passionate instigation (ordering, prompting, causing, sanctioning etc.) of an action or any gloating assent may lead to far more intense karmic effects than the comparatively uninvolved physical execution by a subordinate. The intensity of the karma we bind cor