Continuing on our Karma series, let’s talk about the severity of negative actions. Not every non-virtuous action results in similar suffering. The degree of suffering depends upon the power of our actions. This power depends upon six factors including 1) the nature of the action; 2) the intention; 3) the method; 40 the object; 5) how often the action is committed; and 6) the application of the opponent. Now look at each one and understand what it means. First the nature of the action. Some negative actions are more severe than others. We briefly touched on this during our last session. For example, killing is a lot more severe than idle chatter. So if you recall the ten negative actions: killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, divisive speech, hurtful speech, idle chatter, and so forth; the degree of severity among them is in descending order. Meaning killing is the most severe and idle chatter is the least severe. The next factor is suffering is intention. For example, to kill in a violent rage is more harmful than to kill in mild anger. But then I don’t who would kill in mild anger right? The method is the next factor affecting suffering. How we perform that action. For example, killing an animal swiftly has less suffering attached to it than killing sadistically applying slow and painful death. The object is also an important factor. If one kills someone who has been kind to them versus someone who is a total stranger, it has more severe implications. Similarly, if someone repeatedly commits the same offense, it has higher consequences as compared with a one-time offense. The last factor is the application of opponent. This means that when one commits negative action but along with that one also performs positive actions, then the severity of suffering is reduced.
Now let’s talk about the effects of our negative actions. There are three effects; 1) the ripened effect; 2) the effects similar to cause and 3) the environmental effect. Let’s look at each one individually. The ripened effect of a negative action is rebirth in one of the lower realms. For example, if a living being takes rebirth in the animal realm than the ripened effect of that particular negative action has occurred and will not show up again. The effects similar to the cause have two types; a) tendencies similar to cause and b) experiences similar to cause. Tendencies similar to the cause is a compulsion. For example, we know that we are prone to certain types of negative actions even when realize it is wrong but instinctively, sometimes we end up committing those. This in turn creates more negative actions and creates this vicious cycle. Experiences similar to cause is different for each negative action. For example, experience similar to cause for killing is a short life full of sickness; stealing is a lack of wealth and possessions, sexual misconduct is separation from friends and family. Experience similar to cause for lying is that no one trusts us; divisive speech is difficulty creating harmonious relationships, hurtful speech is people say bad things about us, and so forth. The third effect of a negative action is the environmental effect. This means that it is our living environment that is affected. For example, the environmental effect of killing is poverty, stealing is we live in a barren area; sexual misconduct is we live in unsanitary conditions. So as you can see negative actions ripen in different ways. To sum up, the worst way it can ripen is birth in lower realms such as the animal realm. Effects similar to cause give us tendencies to perform similar negative actions or provides poor life experiences. The environmental effect makes our surroundings difficult. So that concludes our discussions on negative Karma. Next week, we will begin to look at positive Karma and its effects.