The Practice of Emptying and Sharing: And Empathy

In Buddhism, instead of fate or destiny,
it is based on the theory of cause and effect (inga) and karmic retribution (eopbo) -- the idea that we ourselves can determine the course of our own lives.
Of course, everyone is born with their own particular shape of life according to the karmic causes (eopin) of their past lives.

How much wealth one will accumulate,
what level of education, ability, and appearance one will have,
where and what kind of work one will do, how much happiness one will enjoy,
and approximately when one will die --
everyone is born with a certain degree of predetermined karmic force (eopryeok).

In ordinary cases,
what kind of spouse one will meet,
what level of university or academic background one will have,
what company one will join and how high one will be promoted,
what connections one will encounter and what help one will receive from them,
when and what illness or accident will cause how much suffering,
how much money and property one will earn and spend,
and around what age one will die --
the outline of such things in life cannot help but be somewhat determined
by the karmic consciousness (eopsik) of past lives.

However, if you think that you must simply accept the karma of your past lives
and that no matter how hard you struggle in this life
you can never escape that karma, you are gravely mistaken.
That would be committing the greatest mistake of one's entire life.

What is karma?
It is the actions we perform through words, deeds, and thoughts.
The countless actions accumulated across past lives and distant past lives
fundamentally determine how this present life will unfold within me.

Then the cause of that determination lies in my past actions.
My present reality is being shaped by all my past actions.
So what is the conclusion?
The conclusion is the perfectly natural one: that my future will inevitably change again
according to my present actions.

According to one's actions, according to one's mind,
according to the extent of one's greed and attachment,
according to the degree of one's spiritual study, practice, and prayer,
my life can change 180 degrees at any moment.

It's not just that it can change --
our lives are constantly adjusting their trajectory without ceasing.
Even at this very moment,
the trajectory of my life for tomorrow and next year
is being endlessly revised according to my actions.

There is good reason why it is called karma (eop) rather than fate or destiny.
While fate and destiny are things that cannot be changed,
karma is something that can be changed at any time,
and more than just changeable, it has the characteristic of transforming moment by moment.

If today you met a struggling young person supporting their family,
shared warmth with them, and gave them what they needed,
that single act
might delay a bankruptcy that could have come in a year to two years later.

If you shared the Buddha's teachings with your neighbors,
visited and comforted struggling neighbors and friends,
and guided them toward a wiser path of life,
a connection with a wise teacher that might never have existed in this life could emerge.

If today you went before the Buddha in prayer, emptied your heart,
and thoroughly released the greed and attachments you had been carrying,
a diagnosis of acute gastritis or stomach cancer that might have come next month
could be pushed back by about ten years.

If you had mastered the burning anger toward a hated enemy
that had been knotted in your heart for a long time,
and forgiven them from the depths of your heart,
a stress-related illness that might have struck in a few months could be extinguished.

The habit of buying things as soon as you think you need them,
not saving or being frugal when you have plenty --
that could move a retirement ten years away to just one year from now.
And a single word looking down on those less fortunate or poorer than you
could bring down your current high position a year sooner.

And that's not all.
If you thoughtlessly killed or tormented flies, mosquitoes, grass insects, and small bugs,
that could shorten your lifespan by several years.
And because of recklessly cutting mountains and felling trees,
when a natural disaster strikes, when a storm hits the area where you live,
it could be your house that collapses, your land that gets washed away.

What actions am I performing at this very moment?
Depending on what I do right now at this moment,
my karma -- what I thought was my destiny -- undergoes tremendous change.

According to the Buddhist principle that all conditioned things are impermanent,
nothing is predetermined.
Karma, too, is something that changes without ceasing.
The fact that our actions differ and continue day by day
means that the karmic fruit we must receive is also constantly changing.

The three types of karma through body, speech, and mind --
reflect on the three karmas of body, speech, and mind.
Every day, examine without fail
what actions you have performed through body, speech, and thought.

Keeping a journal of the three karmas is also a good practice.
Such a journal would be divided into three main sections.
The first section records bodily actions, the second records spoken words,
and the third records all the thoughts arising in the mind.

After keeping a journal of the three karmas for days, weeks, and months,
you will be able to discern consistent patterns in your karma.
What kinds of harmful karma you create most often,
what kinds of beneficial karma you perform most,
how much merit you create and how much sin you commit,
whether actions driven by greed are more frequent or those driven by anger --
if you examine these diverse karmic patterns,
how your life will unfold from now on will spread before you like a panorama.

Even setting aside the unknown karmas carried over from past lives,
a groundbreaking and wondrous reflection on life will arrive.

The content of karma generally includes both wholesome and unwholesome types.

When creating verbal karma,
there can be wholesome acts like giving praise, offering advice, teaching the truth,
or giving warm encouragement,
and there can also be unwholesome acts like criticizing, cursing, sowing discord, or speaking falsehoods.

Mental karma too --
there are unwholesome things like harboring hatred, anger, greed,
or foolish thoughts in one's mind,
and there are beautiful and wholesome things like love, compassion,
simplicity, honesty, wisdom, and sharing.

In general, virtually all the actions we perform
tend toward either the wholesome or the unwholesome.
Directing our karma toward the wholesome side --
that is where the key to changing our destiny lies.

The single greatest action that transforms karma is
the practice of giving (dana).

Performing good deeds,
sharing what is mine --
that is truly the highest form of practice
that beautifully cultivates our lives and transcends karma.

Setting aside a portion of your salary
to help those less fortunate,
spreading truth and wisdom to many people through teaching the Dharma,
rather than buying many things out of desire rather than need,
purchasing only what is truly necessary and using it simply,

rather than wasting things because they are not mine, because they are disposable, because I have plenty of money,
conserving even a single drop of water and being thrifty,
being a source of strength for neighbors in difficulty,
not burdening or frightening anyone I meet
so that everyone who meets me feels at peace --

these small but definite acts of giving
change my life ahead, one by one.
These altruistic karmic actions
are the decisive factor in changing my life and my future.

The second element that transcends destiny is spiritual practice.
Emptying the heart of desire and attachment,
letting go of delusion and ego --
that is the secret to transcending karma.

Letting go of the thought that I am superior, the stubbornness that I am right,
releasing the possessiveness of my property and my things,
ceasing all judgment and discrimination,
cutting off discriminating thoughts and silently observing all arising thoughts,

sitting on a meditation cushion and entering seated meditation,
studying scriptures, chanting sutras, and contemplating words of wisdom,
doing 108 prostrations every morning or evening,
reciting the names of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, or chanting dharanis and mantras --

these small but definite practices of cultivating wisdom through emptying
change my life ahead, one by one.
These pure practices for one's own benefit
are the decisive factor in changing my life and my future.

If this is how things work,
how foolish it is to visit fortune-tellers, read one's horoscope,
and have one's fate and physiognomy analyzed.

Reading horoscopes and divining one's fate
only reinforces the karma already given,
shrinking the inherent limitless ability
to transform and transcend one's own karma through one's own efforts.

Instead of spending time with fortune-tellers,
reciting the compassionate verse -- "May all beings be freed from suffering, may they be at peace, may they be comfortable, may they be happy" --
would be a far wiser way to change your destiny.

Rejecting one's fate is the beginning of all suffering,
accepting one's fate is only an ordinary level,
but transforming and pioneering one's own destiny --
that is the dignified path of life that a wise practitioner should walk.

My good actions yesterday and today, just moments ago and right now,
my acts of sharing, my acts of love, my acts of awareness --
they can drive away the suffering that would come tomorrow,
eliminate the illness that would come next week,
prevent the job loss that would come next month,
avert the divorce that would come next year,
and extinguish the karma of an early death that would come in a few years.

Conversely, the bad deeds I committed today
can advance tomorrow's suffering to the very next moment,
bring next week's illness to tomorrow,
move next month's job loss to next week,
advance next year's divorce to next month,
and bring the karma of an early death from years away to next year.

Is the future making you anxious?
Is old age making you anxious?
The only escape that can resolve all that anxiety
is right now,
and the medicine that extinguishes that anxiety
is good deeds filled with love, and compassionate sharing and giving.

Sharing and emptying, giving and practice, merit and wisdom --
the practice of these two things
is the core of all Buddha's teachings,
and will be the only compass of truth
that clearly shows the path of life for "how to live."

Perhaps you have resigned yourself, thinking you have no talent for study,
or that wealth is a story from another world,
or despaired that your fate is stuck in the mud,
or hesitated, wondering how someone like you could ever be happy,
or worried how someone who has committed so many bad deeds could ever receive blessings,
or looked upon your lot in life with nothing but surrender, frustration, and despair,
bemoaning your predetermined fate.

It is not yet time to despair.
It is not yet time to only wallow in hopelessness.
No -- there is no such fate, no such time.
There is no predetermined destiny anywhere in this world.

If at any moment you turn your mind and begin "here and now,"
just as piled dry grass burns away with a single match,
just as a cave dark for hundreds of years brightens with a single light,
all of yesterday's sins can be extinguished at once.

I can shape my own life.
I pioneer my own destiny.
Because karma is not something fixed,
I can transcend it on my own.

Are you, moment by moment,
performing acts filled with wisdom and merit
that can transcend karma, that can marvelously transform it?
Are you practicing the acts of emptying and sharing -- emptying the heart and sharing what you have?

A single small act of emptying,
a single small act of sharing,
can transform and evolve my life.

Small acts of emptying --
forgiving someone you hated,
accepting your own appearance that you disliked,
understanding someone who bothered you,
letting go of desires one by one,
releasing someone you were attached to,
or letting go of attachment to any object,
being frugal and saving,
living simply and modestly,
not buying things that are not truly necessary,
letting go of opinions you thought were right,
emptying prejudice and preconceptions,
silently observing thoughts of right and wrong,
doing prostration practice every morning,
practicing chanting, sutra reading, mantra recitation, and seated meditation,
occasionally participating in weekend temple stays with your family,
listening to Dharma talks from great masters,
keeping Buddhist scriptures and books close,
observing the mind --
these small acts of emptying
change my destiny and transform my karma.

Small acts of sharing --
greeting your neighbors and exchanging well-wishes,
sending a smile to a child passing by,
thanking the office cleaning lady,
giving a canned coffee to the bus driver or the toll booth attendant,
showering praise on the meal and side dishes your wife prepared,
smiling and encouraging your child despite poor grades,
listening to a friend's troubles as if they were your own,
making sure no one feels uncomfortable because of you,
working harder and volunteering more than others,
cleaning up trash in front of your house and your neighbor's,
visiting an orphanage with your family on weekends,
calling the ARS donation line whenever you see those in need on TV,
making a regular monthly offering,
donating scriptures and books of wisdom,
sharing the Buddha's words with your neighbors,
praying for the world: "May suffering be extinguished, may there be peace, comfort, and happiness" --
these small acts of sharing
change my destiny and transform my karma.

This practice of sharing and emptying
wards off all the disasters that may come in my life,
and brings even more of all the happiness that may come in my life.





Source: http://jgs.or.kr/   From writings worth sharing.. (Bomyeong Kang Ho-beom)