Vajra Comments, ‘Good Karma Banking in an Age of Contagion’

Contagion to one’s renunciation is similar to that of the impulse making customers ‘run the bank’—a negative confidence, or lack of faith, that an institution, like the Dharma, will ‘make them whole’ in time of crisis. With the banks the crisis is financial. With confidence in the Dharma, it’s crisis of ego and identity. Self worth. For instance, what am I worth if I can’t stand up to this so and so who’s just dismissed or insulted me? Even in the most seemingly passive modes. Like the self-praiser always promoting what he or she knows, what they have, who they are in terms of status. A subtle contagion begins to spread as the insidious one-up manship mounts. We begin to take stock in our worth in terms of relative values. Situational values demanding a sliding scale of principles. Yes, I would do this or that if that were case, the ego crunches. Whatever it takes to survive the general onslaught of others generating a false self-worth as well. For in times of an ego crisis, one questions, how will I be made whole if not by being propped up by the stronger? Or the one—like a government lender or guarantor—who still has everyone’s confidence. A source of renewable faith within which the ordinary person abides whole. A wholeness insured by each subscribers’ contribution, tangible or as intangible as a simple vote of confidence. Something to believe in. But this is not the Dharma and far from it. For the Dharma arises out of a lack confidence in the very system described above. A principled and truthful response to fear. What’s going to happen to me once I’m old, become terminally ill and die? What agency can answer these questions of ultimate concern and personal security and quell the contagion of doubt and fear arising out of a lack of confidence or faith in one’s present course of action guided, or misguided, by false or ignorant views? And how can insecurities, doubt, and fear be counteracted by anything other then confidence in a truthful outlook? One that’s not just situational, paving a slippery slope for the future. Where does one begin in this kind of strategy? Well, as the loan officer at any bank might ask, what is your collateral? What is your major asset? The answer is one’s precious human birth. That is, one’s opportunity for true happiness and not the continuous suffering. Consider the cause of one’s present unhappiness, the bewilderment and confusion that lead to self-medication. Any quick fix to assuage the pain. Another trip to the bank perhaps to borrow more money to pay off an already endless list of creditors. In one’s ontological and interpersonal life, these are of course ones ‘karmic creditors’ to whom owes a karmic debt. Payback time is always difficult and results in a punishment similar to its cause. One abandons a friend, lover, or family member, and then one gets abandoned oneself.  A tit for a tat. This all arises out of a lack of principled behavior, or a interpersonal transactuality (arisen from a false conventional view like pragmatism) where karmic debtors are continuously generated. This or that damning remark, this or that petty theft, a white lie here or there, now our moral plumb line, we think the truth, one without virtue, is up for sale. Sold to the highest bidder who can twist it to their own selfish purpose. So out of fear one can have faith in that sort of relativity, the quick fix that feels good. Or, one can take stock in something more durable. 

What is the true happiness? How is that obtained? By first knowing what can be done and what cannot be done in order to secure happiness and a real change in one’s life. Taking refuge in the body, voice, and mind of the Buddha, a secure institution, one’s opens an account in confidence, deposits one’s positive values and actions, dedicates the merits for the future Enlightenment of all suffering beings, and forthwith receives regular aspirational dividends from the happiness one seeks. After one is skilled in actually helping others, in a way that truly benefits all, then more fulsome payments occurs. It’s best to instantly reinvest these good karma receipts, and also pay off karmic debts, by dedicating the merit to one’s parents, teachers, children—friend and enemy alike—while fervently imagining them blessed by the Buddhas. At the time of collective or personal crisis, one’s faith shouldn’t waver. One confidently supports the refuge bank of the Buddha’s body, voice, and mind until all are made whole with the clear light of purest Bodhicitta, transforming them into Perfectly enlightened Buddhas. This is how one counteracts any dread ‘contagion.’ Double down in good works and positive actions. Be generous, kind, and helpful. Don’t join the pack at the office, campaigning against others, or dogpiling on the underdog. Keep one’s own counsel at all times, consulting with one’s inner  authority of happiness, the Guru, who gave you refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. What would he or she do? The guidance will be immediate and, because the teacher who gave you refuge functions as one’s own personal Shakyamuni, infallible. This because within the sphere of the Buddha Dharma, they possess the ability to teach it in many ways. Especially the principles of karma, the good, neutral, and bad actions, which guide the trainee in a disciplined manner to the outcome they originally sought: Happiness for oneself and others. In this way, as a guide through the purity of one’s own mind, one’s inner Guru, possessed of the omniscience of one’s primordial wisdom, becomes infallible simply by being that blessed entity to which one faithfully adheres. That is a wholeness and stability unlike anything material can provide. When one takes refuge in the Three Sugatas, literally the ‘bliss gone ones,’ and banks solely upon them, the payout is constant, consistent, and with ultimate assurance, as long as one steadily contributes meritorious actions to that transcendent account. 

That kind of discipline requires study, reflection. and meditation which informs a growing faith and confidence in positive results that are not only happy. Because they are purifying past negative actions, they are also painful. This is why having faith, and being reminded of one’s objective—complete liberation for the sake of self and others—is so important. It’s also important to remember the blissful happiness of the Buddhas is both a sudden and gradual process; a path of many fruits along its limitless way. So tread lightly, stay confident and resist the impulses that run contrary to what one’s Buddhist teacher, that pure, infallible one, would do. Fight contagion, none other than the original Mara and his children, the ones who came at midnight to tempt Gothama Buddha out of his Enlightenment. When one’s faith is failing, apply oneself to and with appropriate medicines from the Dharma’s teachings. Rely upon the Sangha, let them be your counsel, as well. Brothers and sisters in that set of laws, they are one’s better influence, and can police and protect one’s karma against criminal elements. Rejoice with them as well the good fortune of having found a reliable, too true to tumble, institution with which one can do one’s good karma banking, for as long as it takes to make all living beings whole.