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In terms of karma in general, the main practice entails specifically to restrain yourself from committing any of the ten destructive, or nonvirtuous, actions and to make an effort to perform the various constructive, or virtuous, ones. We also discussed various features of the laws of behavior and their results, particularly, first of all, the certainty factor: that if you perform a constructive or positive action, it is certain that the result of that will be happiness. We discussed also the factor of increase, that from a small action very many and great results can follow. The way to meditate on all of this, or to build up beneficial habits of mind with respect to this, is to think about the certainty of behavior and its results, to think that happiness is what comes as a result of constructive actions, whereas unhappiness, suffering and problems is what follow from destructive ones.

You start by thinking about all the different types of happiness you might want and ask yourself, “Well, what are going to be the causes for these?” Next you think about the various constructive actions and how they will ripen, considering that they have a ripening result, they have a result that corresponds to its cause in terms of your experience and also in terms of your instinctive behavior, and they have comprehensive results. You think about all these results and the happiness you would want to achieve, and how they would come about from these causes, namely, acting positively and constructively. You then think, “I want to be able to achieve that happiness.” Therefore, you make a firm decision to try to get this happiness.

Then you think that what would cause problems and prevent you from attaining this happiness would be to act destructively. You then think of the various destructive actions and their results, the ripening results, the results that correspond to their causes in your resultant experience and in your instinctive behavior, and the comprehensive results. Finally you think, “I don’t at all want to experience any of these types of problems and sufferings,” and therefore, you take a very firm decision to abandon acting destructively in any of these ten manners.

Then you consider the increase factor, how from a small action, large results can follow and you decide firmly, “I’m going to try to do even the smallest type of constructive action and I will try to avoid committing even the most minor destructive one.”

Then you think about the next two factors, which are that if you haven’t committed an action you won’t meet with its results, and if you have done a certain action, it will not have been in vain and its results will ripen. In terms of these you think, for instance, that if you’ve acted destructively, built up a negative potential, there are only two possibilities. You can purify yourself of having to experience that potential through applying the four opponent forces such as regret and so forth; otherwise, it is certain that you will have to experience its results. Likewise, having done certain positive constructive actions, it is only a matter of time that happiness will ripen from that, or, having acted destructively, that unhappiness and problems will come as a result. These things will ripen for sure and you can be certain of that, it is never the case that, having built up a potential for something, this won’t ripen at some point.

However, if you haven’t built up any potential for something, then there’s never a cause for it to happen. For instance, if you think of various types of happiness that you might desire, there’s no way you will experience those types of happiness unless you build up the causes that will bring them about. So in that way think of how, if you haven’t built up the causes, you won’t meet with the results, and having built up the causes, it will not have been in vain.

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