Member of the FPMT

Karma is more powerful when it is created by many people. For example, if one hundred people all ‘gathered the intention’ and then killed a sheep, each one of these people will have the negative karma of killing that sheep.

This means that if a government makes the decision to go to war and they are supported by the population of that country, each person will receive the karma of killing, however many people die. If one human being is killed, they will all receive the karma of killing one human being. If a thousand people are killed, they will all receive the karma of having killed a thousand people.

But if one person kills a sheep without the support of other people, [only] that person will get the negative karma of having killed one sheep. If you compare to see which karma is more powerful, the previous instance, where many people had the same intention and then killed a sheep is more powerful. Just one person killing a sheep is less powerful.

Similarly, if one hundred people build a stupa or just one person builds a stupa, the merit is the same but the first is more powerful [because there are many rather] than just one person building the stupa.

Similarly, [if you compare the karma of] one sangha person—a monk or nun—reciting a sutra once in a temple or room without any other support, or reciting a sutra with all the assembly of sangha, the latter—reciting the sutra with all the sangha—is much more powerful.

This applies to reciting prayers like Lama Chopa alone in one’s own room or in the temple, or practicing it with a group. Reciting it in a group is more powerful. The more people there are supporting the practice, the more powerful it becomes.

When karma is more powerful, the result comes more quickly, whether it is a project or realization.

The three ways that negative karmas become purified are:

1) The best way: One never experiences the suffering results of the most powerful negative karmas.

2) Although you were going to experience the negative karmas as being reborn for many eons in the hell, animal, and hungry ghost realms, instead you experience all of that negative karma in this life by being criticized by others, by having bad dreams, nightmares, toothache, headaches, or some other discomfort. Then you don’t need to reincarnate in the lower realms where you would experience heavy suffering for many eons.

3) You experience suffering due to the negative karmas, but you experience them much more lightly and for a shorter time, for example, even just for one minute or second, like the time it takes for a stone you threw to hit a rock.

This is how to experience problems and use them to develop compassion for others. It is good to meditate on these two verses from Guru Puja:

Please grant me blessings to realize that the chronic disease of cherishing the “I” is the cause giving rise to undesirable sufferings. Put the blame on that, begrudge it, and destroy the great demon: cherishing the “I.”

Please grant me blessings to cherish all mother sentient beings (the all-obscured suffering beings) and to have the thought to lead them to happiness. This is the door to infinite happiness. Even if all migratory beings become my enemy, may I be able to cherish them more than my life.

You can put these two verses on your wall and read them all the time.