How I see - practicing KN and karma (Nghiệp/业)

Karma, what is karma? Karma is the result of things that we have done through our actions, speech and thoughts. In another sense it also means deed. Karma can be good, bad or neither good nor bad. It is a cause and effect. For example you speed on a 50 km zone, you will get a ticket for your speeding. It is as simple as that. What you have done is what you will get. There is a Chinese idiom "you plant melons, you will get melons. You plant beans, you will get beans."

However Buddhist’s believe otherwise. They believe they can change the outcome by not creating an opportunity for the negative outcome to surface. It is all to do with conditions. For the speeding case of course we have no choice but to pay for the fine. However for example in the case of stealing, if we have committed this act and we knew this was our fault we should change our behaviour and not commit to future acts of stealing. Deep down we may have this event of stealing in our mind but Buddha said we should not dwell in the past, present or future. The act has occurred and we are not able to reverse it. We acknowledge this event and move on.

By practising KN, our past, present and future will not arise in our minds. By practising KN we will not feed or create conditions for our karma to arise. We can purify our minds or karma by dwelling in the world of wordless cognitive awareness. 

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Here is my conversation from last night with my friend A:

A asked: “If Bahiya (Bahiya sutta in Udana 1.10) died while he dwelled in the Buddha mind, does this mean he has completely purified his Āsava (defilement/ lậu hoặc/漏惑).

I replied it must be as in the sutta Buddha states Bahiya was an arahant. [The Buddha describes the arahant as having transcended ‘the round of birth and death, they have destroyed the taints/Āsava, lived the holy life, done what had to be done, laid down the burden, reached the ultimate goal, destroyed the fetters and become completely free, liberated through final knowledge’ (Majjhima Nikaya 1. 141)].

A asked: “If I am dwelling in the Buddha mind right now and I died, do I have Āsava?”

I replied: “No.”

A asked: “Now if I am not dwelling in the Buddha mind and I died, do I have Āsava?”

I replied: “Yes.”

A asked: “Āsava is an illusion, is it not?”

I replied: “Yes, it depends on how you look at it, at which angle you look at it. If you are dwelling in the Buddha mind, you see Āsava is an illusion. If your mind is a worldly mind then you see Āsava is real.”

A asked: “I don’t understand how can we reduce or purify our Āsava by using the KN technique?”

I couldn’t answer A’s question at the time but after I arrived home I have an answer for A.

Here is my answer: If we use the term Vāsanā (Habitual/behavioural tendency tập khí/習氣) then we can understand how. By practising KN we will change our habit of thinking and understand the world around us differently. Our old habit is non-stop thinking, judging, comparing, analysing, etc.etc… Now we train our minds to not over use it. When we need to think, we think; when we need to rest, we rest. With the technique KN we are not going to create any condition or opportunity for the defilement to surface. In other words we are not feeding our defilement to let it grow inside us. I hope this makes sense
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Here is a Chinese repentance verse with reference to mind and karma:
Repentance and Reform
往昔所造诸恶业，
Vốn Xưa Từng Tạo Bao Ác Nghiệp,
For all the evil karma that I have created in the past,
皆由无始贪嗔痴，
Đều Do Xưa Cũ Tham Hận Cuồng,
Arising from beginlessness greed, hatred, and ignorance,
从身语意之所生，
Theo Lòng, Ý Nghĩ, Lời Sinh Ra, 
generated by my body action, speech, and mind,
一切罪根皆忏悔。
Tất Cả Nay Con Đều Sám Hối.
I now seek to repent and reform in front of the Buddhas.
罪从心起将心忏，
Tội Từ Tâm Khởi Đem Tâm Sám,
Karma arises from the mind; repentance is by the mind,
心若灭时罪亦亡，
Tâm Nếu Diệt Rồi Tội Cũng Tiêu,
If the mind is extinguished; karma is also ended,
心亡罪灭两俱空，
Tâm Diệt Tội Tiêu Cả Hai Không,
The mind purified, karma wiped out -- both are empty.
是则名为真忏悔。
Đó Tức Gọi Là Chân Sám Hối.
This is called true repentance and reform.