Question asked by AJ
Hello! I am a Pure Land practitioner. I have read that reciting Amida's name or any Buddha mantra for that matter can ripen bad karma.
While I'm aware this is necessary for the extinguishment of said bad karma, I still feel scared and disheartened as I don't want my current life to be more bad than it already is right now. What practices can I incorporate to lessen the blows? (I don't plan to work with dharma protectors so pls don't recommend me those practices ty)
Dear AJ,
When we talk about the ripening of karma, we are actually talking about the natural process of feeling the effects of actions we have taken in the past. For example, if we get into a car accident, this is the ripening of karma. It is the result of actions that we ourselves have taken either in this life or past lives.
When it comes to Dharma practice, we talk about ‘purification’ of karma. This means that the effects of karma we have committed are purified. This purification means that we will experience the karma, but not to the full extent that we would have without practising the Dharma. For example, we have the karma to get into a car accident, but because we have been practising the Dharma, we get into a car accident but it is very minor, or if our practice is strong enough, we avoid getting into the car accident altogether, because the karma has been purified.
When it comes to any Dharma practice, reciting mantras, prayers (and in your case reciting the name of Amida or Amitabha), will necessarily involve the purificaton of karma. Karma is what causes us to suffer and be stuck in samsara. Dharma practice is what takes us out of samsara, but due to the way things are, we still need to experience the purification of karma in some way. This is part of the spiritual process, we cannot get to higher states of consciousness, reach a Pureland or even gain enlightenment without going through this process.
This may sound very scary, however, we are already protected by the Buddhas when we do this. This is because, we are not actually feeling the full force of our karma, only a very small portion of it, when we purify the negative karma through our practice. At the same time we are generating merits, which also helps to overpower the effects of the negative karma that is being purified.
In Tibetan Buddhism, in order to avoid any issues we rely on the Dharma protectors to help in this regard. However, since you do not want to practice any Dharma protectors, then the other option is actually to speed up the purification, so if you do happen to feel the effects of negative karma, is has either been purified a lot more or even completely purified altogether. You can engage in any purification practice such as Vajrasattva (https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/prayers-and-sadhanas/an-important-purification-practice.html) or the 35 Confessional Buddhas (https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/buddhas-dharma/the-35-confessional-buddhas.html). The central practice of effective purification is actually the Four Opponent Powers. You can read more about these in the links given above.
However, since you are practising the Pureland tradition, I am asuming you are learning your practice through a particular tradition or under a specific teacher. Please do consult your teachers or tradition for methods specifically to help with the purification of negative karma. They will have methods to help in this regard. If we are practising a specific tradition, it is best to not to mix practices together. As each path has specific methods that lead to the same goal of ultimate enlightenment. I hope this helps. Thank you.