I’m very happy to be here in Xalapa once more, and the topic that I’ve been asked to speak about this evening is karma. Of course when we study some topic in Buddhism it is important to have some idea of why we want to study it, what is its importance, and how it fits in the whole context of Buddhism.

　 Buddhism, along with Jainism, recognizes that even eating vegetables could contribute to the indirect killing of living beings because animal life is destroyed by tilling the soil or the use of pesticides. Jainism consequently considers death by starvation as the ultimate practice of non-violence, while Buddhism considers extreme self-mortification to be undesirable for attaining enlightenment.

In its most basic sense, the Law of Karma in the moral sphere teaches that similar actions will lead to similar results. Let us take an example. If we plant a mango seed, the plant that springs up will be a mango tree, and eventually it will bear a mango fruit. Alternatively, if we plant a Pong Pong seed, the tree that will spring up will be a Pong Pong tree and the fruit a Pong Pong.

"Buddhism is not a religion according to its dictionary meaning because it has no centre in God, as is the case in all other religions. Strictly speaking, Buddhism is a system of philosophy coordinated with a code of morality, physical and mental. The goal in view is the extinction of suffering and death."

Bad and good depend on the individual person's interpretation. In general, if you are able to spend your life collecting more virtue and less negative karma, that's a good life. Even spending half the life this way is quite good. Spending even one quarter of the day creating good karma is better than spending the whole 24 hours creating only negative karma.

The underlying principle is non-exploitation of yourself or others. The precepts are the foundation of all Buddhist training. With a developed ethical base, much of the emotional conflict and stress that we experience is resolved, allowing commitment and more conscious choice. Free choice and intention is important. It is "I undertake" not 'Thou Shalt". Choice, not command.

Many of today’s marriages become disastrous because they lack purpose; there’s no worthwhile goal for coming together. A couple should not come together out of grasping at each other; there should be more meaning to it than that. But our craving desire and lack of wisdom work together to create an extreme situation that finishes up causing conflict: the woman agitates her man; the man agitates his woman—in either case, it ends in “goodbye.”

The role of the Sangha in politics in Asia has always been a hugely debated one.  In the light of events in recent times, the “saffron revolution” has once again dominated the headlines.

The Ten virtues and Ten vices–The cause of human stupidity is in the passions–The Five prohibitions–The Ten prohibitions–Klaproth's praise of Buddhism–But it is atheistic, and therefore this praise should be qualified–Kindness to animals based on the fiction of transmigration–Buddhism teaches compassion

The three principal “canons” of Buddhist scriptures survive today corresponding to the three main traditions of living Buddhism : the Pali or Theravada canon of the southern tradition of Sri Lanka and South-East Asia; the Chinese Tripitaka of the eastern tradition of China, Korea, and Japan; and the Tibetan Kanjur and Tenjur of the northern tradition of Tibet and Mongolia.