Question:

Buddha said in the Suttas that causing a schism in a Sangha is equivalent to murder. I agree that dividing people is wrong, but the comparison to murder sounds extreme. I have seen someone who is trying to create a schism. Would the Karmic punishment for her be so extreme? Could you help explain?

Answer:

It is true that Buddha said that one who causes a schism or a divide in a Sangha goes through Karmic punishment of extreme turmoil. There is no moral police out there to grab one’s collar and take him to jail; the same mind that rewards also punishes. Buddha says that from the close observation of the mental mechanism.

Let’s understand the mental mechanism of projection:

When you learn to observe closely, your own mind, you will see that every craving projected by your mind is accompanied by a contrasting aversion. Let’s take a few examples:

• • If one craves to retain one’s job in a tough economy, one projects the opposite fear of losing the job at the same time with equal intensity.
  • If one craves sweets and chocolates, one projects the contrasting fear of gaining weight and inviting metabolic diseases with equal intensity.
  • If one does a wrong action out of hatred or anger, one also projects the fear of the contrasting situation where one is caught red-handed or severely punished for it.
  • If one nurtures ill will in one’s mind against someone else, one also projects being hurt by the stress caused by the ill will.
  • If one intentionally causes a divide in a Sangha or a relationship, one also projects a fear of a relationship-breakup/social-divide/health-loss in one’s own personal life.

This is the automatic mechanism of the mind. This cannot be different from one person to another because there is only a single collective mind. There is no personal mind. Your mind and my mind are not separate. There is only ONE collective mind. The collective mind always strikes a balance. Those who don’t understand the balance call it Karma. But once you see that stretching out the hand towards the fire always inevitably burns it, you will stop believing in anything called luck. You will know that fire always burns, impartially. You will stop stretching out the hand, period!

A lot of people ask for the reasons for unexplained diseases, early deaths, and unexpected life turmoils. Please know that nothing in this Waking World can be other than what you have projected. It is impossible to do wrong and get away with it. One may escape the Waking-World-Jail, but one cannot escape one’s own mind; one ends up projecting severe diseases, unexplained episodes of chaos and disaster in one’s own life without realizing the truth that it is a self-projection.

Once projected, both the craving and its contrasting aversion must be perceived; there is no way out because you are doing this to yourself. So when one causes a permanent divide or a breakup, one fears a permanent divide in one’s personal life, and it always manifests in an inevitable breakup of a relationship forever, or a permanent breakup of the health of the body into a terminal disease, etc. This is equivalent to the punishment for murder, as the breakup is permanent and the suffering lasts the entire lifetime.

Deciding that I will project only the desire and not the fear is IMPOSSIBLE because mentalizations are created in pairs of opposites. They are happily married couples that cannot be divorced. Hence, you cannot have just heads; tails will inevitably follow. If you have realized this principle of the Waking-World and want to be free of this suffering, you have no other option but to adopt the path of purity. If not ready for purity yet, then maybe suffering has a little more teaching to do.

Adopting the Buddha’s path is only for those inclined towards being extremely pure in the mind. Are you ready to apply enough effort to study your own mind the way Buddha did? If yes, then begin your path of purity with the Buddha vows.

Happy Purity!