The straight answer to the question whether Dzogchen yogins and yoginis should
follow the laws of karma in all situations is “Yes!” When we leave the state of basic
pure presence or formal contemplation and enter what is called “informal
contemplation,” we should follow the laws of karma as nondeceptive, without any
disavowal. We should never denigrate causality even conventionally. On the level
of definitive meaning, causality cannot be held as a truly existing process;
immaculately transcending the two extremes of permanent and impermanent, it
becomes the sovereign of all gradual approaches.
In the Treasury of the Dharmadhatu, Longchenpa says,
Creativity projects display into another dimension,
Where it appears as the multifarious variety of the universe.
Never say categorically that there is no cause and effect.
The complex conditions that arise from interdependence are incalculable;
The states of samsaric delusion and nirvanic joy are incalculable;
A mass of causes and conditions constitutes a sublime synchronicity.When contemplation and real informal contemplation are broken, we enter the
state called “nominal informal contemplation.”
Due to the flickering of dualistic thought that seems to possess concrete
attributes, increasingly subtle karmic causes and effects should be taken into
account. In The Chronicles of Padmasambhava, discovered by Orgyen Lingpa,
Padmasambhava says,
My view is higher than the sky.
My karma is finer than barley flour.The meaning here is that every single trivial action is determined by previous
action and that every present action will have its repercussion in the future.
Also in The Chronicles of Padmasambhava, it is related—as in The Legend of the
Great Stupa of Boudhanath—that in a past life Padmasambhava, king Trisong
Deutsen, and the bodhisattva abbot Shantarakshita were three brothers who
constructed the Boudhanath Stupa in the Kathmandu Valley. After they had built
the dome of the stupa, they prayed in front of it, and by the power of each of the
brother’s prayers, the first was born as Padmasambhava, the second as king
Trisong Deutsen, and the third as the bodhisattva Shantarakshita. When they met
in Tibet, buddha-dharma flourished in that demonic land. This was by virtue of
the merit that they had accumulated by constructing the great stupa and making
such strong aspirations.
When the Buddha had a headache and his disciples asked the reason, the
Buddha told them that once he had been the son of a fisherman in the Sakya
kingdom. One day his father caught two big fish and bound the line to a pillar,
leaving the fish to flounder on the hot sand, and he had laughed at their suffering.
“Now, even though I have become enlightened, due to the residual karma of that
laughter, I have a headache,” said the Buddha. “Furthermore, if I had not become
enlightened, at this very moment the Licchavis would be plundering the Sakya