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This question is about a very specific situation, but there might hopefully be a more general answer.

We've had conflicts at work, to the extent that we had to get a psychologist help us! There are many reasons for the conflicts, but for me the problem is that many of my co-workers are kind of lazy, not very competent and spend their time not doing their job but knitting, chit-chatting, complaining about everything etc. This situation leads to conflict and I have spent too much time being annoyed and tried to change the situation.

Still, I sometimes think negative thoughts about these people. When I catch myself thinking negative ("lazy, incompetent people") I try to take a look at myself and see what causes the thoughts and what I really am thinking. This strategy also helps me to not take it out on them.

But the question is, does the thoughts in themselves create bad karma?

Mr. Concept
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    Are you sure that you mean 'do they create bad karma', rather than 'do they create bad karmic imprints' ? – Tenzin Dorje Dec 02 '15 at 09:48
  • I think maybe that's what I was trying to ask. I'm not really sure about the difference, though. Can you elaborate? – Mr. Concept Dec 02 '15 at 09:52
  • Your work space is very good for practicing patience, acceptance of how things are, letting go of wanting, compassion, forbearance :) you are lucky! –  Dec 02 '15 at 12:03
  • I agree and I also find the job itself very satisfying. It is a help service for people with alcohol and drug problems, and their friends and relatives. So it is in addition to being a place to practice patience also many opportunities to help people in need. – Mr. Concept Dec 02 '15 at 12:50

3 Answers3

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There is karma that is intention (an omnipresent mental factor) and karma that is intended actions.

Intended actions are defined by Je Tsongkhapa as:

The actions of body and speech that are motivated by that intention.


Afflictions such as anger, jealousy, covetousness, and so forth are not the intention mental factor - but have their own entity as mental factors - therefore they are not karma. Anger manifests from a seed of anger and that seed is not a karmic seed, because it was "deposited" by a previous instance of anger (not by a previous karma - that is intention or intended action).

However, some qualify the afflictions as 'karmic path' or 'paths of actions' because they are likely to lead one to engage in negative actions (karma).

Tenzin Dorje
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  • Anger, jealousy, covetousness etc. are Mano Kamma. If speech gets involved, it becomes Vaci Kamma. If body gets involved, it becomes Kaya Kamma. Intention is not omnipresent. Intention comes in only at the 8th thought moment of the 17 thought moments in a single experience. – Sankha Kulathantille Dec 03 '15 at 16:07
  • @SankhaKulathantille According to Mahayana Abidharma, the mental factor 'intention' is one of five omnipresent mental factors in that it accompany any 'main consciousness'. A main mind is divided into 64 moments, and the last moment is an instance of 'mental consciousness' which is an inattentive awareness in the continuum of an ordinary being. 'Mano kamma' is intention, and anger is not intention [that it has in its retinue, although they are one entity]. – Tenzin Dorje Dec 03 '15 at 16:26
  • In other words, according to Mahayana, people can get angry/jealous/lustful without Karmic consequences :) – Sankha Kulathantille Dec 03 '15 at 16:44
  • It doesn't follow. 1. The main mind associated with anger, as well as the other mental factors in its retinue, become 'afflicted' due to anger being an affliction. Intention is one of them. It's jut not afflicted by its own power. 2. Anger arising produces seeds of anger that will act very much like karmic seeds in that they will determine a tendency. – Tenzin Dorje Dec 03 '15 at 16:53
  • Lord Buddha got headaches due to a past Karma of just being happy seeing the fish on the beach struggling for their lives. How does Mahayana explain that? :) – Sankha Kulathantille Dec 03 '15 at 17:14
  • We usually claim that Shakyamuni Buddhi was already enlightened, and that it was merely an emanation body. There is no fault in asserting that en enlightened being can show the aspect of being wrathful, or showing the aspect of having a headache, a heart attack, and so forth. However, I fail to see the relation between your last question and our discussion before that point. – Tenzin Dorje Dec 03 '15 at 18:21
  • Let us continue this discussion in chat. – Tenzin Dorje Dec 03 '15 at 18:22
  • @Tenzin Dorje - I would be very keen to pick-up on the conversation with had last since i have so many questions. – Motivated Jan 20 '16 at 06:30
  • Dear @Motivated, I created a room for this purpose. – Tenzin Dorje Jan 20 '16 at 11:36
  • I also unfroze this room in case you'd prefer to use that instead (it doesn't matter much which one you use). You're also welcome to use the main Buddhism room any time ... I think that one never freezes. – ChrisW Jan 20 '16 at 16:38
  • @Tenzin Dorje - Thanks.I attempted to use the room ChrisW unfroze however it seems to have been frozen again. – Motivated Jan 22 '16 at 07:05
  • @ChrisW - Hi Chris, the rooms seems to have frozen again. – Motivated Jan 22 '16 at 07:06
  • @Motivated I unfroze this one again. The other two ('here' and 'here') were already/still unfrozen. Are you unable to see the messages in these rooms, do you see a message which says "This room has been automatically frozen for inactivity", and/or are you unable to post in the room? – ChrisW Jan 22 '16 at 11:46
  • @ChrisW - Thanks and apologies for not getting back to you sooner. I'm able to access the first room again. – Motivated Jan 27 '16 at 16:58
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Bhikkhu P. A. Payutto writes:

But according to the teachings of Buddhism, all actions and speech, all thoughts, no matter how fleeting, and the responses of the mind to sensations received through eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind, without exception, contain elements of intention. Intention is thus the mind’s volitional choosing of objects of awareness; it is the factor which leads the mind to turn towards, or be repelled from, various objects of awareness, or to proceed in any particular direction; it is the guide or the governor of how the mind responds to stimuli; it is the force which plans and organizes the movements of the mind, and ultimately it is that which determines the states experienced by the mind.

One instance of intention is one instance of kamma. When there is kamma there is immediate result. Even just one little thought, although not particularly important, is nevertheless not void of consequence. It will be at the least a “tiny speck” of kamma, added to the stream of conditions which shape mental activity. With repeated practice, through repeated proliferation by the mind, or through expression as external activity, the result becomes stronger in the form of character traits, physical features or repercussions from external sources.

-- Good, Evil and Beyond: Kamma in the Buddha's teachings

As there are physical movements that are devoid of intention (e.g. convulsions), some mental images might be understood to surface unintentionally. While the quote above asserts all thoughts to have intention, it can be argued if these are understood to be karma or not. Dreams would be in this gray area, I think.

But, while awake, any sophisticated thought, anything more than a flash of an image or a sound or taste or smell, any and all imagination containing full sentences, dialogues and motions, etc, have an active element in them which nurtures and develops them: underneath, there's the intention to imagine these things, and these imaginations are actions -- which is the meaning of karma in Buddhism.

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Karma is caused by will or intention, expressed in thoughts, words, and deeds (body, speech, and mind) but thoughts in themselves are epiphenomenal.