His Holiness the Sakya Trichen (the 41st Sakya Trizin) gave this teaching at the request of Tsechen Kunchab Ling, U.S.A. on June 26, 2024.
Throughout life, we all experience joy and sorrow, gain and loss. Yet a quiet question follows us: why do some choices lead to happiness, while others bring pain or suffering? Many religious and spiritual traditions offer guidance, but few explain it as systematically—or as grounded in everyday life—as Buddhism does. According to Buddhist teachings, karma—our actions of body, speech, and mind—inevitably produces corresponding results. Understanding this law of cause and effect helps us live more wisely, ease unnecessary suffering, and cultivate a deeper sense of freedom and peace.
The Mirror Illuminating Karma, written by Drogön Chögyal Phagpa—the fifth Sakya patriarch, Imperial Preceptor to Kublai Khan, and head of the Bureau of Buddhist and Tibetan Affairs—is a classic exposition of this principle. In this work, Phagpa explains, with clarity drawn from everyday life, how karmic actions unfold their results in this life and in future lives, guiding readers to recognize the deeper patterns through which cause and effect operate.
What gives this text its lasting power—even for readers with no Buddhist background—is its direct relevance to the questions we all carry. Like a clear mirror, it invites us to look closely at our intentions, our choices, and the habits that quietly shape the course of our lives. Through this “mirror of karma,” we are encouraged to cultivate deeper wisdom, clearer awareness, steadier mindfulness, and a more genuine compassion—so that we may meet both ourselves and the world with greater clarity and courage.
Source: Teaching recorded at the Tsecheb Kunchab Ling event. Recording acquired by the archive.
Drogön Chögyal Phakpa wrote The Mirror Illuminating Karma (also rendered as A Mirror that Illuminates Karmic Causality) for the Mongol prince Jimgyim. The text you are about to read presents His Holiness the Sakya Trichen’s detailed commentary on this work, guiding readers to see not only actions themselves, but also the intentions that motivate them, and the karmic results that arise, along with the circumstances of life shaped by them.
Take a moment with each passage, allowing the mind to contemplate your actions, intentions, and the results that arise when causes and conditions come together. Reflect on your choices, both great and small, and the ripples they create in your own life. If even a single thought carries weight, then when guided by clarity and compassion, how might your life begin to unfold differently?
This Dharma teachings e-library is made possible by a grant from Sachen Foundation, and the generous donations of the Yueh Family Charitable Fund, and the Chan Family.