How
Karma
Works
ACI 5
with
Venerable Utpala
online course
June 25 – July 25, 2025
We all deal with daily problems and think this is the norm.
We are all searching for lasting happiness, but it seems elusive. Does it have to be this way, though? Is everything really just fate or is there a cause for everything that happens to me?
ACI 5:
HOW KARMA WORKS
In our contemporary scientific society, we understand and can see the process of cause and effect in our external world—we know fire causes smoke and sprouts come from seeds—and so we try to create our happiness by interacting with the external world. We think our happiness comes from the objects we acquire and from trying to manipulate our environment. Buddhism breaks away from thinking that the external world is the cause of real happiness. Geshe Michael says, “You fix your life, your business, and your world by fixing yourself.”
This radical idea is accepted in all schools of Buddhism, from the lowest to the highest. In order to attain real happiness, we cannot remain victims of our surroundings, so it is crucial to understand thoroughly how karma (the laws of cause and effect) works. In this way, you alone can take control of your experiences in this life.
If you have ever wondered how you could become successful or happy, then ACI 5, How Karma Works, is where you will find answers from ancient scriptures. Taught by Venerable Utpala,the course is based upon the Treasure House of Higher Knowledge (Abhidharma Kosha) by Master Vasubandhu (350 AD) as well as the commentary The Illumination of the Path to Freedom by His Holiness the first Dalai Lama (1391-1474). After completing the course, you will have a very good understanding of how to apply the laws of karma to help you improve your circumstances.
ACI 5
Topics include: an overview of the Abhidharma text; the definition and nature of karma; good, bad, and neutral karma; karma of body, speech, and mind; the definition of virtue and non-virtue; black and white deeds; projecting and finishing karma; karmic consequences; how karma is carried; how emptiness allows karma to function; karmic paths; the five immediate misdeeds; how to make a karmic result powerful; and the purification of karma.
Venerable Utpala, Bets Greer
Ven. Utpala is an accomplished writer, editor, and teacher. She has worked in government, business, and volunteer-based organizations. She completed a three-year solitary meditation retreat at Diamond Mountain in 2014. Since 2017, she has been a member of Geshe Michael Roach's translation team, also serving as managing editor and chief archivist. Her first translation from the Tibetan into English was Emptiness Meditations; she’s working on her second translation, tentatively titled Interlude on Emptiness.
🗓️ ACI 5 Schedule:
ALL CLASSES
6:30 am – 8:00 aM
(ARIZONA TIME)
Class 1 June 25
Class 2 June 27
Class 3 July 2
Class 4 July 4
Class 5 July 9
Class 6 July 11
Class 7 July 16
Class 8 July 23
Class 9 July 25
Class 10 July 30