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Golden Lion's Roar Chapter 11
*Karma is energy (karmic force – Bava) created by body, speech, and mind in every moment, accumulating into latent tendencies (Purva Bhava) like invisible vapor in the air, waiting for the moment to manifest. When we die, consciousness goes through four stages:
- latent existence (bhava) – the presence of karmic energy;
- death existence (Marana Bhava) – the moment of letting go of the old form to transform;
- intermediate existence (Antara Bhava) – the intermediate state after death;
- birth existence (Upapatti Bhava) – rebirth, like vapor becoming cloud, then rain.
*Through the image of cloud and rain, we see impermanence and continuous transformation: each tiny drop of water gathers, falls, rises, becomes mist, cloud again… Lightning in the cloud is the power of loving kindness:
– a lightning bolt can reach 30 kilometers in length, travel at 90,000 kilometers per second, and reach 30,000 °C;
– the first four temples in Vietnam were Phap Van, Phap Vu, Phap Loi, and Phap Dien – like Dharma Cloud, Dharma Rain, Dharma Thunder, and Dharma Lightning, symbolizing the transformation of the Dharma.