Explains the chain of causes and effects, commonly called karma which is at the core of the heart of the Buddha's teachings.

We all want to find happiness and be free from suffering. Happiness comes from positive mental states and actions and suffering from the opposite. The twelve-part process of dependent arising shows how actions underlain by ignorance propel us from one rebirth into another, keeping us trapped in suffering, and how through understanding reality correctly we can break this cycle. The twelve links that make up this chain of causes and effects are an extension of the four noble truths, the heart of the Buddha's teaching, and demonstrate in particular the connection between true suffering and true sources of suffering. This oral teaching by Geshe Sonam Rinchen is based on the Rice Seedling Sutra and the twenty-sixth chapter of Nagarjuna's Treatise on the Middle Way.

How Karma Works: The Twelve Links of Dependent-Arising, Geshe Sonam Rinchen, Snow Lion Publications, Paperback, 160 Pages, $22.95

Geshe Sonam Rinchen was born in Tibet in 1933. He studied at Sera Je Monastery and in 1980 received the Lharmpa Geshe degree. He is currently resident scholar at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharmasla, India, where he teaches Buddhist philosophy and preactice.

Ruth Sonam was born and grew up in Ireland and graduated from Oxford Universty with an M.A. in Modern Languages. She began studying with Geshe Sonam Rinchen in 1978 and has worked as his interpreter since 1983. Among their many works are Atisha's Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment; The Thirty-seven Practices of Bodhisattvas; The Three Principal Aspects of the Path; The Six Perfections; The Bodhisattva Vow; Eight Verses for Training the Mind; and The Heart Sutra.

	Contents: How Karma Works: The Twelve Links of Dependent-Arising
1.	The Wheel of Existence	7
2.	The Root of Our Troubles	13
3.	Dependent Arising	19
4.	How Things Are Produced	23
5.	Extricating Ourselves	35
6.	The Twelve Links	45
7.	Ignorance	49
8.	Action and Rebirth	59
9.	Experience and Response	69
10.	Bith, Aging, and Death	77
11.	Advice about Actions	83
12.	Reversing the Process	91
13.	A Gift for the King	95
	Appendix 1: Contents of Nagarjuna's Treatise on the Middle Way	99
	Appendix 2: Ways of Summarizing the Twelve Links	105
	The Root Text: Examining the Twelve Links of Existence	109
	The TIbetan Text	113
	Notes	117
	Source Readings	141