Can you purify past karma comming our way?

[Ervin]

I am interested in your opinion on whether we can purify bad karma coming our way and can we make worse good karma coming our way?

Thanks

[Ayu]

I am interested in your opinion on whether we can purify bad karma coming our way

There are many different practices for this purpose:
- reciting certain sutras, for example the Sutra of the Golden Light. Or the Confession Sutra which is done together with prostrations in the gelug system.
- Vajrasattva practice
- purification by Four Vigors


Yes, it works in my experience.
Also practicing patience burns a lot of bad karma and creates space for better things to come.

and can we make worse good karma coming our way?

Pardon me? What does this mean?
You mean to reverse bad karma into good karma?
I suppose the karma consists from many different deeds and by experiencing the phenomena karma (good or bad) gets exhausted. That's why a yogi doesn't complain about bad karma, but he feels a littlebit uneasy when every thing is going fine. He then better dedicates the merits for the well-being of all sentient beings.

[Ervin]

What I meant in the second part of my question is can you damage good karma coming your way by current wrong actions?

Thanks

[Ayu]

What I meant in the second part of my question is can you damage good karma coming your way by current wrong actions?

Thanks

Oh yes. The word is, outbursts of anger can destroy millions of merits within some seconds. That's why people are so eager to dedicate merits immediately. If the merits are dedicated to all, they are not my own anymore and I cannot destroy them.

[Konchok Namgyal]

My understanding is this ;
you can purify or nullify negative Karma that is coming your way through meritorious actions , Dorje Sempa is a great example, also meritous actions such as the six paramitas.
And YES you can destroy any merit you have very quickly, a negative thought, an outburst of anger etc...this is why it is most important to dedicate any merit you may have accumulated immediately upon completion of such an undertaking.


~Tashi Delek !

[TRC]

I am interested in your opinion on whether we can purify bad karma coming our way and can we make worse good karma coming our way?

Thanks

You can never fully negate negative karma from ripening. Even a fully awakened Buddha will still have negative karma ripen. However, the ripening of this negative karma can be greatly diminished so that the effects are nearly negligible for individuals who have, as the Buddha said become “developed in virtue, developed in mind, developed in discernment”. He used the salt crystal simile to illustrate this:

• "Suppose that a man were to drop a salt crystal into a small amount of water in a cup. What do you think? Would the water in the cup become salty because of the salt crystal, and unfit to drink?"
  
  "Yes, lord. Why is that? There being only a small amount of water in the cup, it would become salty because of the salt crystal, and unfit to drink."
  
  "Now suppose that a man were to drop a salt crystal into the River Ganges. What do you think? Would the water in the River Ganges become salty because of the salt crystal, and unfit to drink?"
  
  "No, lord. Why is that? There being a great mass of water in the River Ganges, it would not become salty because of the salt crystal or unfit to drink."
  
  "In the same way, there is the case where a trifling evil deed done by one individual [the first] takes him to hell; and there is the case where the very same sort of trifling deed done by the other individual is experienced in the here & now, and for the most part barely appears for a moment. ... "

[Astus]

Here is an example of how past karma is experienced by a liberated one: Ud 3.1
Explanation and commentary: Sabba Kamma Jaha Sutta