From the Dali Lama

"When we develop deep conviction in the law of cause and effect, we will be able to perceive the causes and conditions of our own sufferings. Our Present happiness or unhappiness is nothing more or less than the result of previous actions."

And on meditation:

I will maintain a state without thoughts.

The mind is generally directed towards external objects.  Our thoughts
follow external experiences remaining at a sensory/ conceptual level.
In meditation we draw the mind inward and don't allow it to be
distracted by external experience, nor allow it to dull, but stay alert.

Try to see the natural state of your consciousness.  Where your
consciousness is not afflicted by thoughts of the past, memories nor
thought of future plans, fears or hopes.

Remain in a natural and neutral state.  Imagine the mind like a river
flowing strongly where you cant see the river bed.  If there was some
way that you could stop the river flowing from both directions - where
its coming from and where it is going to, then you could keep the water
still and this would allow you to see the bed of the river.

Similarly when you can free the mind from thinking of the past or
future, being totally blanked out, then you will be able to see that
under the turbulence of the thought processes there is an underlying
stillness and clarity of mind.

At first when you experience this form of consciousness you might
experience it in the form of a sort of absence.  This is because we are
used to seeing our mind in terms of external objects.  We tend to look
at the world through our concepts and images so that when you withdraw
from these external objects you almost cannot recognize your mind.

As you get used to it you will start to recognize an underlying
clarity, a luminosity.  That's when you come to appreciate and realize the
natural state of the mind.