Karma is a word that everyone knows, yet only a few people in the West know what it means. Too many Westerners believe it means “destiny” or that it is some sort of cosmic justice system. However, this is not a Buddhist interpretation of karma. The Sanskrit term karma means “activity.” The Pali spelling, Kamma, is sometimes used, and it signifies the same thing. Karma has a more particular connotation in Buddhism, namely volitional or purposeful conduct. Karma is put in motion by the things we choose to do, say, or think. As a result, the law of karma is a cause-and-effect law, as defined in Buddhism.
Westerners sometimes use the term karma to refer to the outcome of karma. Someone might remark, for example, that John lost his job because “that’s his karma.” However, karma, as used by Buddhists, refers to the action rather than the outcome. The “fruits” or “results” of karma are referred to as the “fruits” or “results” of karma. The laws of karma were first taught in Hinduism, however, Buddhists have a different perspective on karma than Hindus. The historical Buddha lived 26 centuries ago in what is now Nepal and India, and he sought out Hindu gurus in his quest for enlightenment. Buddha quotes on karma on Reneturrek reflect his thought.
The Buddha, on the other hand, used what he had learned from his instructors in novel and unexpected ways. Karma’s Potential for Self-Realization In this enlightening article on karma, Theravada Buddhist master Thanissaro Bhikkhu explores some of these differences. Most Indian religions held that karma worked in a simple straight line: past actions influenced the present, and present actions influenced the future at the time of the Buddha. Karma, on the other hand, is non-linear and difficult for Buddhists. As a result, while the past has an influence on the present in Buddhism, the present is also formed by the activities of the present. Why is this significant, as Walpola Rahula noted in What the Buddha Taught rather than encouraging resignation to helplessness, the early Buddhist concept of karma emphasized the liberating potential of what the mind does in each instant.
Even if the past may explain many of the inequalities we observe in life, our worth as human beings is not determined by the hand we’ve been dealt because that hand can change at any time. We judge ourselves based on how skillfully we play the hand we’ve been dealt.” When we seem to be locked in old, destructive behaviors, it’s possible that it’s not our prior karma. We must change our minds in order to change our karma and our lives. John Daido Loori, a Zen master, remarked that there is a difference between cause and consequence. Although your previous karma has an impact on your present life, change is always possible. There is no justice if there is no judge. Buddhism also teaches that our lives are shaped by influences other than karma. When a natural disaster strikes a community, such as an earthquake, it is not some sort of communal karmic punishment.
Some individuals struggle to comprehend that karma is a result of our own deeds. They want to believe there is some kind of mysterious cosmic power controlling karma, rewarding good people, and punishing evil people, perhaps because they were reared with different religious models. This is not Buddhism’s position. Walpola Rahula, a Buddhist scholar, stated, “The concept of karma is not to be confused with moral justice’ or reward and punishment.’ Moral justice, or reward and punishment, is based on the idea of a supreme being, such as God, who sits in judgment, is a lawgiver, and judges what is right and wrong.
The phrase ‘justice’ is imprecise and harmful, and more harm is done to humanity in its name than good. The philosophy of karma is a natural rule that has nothing to do with the concepts of justice or retribution. It is a doctrine of cause and effect, action and reaction.” Karma, the Good, and the Bad People sometimes discuss “good” and “bad” (or “evil”) karma. The Buddhist notion of “good” and “evil” differs from how most Westerners interpret these terms. To understand the Buddhist viewpoint, replace the adjectives “good” and “evil” with “wholesome” and “unwholesome.” Selfless compassion, loving-kindness, and knowledge arise from wholehearted activities.
Greed, hatred, and ignorance are the root causes of unwholesome behavior. Reincarnation and Karma most people believe that after death, a soul, or some independent element of self, survives and is reborn into a new body. It’s simple to envisage the karma from a previous life clinging to that self and being carried over to a new existence in that situation. This is primarily the Hindu philosophy’s position, which holds that a distinct soul is reborn repeatedly. Buddhist teachings, on the other hand, are rather different.
The Buddha preached a doctrine known as anatman, or anatta, which means “no soul” or “no-self.” There is no “self” in the sense of a permanent, integrated, autonomous person inside an individual existence, according to this concept. What we think of as our self, personality, and ego are all ephemeral constructs that will perish when we die. What is it that is reborn in the light of this doctrine? And where does karma come into play? When addressing this topic, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, a renowned Tibetan Buddhist teacher who borrowed notions from modern psychology theory, responded that what gets reborn is our neurosis — that is, our karmic ill habits and ignorance — until we awaken fully.
For Buddhists, the question is complicated, and there is no one-size-fits-all response. There are Buddhists who believe in literal rebirth from one life to the next, but there are also many who take a more modern approach, claiming that rebirth alludes to the endless cycle of negative behaviors we might get into if we don’t recognize our inner selves. Whatever interpretation is presented, Buddhists all believe that our acts have an impact on both current and future circumstances and that there is a way out of the karmic cycle of unhappiness and suffering.
