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Karma in Buddhism
This week I was participating in a discussion where someone brought up a situation where people used the concept of karma as a way to justify not helping people.
This got me thinking about how this is an example in which someone has heard of a concept and then ran with it, without actually taking the time and effort to explore what it is actually about.
I feel this is a pity and a danger. A pity because these concepts are usually thought out to a much greater extent than they are given credit for, and it is a sign of condescension to think that other people wouldn’t have spotted superficial, but obvious inconsistencies in the 2500 years since they entered the world.
It is a danger, because if you actually start acting from very simplistic and superficial understanding the results will at the least be unfortunate, at worst cruel and callous, as in my example above.
What then, are common misunderstandings about karma?
I’ll list that are the most glaring and which lead to very sloppy thinking.
1. Karma determines all of our lives.
2. Helping people with problems is wrong, as they should “work through” their karma.
3. Karma is about punishment and rewards.
4. Karma is all about what you do.
1. A common misconception is that all our lives are determined by karma alone. This idea leads to fatalism and would deny free will. In fact, this idea has been refuted from the start in Buddhism, in the Tittha Sutta:
“Having approached the priests & contemplatives who hold that… ‘Whatever a person experiences… is all caused by what was done in the past,’ I said to them: ‘Is it true that you hold that… “Whatever a person experiences… is all caused by what was done in the past?”‘ Thus asked by me, they admitted, ‘Yes.’ Then I said to them, ‘Then in that case, a person is a killer of living beings because of what was done in the past. A person is a thief… unchaste… a liar… a divisive speaker… a harsh speaker… an idle chatterer… greedy… malicious… a holder of wrong views because of what was done in the past.’ When one falls back on what was done in the past as being essential, monks, there is no desire, no effort [at the thought], ‘This should be done. This shouldn’t be done.’
In fact, in Buddhist philosophy, there are four other different processes at work in life. They are basically physical order (the seasons and climate), “seed” order (some claim this to have links to genetic factors), the laws of physics, and the order of mind (psychic/psychological processes).
I’m not a Buddhist scholar, so I can’t truly elaborate on these, but the main point here is that there is a wide variety of things outside the order of karma that affects life and the world in the Buddhist view. There is room for random chance, so if a tree falls of you, don’t blame it on karma. The chances are just as great it’s just dumb, blind, bad luck.
2. According to Buddhist thought, there is only one kind of being that is able to see and understand the entire breadth of karma throughout the universe and that’s a fully realised Buddha. Seeing as we aren’t Buddhas, we can’t claim omniscience and thus we have to err on the side of compassion. Claiming to know whether something is someone’s karma, and that he should suffer because it’s good for them is misguided and arrogant to say the least. Furthermore, just because something is someone’s karma doesn’t mean that there isn’t a good reason to want to alleviate suffering. If it is karma, then it’s theirs, not ours and we can act on our own conscience.
If there is one thing that the Buddhist path is about, it’s about taking responsibility for your own life. We can’t expect others to enlighten us, but neither can we escape responsibility by moving it onto someone else, be it karmic or otherwise. Remember, the law of karma is just as natural as gravity in Buddhist thought. Just as much as you would catch someone who was about to fall into a ravine, there is no reason not to catch someone if they are going through any other kind of suffering.
3. From Buddhist perspective, the order of karma just is. It doesn’t rely on an outside agency to be executed or judged. If you put your hand into fire, you will get burnt. If you poke someone in his eyes, they will be hurt. The law of karma works the same way. Working with it is just as much a matter of common sense as not jumping off a 12 story building.
This also reminds me to explain that karma has nothing to do, per se, with the idea of reincarnation/rebirth. It’s about cause and effect, nothing more. Maybe more on that in a later post.
4. The order of karma is not about actions, per se. It applies to voluntary acts by thought, word, and deed only. This makes the motivation behind your actions the most important part. We even recognise this in our juducial systems. Killing accidentally is different from killing in anger, but in full knowledge of the harm it does. We all feel this. It also works the other way. Doing a good deed can have more or less egocentric motives, usually a blend of them. According to Buddhist thought, these motives are what ultimately will define the effects of your deeds, not the causal deed alone.
This is not to say that an action that is egocentric, but alleviates harm isn’t beneficial. That’s where it gets tricky and where no one but you yourself can provide real answers and where you are alone. It’s also one of the aspects of the Buddhist path that appeals a lot to me. These things have no clear cut answers.
There is a lot of information on this subject out there, and it’s extensive and sometimes hard to get through. It’s at least interesting though, I think. My main aim here was to address some points on karma that will hopefully show that it’s not a simplistic and fatalistic system that’s just there to alleviate the feeling of guilt or uneasiness about the suffering in the world that we see. I hope it will serve as such.
Have a good day!
