Ask A Buddhist: The Natural Law of Karma
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By Ven. Thubten Chonyi | FāVS News
What is misunderstood about karma?
It’s easy to misunderstand many aspects of Buddhism when it’s viewed through the lens of the Abrahamic traditions. In my experience, one of the hardest ideas to grasp is the law of karma.
On the surface, this may seem easy. The phrase “What goes around comes around” has circulated for decades. Sometimes people cite Bible verses, summarized as “You reap what you sow,” as a thumbnail explanation of karma. But these descriptions are superficial and may be misleading.
What is karma?
Karma is a Sanskrit word (kamma in the Pali language) that translates literally as action. A karma is an action, any kind of action – actions of body, speech, and mind are karmas. And generally speaking, actions bring results.
We live by the law of cause and result every day. Why do we do what we do? To achieve a specific result. Why do we go to work every day? Why do we get an education? Why do we go to Starbucks?
Our universe runs on numerous causal systems. They are natural laws whereby if you do one thing, a certain result will surely follow. Think chemistry, physics, geology, biology. Even sociology and psychology can link social or emotional results to a specific cause or cluster of causes.
Karma is simply another system of cause and effect. It’s an ethical system, which states unequivocally that virtuous actions bring happy results in the future and non-virtuous actions bring unhappy results or suffering. It’s a nuanced system. We can never point to one single act alone, all by itself, as the cause of a specific result. Myriad conditions come into play to influence how a result will ripen.
No punishment, no reward
No one “deserves” to suffer, yet suffering occurs. Frequently. But within the law of karma, there is no external force punishing us for our negativities nor rewarding us for “being good.” We simply experience the result of what we have done in the past.
People who don’t understand karma can use it incorrectly and unkindly. For example, they blame someone for their misfortune, assuming that they got what they deserved. This is cruel and wrong. So is withholding our help out of a mistaken notion that assistance would interfere with someone’s karma.
In fact, our intervention to relieve someone’s pain could be a good karma ripening for them. And when we help others, we’re doing positive actions, thus creating the causes of future happiness for ourselves.
Says who?
The Buddha didn’t make up this system of karma. He simply described what he observed, based on his profound meditative insight into the nature of reality. He also described ways to purify past negative actions to lessen and eventually remove their painful effects. He also told us what actions could diminish the happy results of our past positive actions.
Buddhist teachings are directed to relieve and ultimately end the suffering of every being. To accomplish that result, Buddha guides us to stop creating the causes of suffering.
According to the law of karma, those causes are destructive actions of body, speech, and mind such as killing, taking what is not given, unwise sexual conduct, lying, divisive speech, harsh speech and so forth.
Virtuous actions, which are the causes of happiness, are restraining from the destructive actions, doing their opposite (saving life, protecting others’ property, speaking truthfully and kindly), and practicing generosity and other positive actions.
These are the broad strokes of how karma works. The details are intricate, and only enlightened beings can trace all the details of causes and conditions of a single result.
When ordinary Buddhists check this teaching with their own personal experience and start to be more mindful of their actions and the effects of their actions on themselves and others, they usually conclude that it’s correct and beneficial, and make effort to live accordingly.
We are responsible
The law of karma means each of us is responsible for our own experience; there is no one and nothing outside to blame.
For me, discovering the law of karma was like finding a well-kept secret — a long-sought “magic potion” to create happiness. Except there is nothing magical about it. It’s as natural as the law of gravity. What goes up must come down. And yes, in a nutshell, what goes around comes around sooner or later.
When we understand and live by the law of karma, we take responsibility for our experience, our lives, and our world. Such understanding also evokes compassion for other people. This frees up tons of energy that we can spend benefiting others, thereby helping ourselves as well.
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