able to enjoy the beauty, diversity, and abundance of many
developed nations – while others live in ravaged, war-torn areas
of the earth? Why are some people prone to be sickly, while
others enjoy robust health for most of their life? Why do some
people die young and others die old? Why is it that some human
beings more beautiful and others seemingly unattractive? These
remain valid questions for a pondering mind.
The Buddha was once asked as to what accounted for these
differences among people. His reply was that all humans are the
heirs of their own past karma. Their lives in the present were
the result of their past actions. There were actions that produced
each of these various results. Such a response intrigues us.
According to Buddhism, then, the inequalities described
are due not only to heredity and environment ("nature and
nurture"), but also to karma. In other words, our own past and
present actions are vital and weighty factors in our happiness
and misery. We create our own heaven and hell. To a significant
degree we are the architects of our own fate. While we are born
with hereditary characteristics of mind and body, we also
possess innate abilities that science cannot always explain. Some
believe that these can be accounted for in terms of accumulated
karmic tendencies that have been inherited from the course of
previous lives.
The Buddha himself was exceptional as far as his physical,
moral, and intellectual abilities when compared to his long royal
lineage. "Thus, from a Buddhist point of view," concludes Ven
Mahasi Sayadaw, "our present mental, moral, intellectual and
temperamental differences are, for the most part, due to our own
actions and tendencies, both past and present." He quotes the
following commentary:
Depending on this difference in karma appear the
differences in the birth of beings, high and low, base and
exalted, happy and miserable. Depending on the difference
in karma appears the difference in the individual features
of beings as beautiful and ugly, high-born or low born,
well-built or deformed. Depending on the difference in
karma appears the difference in worldly conditions of
beings, such as gain and loss . . . blame and praise,
happiness and misery.
However, Buddhism does not assert that everything is due
to karma. It is only one of many other conditions described in
Buddhist texts. Sayadaw also states:7 "In one sense, we are the
result of what we were; we will be the result of what we are. In
another sense, it should be added, we are not totally the result of
what we were; we will not absolutely be the result of what we
are. The present is no doubt the offspring of the past and is the
present of the future, but the present is not always a true index
of either the past or the future; so complex is the working of
karma."
This book mainly explores the meaning of karma for our
present lives today. It also touches on the future aspect of
karma, including beyond this life. In short, the book looks at
karma from as many angles as possible, and shares insights
regarding this basic law of life, observable in creation and
humanity.
Nevertheless, karma remains a multifaceted, complex
subject. For any given action, there are multiple conditions and
causes involved, resulting in multiple effects. Often it is humanly
impossible to determine the exact links in the equation of cause
Frequently-Asked Questions
look at the following questions,
What is karma?
How does karma work?
How are karma and mindfulness related?
Does karma help in understanding events in our lives?
Does karma include taking personal responsibility?
Is there a connection between karma and mental health?
Does understanding karma lead to compassion?
What connection is there between karma and rebirth?
What are some predictable karmic results of our actions?
How do I deal with my past karma?
In what ways is karma misunderstood?
How could I meditate on karma?
Are there different types of karma?
Where does karma fit in our understanding of life?
As we come to understand the profound nature of karma,
and how it works in our lives, may we embark on a way of living
that will enable us to fashion our lives to yield greater love,
peace, and happiness.
Watchfulness is the path of immortality: unwatchfulness is the
path of death. Those who are watchful never die: those who do
not watch are already as dead.
(The Dhammapada: Watchfulness, 21.)
The man who arises in faith, who ever remembers his high
purpose, whose work is pure, and who carefully considers his
work, who in self-possession lives the life of perfection, and who
ever, forever, is watchful, that man shall arise in glory.
(The Dhammapada: Watchfulness, 24.)
Men who are foolish and ignorant are careless and never
watchful; but the man who lives in watchfulness considers it his
greatest treasure.
(The Dhammapada: Watchfulness, 26.)
Watchful amongst the unwatchful, awake amongst those who
sleep, the wise man like a swift horse runs his race, outrunning
those who are slow.
(The Dhammapada: Watchfulness, 29.)
