vietnamese version

 

Karma...

by Master Guishan

“Linguistically karma means action; specifically it refers to willed actions of body, speech, and mind. All such actions, barring alone those of a buddha…produce subtle seeds which in time will spawn further consequences.” by John Snelling

Karma is often called the law of cause and effect. This means that every action we undertake creates a cause that will at some point in time – even in a future rebirth – have an effect. If we do something bad, we will experience negative results; if we do something good, we will experience positive results.

In this way karma operates ethically. This can be useful in helping us behave mindfully, because we know if we do something bad, our karma will sooner or later ripen and we will experience the fruits of our negative action.

As we develop compassion through Buddhist practice, our behavior becomes naturally more ethical, and we become motivated to benefit others, not simply to accumulate karmic points for ourselves.

Karma is not a bank account of credits and debts! Buddha implied that it works on subtle levels and there is no knowing when a particular action will ripen. Indeed, to counter any tendency to store up karmic credits to gain short-term benefit, the Buddhist texts indicate that most actions in our present life will not bear fruit until a future life.

We accrue karma through actions of body, speech, and mind, and the motivations underlying them and the results arising from them. From this we can see how important the intention behind a deed can be. Lesser and greater effects are experienced depending on how complete an action is.

An action is complete when intention, action, and result happen. If any of these are not present, the karmic effect is less. So if we tread on an insect by mistake, without intention, and we are sad at the results, the karmic effect is less than if we stamped on it and were pleased at its death.

Two Categories of Action

Karma is more than a moral yardstick, however, and as with all Buddhist practices the motivation is to realize enlightenment and so escape the cycle of birth and death. To this end, all actions are grouped into two classes according to the nature of their motivations and results. They are not seen or judged as intrinsically good or bad.

Samsaric acts are those that arise from ignorance and the conflicting emotions that ignorance produces. They all result in future rebirth. Whether this is a good rebirth, like a precious human rebirth, or a bad one into a hell realm depends on whether the actions are wholesome and meritorious, or unwholesome and non-meritorious.

Acts that lead to liberation are those that are wholesome and also motivated by the desire to be free from samsara. Though they will produce happiness, this is not the point and is not specially valued, because all samsaric happiness is fleeting and impermanent by nature.

The point is to be free from samsara altogether. Liberation from birth and death is what gives lasting happiness, and therefore actions that are both wholesome and motivated by the wish to awaken are the best to cultivate. These will eventually lead us to Nirvana.