Karma - for beginners

            I suppose it is not surprising that one of the things that is seen as a major obstacle to teaching Zen in the west is that most westerners have no understanding of the basic concepts underpinning Buddhism. I was surprised myself to hear from many people having traveled to the east how ignorant many easterners are today of these same basic concepts, even many of the new monks in Japan seem to have little education in their religion when they enter the monasteries there. So I decided to write this little essay.
          The purpose of this essay is to give a basic understanding to the reader of the Buddhist concept of Karma. It is not intended to be an exhaustive examination of either Buddhism or Karma. This essay is not a synopses or replacement for the thousands of sacred texts now available for the beginning reader on Buddhism. It is intended to interest the reader in the subject and give him or her the flavor for the idea, nothing more. I am sure it will not be spiritual enough for more advanced Buddhist and not scholarly enough for most Buddhist scholars. But it is not being written for advanced practitioners or scholars. If this little essay is in any way a help to your understanding just consider that it was meant for you. If it is no help to you just ignore it. I hereby give anyone who wants it to copy, distribute it. Please just don’t change it and say I did it.

                               Basic Buddha Dharma

         Any belief system, be it a philosophy, a religion, a superstition or even a culture, will have at its heart an underlying set of concepts or ideas upon which it rests. Karma is one of the basic ideas upon which Buddhism or more properly the Buddha Dharma is based. The Buddha Dharma most simply put is the truth taught by the Buddha.

     The Buddha was born in the sixth century B.C. in a grove of trees at a place called Lumbini, near the city of Kapilavastu, at the foot of Mount Palpa in the Himalayan Mountains in what was then part of northern India but is now called Nepal. His father was Suddhodana Gautama king of the Shakya Klan. The King named his son “Siddhartha”. Today Siddhartha is called Buddha Shakyamuni that means the sage of the Shakya Klan; he is also called Gautama Buddha or just Buddha.
      At around the age of Thirty-two Siddhartha was so moved by compassion for the suffering of the peoples of this world that he left behind his wealth, power and riches to seek enlightenment. Six years later he achieved his goal while meditating under a Bo tree. Once again moved by his compassion for all the suffering peoples of the world he dedicated his life to teaching what he had learned. He died at the age of eighty on a couch set between a pair of Sal trees near Sravasti the capital of Kosala India. His teachings became known as the Buddha Dharma.
      The Buddha Dharma is often seen as having a nature of its own separate from any one man or time. It can be seen as a golden thread leading the confused and lost wanderer back home. In fact most Buddhist look upon the Buddha Dharma as a truth so powerful that it provides shelter and grace for anyone who hears it?

                                     Karma Defined

                Karma or Kamma is a Sanskrit word, which has been alternatively defined in English as “action” or sometimes “intentional action”. But when used in the Dharma it would be more accurate to describe it a dynamic process involving intentional actions by sentient beings and the associated effects caused by or resulting from those actions.
               While the idea of a process called Kamma or Karma predates Buddhism and seems to begin, as far as the written records we have show, with what are now called Hindu scriptures or sutras; there is no way to determine the exact origin of the concept of Karma. It is important to understand that the basic concept of Karma was accepted as a given fact of life in the time and place that the Buddha first taught. But while the concept existed at the time of the Buddha it can be safely suggested that the Dharma of Buddha rewrote the existing Hindu concept of Karma in a fundamental way.

                                         Freedom from Fate

                  In India at the time of the Buddha “Karma” meant that each person had a predetermined destiny that was almost, if not completely, impossible to change. A persons Karma was his fate. This destiny was inherited and could never be altered for the persons and families involved. The result was the creation of a rigid Caste system where entire generations of families were doomed to be “untouchables”. It also meant that other persons and families, no matter how horrible they seemed, were destined to rule over the lower castes. This system still exists to this day in many parts of India.

                              If a person understands nothing else about the Buddha Dharma they should understand that it promises that Karma can be altered, changed and even destroyed. This idea alone has given hope to millions over the two and a half thousand years that the Dharma has been with us. The Dharma is a message of hope for a better future for anyone who understands and practices it.

                 When the sutras talk about a child of good linage it should be understood that anyone who takes refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha has forsaken his biological family and taken up the linage of the Dharma. In the time of the Buddha princes, dishwashers and merchants all abandoned their old castes and became equal in the Dharma. This was true of men and women. The Dharma was truly the first voice for equality of all persons.

                            Like any complex idea Karma has within it other equally important and complex ideas without which it becomes so obscure as to be almost meaningless. Ideas like “rebirth” “merit” and “virtue” are needed to understand how the dispelling of bad Karma works. But the basic formula is simple and almost universal in human thought. It is the belief that each person shall reap what he or she has sown. In one Buddhist text it is stated simply as “Whatever deed I shall do, be it good or evil, I shall become heir to it”.

                                        The Ethics of Karma

                  This idea of reaping what is sown has an ethical element to it that cannot be ignored by the western seeker. The initial response of many westerners is to see Karma as the great enforcer of right and wrong. Strangely enough this ethical element is often just by passed in many Buddhist teachings. To make matters worse the Buddhist then has the gall to say “and by the way, there is no such thing as right and wrong, good or evil”.
                    This creates a lot of frustration among western seekers. They are used to there being a big angry God out there who has this code or law to which you must adhere or be punished. Further, they are used to competing groups of “believers” who claim to have a monopoly on just what that law says. These groups seem to spend most of their free time trying to impose their version of the cosmic right and wrong on everyone else.
                        When westerners encounter the concept of Karma they see it as the same thing as “God’s Law”. Their first question is, “well who is enforcing this karmic law?” They want to know who is calling the shots. I will try and address these questions later on in the essay. It is at this point that many people “spin out” and lose track of the concept so I will acknowledge the question for now and move on to other aspects of Karma.
                                         Cause and Effect

                    If we peel back the outer skin of Karma what we find is an idea almost everyone in the west learned in grade school. That idea is cause and effect. Cause and effect is so familiar and we are so comfortable with it that we hardly ever discuss it. In the west cause and effect is a given just as Karma was a given in the time of the Buddha. 
                  It might even be suggested one of the real differences between the worldview of the modern westerner and the worldview of most Buddhist is that the western worldview limits cause and effect to what they call the physical world. H.E. Kalu Rinpoche states in his book “Foundations of Tibetan Buddhism” that this unwillingness to extend the law of cause and effect into the spiritual world is “actually” a separation of people who have adopted a secular worldview as opposed to a spiritual worldview rather than being a difference between east and west.
                Therefore it should be noted that the concept of “yea shall reap what yea shall sow”or“He who lives by the sword shall die by the sword” is stated in the Bible, the Torah and the Koran, yet most westerners don’t really think about applying it to the spiritual or metaphysical world as a system of cause and effect, rather they see it, if at all, as punishment wrought by God.
                 In the west the common understanding of cause and effect is that if you ignore cause and effect in the physical world you aren’t evil just stupid. In Buddhism most Buddhist would say the same for Karma. If you walk down a railroad track long enough sooner or later a train will run over you. If you drop a bowling ball on your foot it will hurt. If you do evil acts you will reap evil karma.

                                          Rebirth

                 Now we come to the concept in Buddhism that is woven into the idea of Karma so tightly that they seem almost inseparable. I am speaking of the idea or concept of rebirth. This idea itself has at least two levels in Buddhist thought. One way of thinking of rebirth is as a succession of life times lived across infinite time and space. This process is sometimes called reincarnation or transmigration.

                           Another way of looking at rebirth is in understanding that what you call you is in fact a stream of awareness that is in fact being “reborn’ every second that it exists. In this process of “dependant origination” what you call “you” is born new from the ashes of the old you second by second and day-by-day and each new you is related to the old you by the actions and thoughts of the old you.
                        This stream of consciousness can be seen as a series of events rather than a continuous stream of thought. This new you is similar but not the same you as the old one; It is as if what is called you is in fact a series of separate but connected karmic actions and events.
                        For those Buddhist that accept rebirth into other lifetimes there is also a belief that rebirth can involve being reborn into other life forms. A human male can be reborn as a human women or a woman as a man. The stream of thought and Karma that is you may be an animal, a hell beast or even a god in its next reincarnation. You may even be born again on another world or in another dimension.

                                         Heaven and Hell

                         It surprises many westerners that most Buddhist believe in heaven and Hell. In fact most all do believe in a heaven and hell and several stops in between. There is always a great danger is generalizing about Buddhist beliefs. Over the last two thousand five hundred years those that take refuge from the trouble of this world in the Buddha, the Dharma and the Supreme Spiritual Community (Sangha) have had a lot of time on there hands to come up with a lot of variations on Buddhist thought. But it is generally agreed that with the exception of some those Zen rascals most Buddhist see the universes as having many worlds and several planes of existence.
          The Loki or “world” is seen as having three major divisions, 1) heaven 2) earth 3) hell. These three levels of samsara (cycles of existence) have six subdivisions. Heaven contains the 1) realm of the gods and below that the 2) realm of the jealous gods. Earth contains the 3) realm of man and 4) the Brute or animal realm. Hell Contains the 5) world of Hungry Ghosts and 6) realm of the Hell beings.
           While the above description may vary from time to time in Buddhist scriptures the important thing is that they are all part of samsara. Buddhist differ on the definition of samsara and nirvana but it is enough here to understand that each realm is karmic in nature. A sentient being may be reborn into any of the worlds as his or her karma demands. The good news for the reader, at least for now, is that most Buddhist would agree that the only way out of samsara is through the human realm.  

                                        Karmic Connections

                        Some Buddhist believe that this “Karmic” connection between the old and new life times can also extend to other sentient beings and draw them together across space and time. The image here seems to be of force fields generated by karma that surrounds each actor with each having an effect upon the other on a karmic level of some kind. It is believed that some people have a karmic connection to each other that draws them together lifetime after lifetime.
                       But despite these Karmic connections one solid rule of Karma is that while the acts of one person often have an effect on the fate of others; your karma is your own to live with. No one can free you from the results of your own actions but yourself. Buddha said he could show you the way out, but you would have to walk through the exit yourself. The good news is that Buddha said that everyone could make the trip.
                   The basis of this assurance is the belief that all of us have a Buddha nature. Each of us has a pure core of clear light that makes us fundamentally sound and capable of dispelling our bad Karma. This pure nature has many names but what ever it is called you have it and therefore have hope.
                   In simple terms humans are not fundamentally bad or flawed beings. While Karma and the way it works is seen as universally valid and a power that cannot be ignored it can be understood and through skilful means dealt with by the Buddhist practitioner. 

                                         Conditioned Existence

                      The Buddhist sees that there are conditions and states of being that impinge upon the timing of the effects of Karma other than just the action that precipitates the results. When anyone analyzes cause and effect in the physical world they soon realize that this is true and part of the process of cause and effect in our every day world.
                     One image that may help here is that of a person who throws a rock out upon the surface of a frozen lake. The rock will slide across the surface but it will not sink into the lake until the summer thaw. In other words while the intent of the thrower might or might not be to throw the rock into the lake, the rock will not fall to the bottom until conditions are right.
                   One of the most ancient analogies of this conditioned nature of Karma is that of the archer. The arrow sticking out of the target, or your chest if you prefer, is the karma that is acting on you at this moment. The arrow in flight is Karma on its way. The arrow noticed in the bow and ready to fly is Karma waiting for conditions to be right for it to take effect. And of course the arrows in the bowman’s quiver are your potential Karma.

                                    Different kinds of Actions

               In some Buddhist texts speculation as to the results of a given action is considered taboo. The Anguttura Nikaya states that the fruits of Karma cannot be know by thought or analysis and therefore should not be speculated about.
               In that sutra trying to judge peoples karma is referred to as one of the unthinkable acts. Buddha’s follower cousin Ananda is warned against judging people. The Buddha says that, “a person is destroyed by holding judgments about other people” Despite this many Buddhist scholars have tried to apply logical analysis to the subject of Karmic actions.
               In a sutra or book called the Sutta-Pittaka, Karmic actions are separated into four categories. (1) Black acts that have black results. (2) White acts, that have white results (3) black and white acts that have mixed results (4) neither black nor white acts that destroy other Karma.
                But here we encounter the universal problem with speculation. Some Buddhist schools have developed varying categories of actions and supposed results.
                There are intentional acts and none intention acts. There are acts that the actor intended to have good results and ended up having bad results. There is an old saying in the west that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. It may be natural to ask if the same acts done by two different people will have the same Karmic results? But these speculations can and do go on forever.
                It is little wonder that the Buddha warned against this kind of speculation. The temptation to judge others and ourselves by such speculation is strong but can come to no good end.

                                     The Karma of Nations

                       Some Buddhist hold to the belief that the law of Karma applies to groups of people as well as to individuals. Persons bound together as a group develop karma by taking action as a group. The destruction or the raising up of one nation or another may be seen as a karmic result caused by their past actions as a group. But again one must beware of speculations that draw on a limited knowledge of a groups karma.

                      The destruction of Tibet might be seen as a disaster to Tibetans but as a boon to mankind as a whole. Driven from their country they have worked diligently to bring the Buddha Dharma to the west. Those that have encountered the dharma through them would be hard pressed to see that as a bad result. At the same time the Chinese may suffer greatly for what they have done to the Tibetans.

                                The Roman Empire persecuted the Christian church for generations. But in a mere three hundred years Rome Became a Christian empire and then fell into oblivion. Prediction of the fruits of Karma is, as Buddha said, an unthinkable task.

                                              Virtue and Merit

                       In Buddhist schools there is an almost universal belief in the concepts of virtue and merit. If you see bad karma as a debt and good Karma as a way to “pay off” that debt you will understand how these concepts work. Now it should be noted that the ultimate aim of a Buddhist is to do away with karma altogether. They see the world as a state of being called samsara. Samara is a never-ending cycle of the accumulation of good and bad Karma. In short the process of Karma is a train that they want to get off of. But while you are riding the train it never hurts to understand the rules. It is by this understanding that the Buddhist believes he or she can eventually overcome Karma and exit the train.
                    Merit in Buddhist thought can be seen as a quality you accumulate through actions usually referred to in common language as being “good”. A good deed is seen as being meritorious and a good person is seen as having obtaine virtue by gaining merit. It is often said that one can accumulate merit by doing good deeds. Simply put merit counteracts bad karma. It pays off part of your “Karmic debt” so to speak.
                    The motivation and will behind the actions called meritorious is seen as effecting the quality and quantity of merit earned. A bad person trying to buy his way out of hell may earn some small merit by building a temple or hospital for the good of others but in the end such acts done out of fear or cynicism are at best small change in your bank.
                     But keep in mind a person raised in poverty, abused by his parents and loathed by society who turns away from those influences to do a good deed may earn much more merit in the end than a saint, raised by loving parents and honored by the world for his purity when he takes the same action the next day.
                    A meritorious act may be helping the poor or sick. Helping a holy man or building a temple may also be meritorious action. The act of praying or striving for enlightenment may be a good act. Even just listing to a talk given by a holy man can obtain merit for you. All these acts can be seen as external to the person that takes the action.
                  Virtue on the other hand is an internal thing. You might even see virtue as a quality you gain by having the right motivation and doing meritorious acts. Virtue it would seem accumulates much like merit over many life times. The saying that virtue is its own reward may be seen as true. The happiness and stability obtained by developing a virtuous state of mind is an internal reward beyond measure.
                      In the Mahayana school of Buddhism the ultimate form of virtue is called Bodhicitta or “The Mind of Enlightenment”. This is the aspiration to become enlightened for the sake of helping all sentient beings to become enlightened. The cause or basis of Bodhicitta must be a universal and limitless compassion for all sentient beings. It is said that there can be no more powerful virtuous act than to cultivate true Bodhicitta. It is said to destroy karma.
                Many Buddhist believe that insight into the true nature of things automatically generates compassion. As a person grows in wisdom there is an accompanying growth in their understanding of the need for compassion and good acts in the worlds that comprise samsara. To have perfect Bodhicitta is to be called a bodhisattva.
                   The key here is how you see those people around you. It is nonsense to talk about doing a good turn for a rock or a river. In the Vimalakiti-Nirdesha Sutra a saint named Manjushri asked how should a bodhisattva see other living beings? He was told to see others as his own face in the mirror, the echo of a calling voice, a flash of lighting, or as a Buddha still suffering from the illusions of this world or even as a smokeless fire. Despite the tentative or illusory nature of others and ourselves it is clear that great understanding and compassion is needed by all of us.

                                  Skilful Means  and Meditation

                        One of the basic precepts of most Buddhists is that a true understanding of the concepts of Buddhist doctrine cannot really be understood just by hearing or reading about them; they must be experienced. The mechanism for gaining insight into reality is meditation. Meditation increases insight and insight increases compassion. True compassion destroys bad Karma.
                      Several teachings of the Buddha state that despite ineffectualness of words there can be no Buddha Dharma without words. A Zen Buddhist monk once wrote that first there was the Dharma, and then the dharma was put into words, after that those words were subject to interpretation and then came hell. This is why so many Buddhist believe that there can be no real understanding of the Dharma without meditation. It is also why most Buddhists teach tolerance of other Buddhists and other religions.
                      Not all Buddhist meditate the same way. The types and methods of meditation is a subject that has filled many a page of many a book. Some Buddhist chant mantras and call out to gods or Buddha for power and insight. They call out names and words of power to draw the power that these words contain into their selves. Other Buddhists recite sutras and do repetitive acts to gain merit and virtue. It is up to you to decide which path to follow. But all Buddhist believe that these actions have an effect upon their karma.

                                         No good and No Evil

                          For the beginner perhaps the most contradictory teaching in Buddhist doctrine is that there is no good and evil. Then the monks and gurus go on to demand that there be no end to good actions in this life. Here are these crazy Buddhist saying there is good and bad karma but then they turn around and say there is no such thing as good and evil.
                       I am no Zen master but I would like to take a stab at this seeming contradiction for those at the beginning of the path to enlightenment. Many immature people who hear that statement that there is no good or evil see it as a license to go out and do whatever mischief suites their fancy.
                      Keep in mind that the goal of Buddhism is to transcend the world of Karma or “actions”. Since all intentional actions generate or influence Karma the teaching that there is no good or evil must refer to a state of mind beyond action. I would suggest that until a person perfects perfect “non-action” he consider good and evil a working reality with which he or she must contend.
                      One of the benefits in believing in Karma is to realize that while all experiences may not be pleasant all experiences have some value. If you are suffering from the effect of bad Karma your experience is not random or meaningless. You can learn from your mistakes.
                     When my son was young he started to reach out and touch the hot eye of a stove. I saw what he was about to do and shouted “Hot” as I raced across the room. But I was to slow and he learned the meaning of hot by having a most unpleasant experience. Despite the “ugly” nature of the lesson he now had experienced “hot” and would never intentionally touch a red-hot object again.
                      Now consider the examples given earlier of cause and effect. If you walk down a railroad track long enough sooner or later a train will run over you. If you drop a bowling ball on your foot it will hurt. If you do evil acts you will reap evil karma.
                     If you believe as many in the Mahayana school of Buddhism do that eventually every sentient being will escape from the trap of ignorance in which we live you can see that some will certainly escape it before others. That being the case the lessons learned from bad Karma may eventually teach the slow learners among us to move along toward enlightenment. Many believe that no one can be really free until all sentient beings are free.
                       In any case you could imagine that an enlightened being could see evil as nothing more than stupidity. They might say that ethical behavior is nothing more than learning the true nature of reality and that the understanding of reality will necessarily destroy the stupidity or ignorance that we call evil.

                                        The Big Bang Theory

           I have saved for last the question as to who created samsara and set the process of Karma in Motion. The most current theory in science of the creation of the universe is that once the entire universe was a singularity. That is to say a single point that existed outside of space and time. Then for some unknown reason there was an explosion or imbalance in the singularity and in a Big Bang or explosion the universe, as we know it was born. They don’t mention a creator God in this event.
               When the Buddha was asked who made the world he told the story of the wounded soldier on the battle field who refused to allow the doctors to remove the poison arrow in his chest until he knew just who had shot him and what type of person he was and a dozen other questions involving the incident.
                  The Buddha observed that if the doctors stopped to find the answers to these questions the patient would be dead long before they had the answers to his questions. In the same way anyone who would refuse to follow the path until he had all the answers to the nature of the universe would die several million deaths before all the answers could be given to him.
                        It may help to observe that the basic teaching of the Buddha known as the four noble truths and the eight-fold path are presented in the form of a medical diagnosis being made by a doctor of his day. He was not trying to answer questions about God and the creation of the universe and often flatly refused to address those issues involved as having no particle value. He was presenting a cure to frustration and suffering, nothing more.
                        It is perhaps best then to ask the questioner to view the law of Karma as having the same nature as the law of gravity. The necessity to comply with the law of good and evil and the knowledge that we usually don’t is a quality held only by sentient creatures. Even my dog knows when he has done something in the house he is supposed to do outside. He doesn’t need to know who owns the house or who made the carpet to act accordingly.
                        Everyone understands that if you jump off of a cliff you will hit bottom and depending on the height of the cliff the result could be a disaster for you. Having such awareness does not require an understanding of God, just common sense. It should not be so hard then to believe that there are universal laws that govern the actions of sentient beings and whose understanding offers the advantage of limiting your suffering.
                       There are as many explanations and theories about how the world began and who made it as there are cultures and religions. Buddha’s prescription for defeating Karma is a particle one for avoiding frustration and suffering. It is based upon and provides a logical understanding of the world around us. Further it gives a meaningful basis to the world as we experience it on a daily basis.
                       Mark Twain wrote that if there is a God he is a hoodlum and a thug. People like him see the world as a meaningless caldron of senseless death and destruction. They see no way that this world was made by a loving and compassionate God. What Kind of God would allow a tidal wave to kill a hundred and fifty thousand innocent people?
                      Of course some people make themselves feel better by believing that those killed were “Bad” people. However this answer usually falls short when the victims are themselves and their loved ones. So who is calling the shots here?

                              The Ultimate Karmic Connection

                              In Buddhism it is usually accepted that the sentient beings that dwell in samsara created this world through our own actions. We sentence ourselves to hell or heaven not God. The creation of this world is our ultimate Karmic connection. Every sentient being in this “samsara” has a “Karmic” connection to every other sentient being here, as proved by their being here. Here we come to the idea that everyone has at one time or another had some relationship with everyone else. The Tibetans say everyone was at one time your Mother. You and I see the same world as we share a common Karma.
                           In the Kalachakra Tantra the cosmic karma storm created by the actions of the whole of sentient beings actually brings entire worlds into existence in order that they may fulfill their Karmic destiny. Now that is what I call a big bang theory of the universe.

PS: So many people I have met complain that rebirth dose not make sense to them because they can not remember their pasts lives, how can they learn from them, what good are they? Consider this, if the test is to test who you truly are, what you have become, then knowing your past lives would be cheating, testing what you remember rather than who you are in truth. Just a thought.