The concept of karma predated the birth of Gautama Buddha some 2,600 years ago. Karma was first mentioned in the Upanishads, which are some of the oldest writings from the early days of Hindu thought, several hundred years before the Buddha’s life. In addition to Hinduism and Buddhism, many other Eastern religions believe in the core principles of karma, including Jainism, Sikhism, Shintoism and Taoism.
Karma is a Sanskrit word that means “action.” In our use of the term, it refers to both the action and its consequences. While action usually implies physical movement, in the case of karma it refers to the actions of physical movement, speech or thought. By acting, speaking or thinking, we create karma.
What are the consequences of our actions of body, speech or mind?
- We’re likely to repeat our habits.
- We’re likely to find ourselves in an environment where the behaviour is common.
- We’re likely to be the recipient of the actions we take.
Here is an example. If you get anxious whenever you receive your monthly bills in the mail, the following may happen:
- You’ll be anxious whenever the mail comes at the end of the month.
- You’ll find yourself in an environment that triggers that anxiety.
- Those around you will be uneasy in your presence, especially when you’re anxious, triggering more anxiety in you.
Our reactions—in the form of thought, speech or action—create karma.
Attributes that describe karma
Karma is also known as the law of cause and effect. What we do, how we speak and what we think (cause) affects ourselves and others (effect).
We all know about the law of gravity. You don’t have to be a physicist to see or experience it. We may not be able to explain how gravity works, but we know from direct experience that it’s a fact of life.
Karma is similar. Although there are few masters who can explain its intricacies, we can see it at work in our lives when we learn to pay attention and know what to look for.
In the Majjhima Nikāya, the Buddha describes karma as follows: “When this exists, that comes to be; with the arising of this, that arises. When this does not exist, that does not come to be; with the cessation of this, that ceases.”
In our personal ethical world, karma is the operating principle. Nothing happens without a preceding cause. That is a fact. We may not be able to control the weather or certain biological events; but when we understand the cause-and-effect nature of karma, we can determine how we live and experience our lives going forward.
Another attribute of karma is that the impact of our actions may be greater than the original action taken. Karma is referred to as a seed that gestates in our mind, which is an appropriate analogy. For example, seeds grow and the resulting plant becomes much larger than the original seed. In fact, over time, one seed can populate an entire field of roses or weeds!
We may take a small action and think nothing of it. However, the consequences can be far greater than intended or expected.
- You drive to the grocery store, which is just around the corner, telling yourself it’s just a short ride. You don’t wear your seatbelt. You get into an accident that destroys your car and results in physical injuries for you and your passengers.
- You give 10 dollars for food to a person experiencing homelessness. Although it may seem like a small gesture, it could enable that individual to turn their life around. As a result of that seemingly small charitable act, along with other causes at play, a few weeks later that individual may be living with a roof over their head and working again. A small act can have a great impact.
For more glaring examples, many wars have been fought and thousands killed when the leaders of two countries disagree. How can a small act have such large consequences? Karmic actions (seeds) are planted in our consciousness and interact with the play of the universe. As the seeds mature, they’re fertilized by the myriad karmic actions and connections that interact with them.
Another aspect of karma is related cause and effect. If you don’t do something, you don’t create karma. When you plant an apple seed, you expect the tree that grows to bear apples. When you don’t grow an apple tree, don’t expect apples. If you want the result, you must do the work. If you don’t want the result, don’t take the action that may cause the result. Although it sounds obvious, it’s an important attribute of karma.
His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama reflects this attribute when he talks about creating peace: “Peace does not come through prayer, we human beings must create peace.” He is even more direct when he says, “Problems created by human beings have to be solved by human beings.”
Karma is also definite. Our actions have concrete effects. We may not know how, where, when or to what degree, but karmic actions definitely produce results. Karma doesn’t lie, and we can’t run away from it. Whether our karmic actions are negative or positive, their effects will ensue. As the great Hindu Christian saint Paramahansa Yogananda said, “Before you act, you have freedom, but after you act, the effect of that action will follow you whether you want it to or not. That is the law of karma.”
Does karma mean our lives are predetermined? No, it doesn’t imply fate or predetermination. In fact, just the opposite. We determine our future by exercising our free will. We decide how we think, speak and act.
We can’t predict our future with great specificity. But we know that creating positive karma will liberate our minds with each passing day. Negative karma, on the other hand, leads to anger, anxiety, fear, irritation, jealousy, annoyance and numerous other afflictions.
Tibetan Buddhism offers “antidotes”—meditation practices, visualizations, behaviours—we can apply to purify negative karma. By doing these practices, we learn to change our current and future behaviour to avoid habituating our triggered reactions. We start to see what options are at our disposal and which actions may yield negative or positive results.
It’s one thing to learn how to heal your finger after you hit it with a hammer. It’s even better to learn how not to hit your finger at all. If you know that anger causes harm to yourself and others, after the fact you can purify anger’s karmic effects. But better yet, over time we learn to be angry less often and with less intensity.
Our present situation and state of mind result from our past thoughts, speech and actions. How we act, speak, or think at this moment, in reaction to our current circumstances, determines our experience in the next moment. How we live today affects how we live tomorrow, the next day, next week, next month and next year. Right now, we’re creating our own future through our karma!
Triggers and habits that create karma
Looking at the moments prior to our actions, we can identify triggers that seem to cause our behaviour. But are they really the cause? If so, one might place the blame on those triggers. We’ll find out shortly who is responsible.
What happens when these triggers appear again and again? Our behavioural response becomes a pattern or habit. Habits can be good or bad. Let’s look at a few.
- It was my third divorce. Why can’t I keep a spouse? They’re always angry with me.
- My boss keeps getting on my case when I’m late. He says others are starting to come late too.
- Every time I go to that buffet restaurant I eat too much and have trouble sleeping. It keeps me and my husband up all night.
- My car broke down again. Now we can’t afford that vacation.
- I’m tired of looking for my keys. I get angry and it makes me late.
- I lose my temper whenever he talks to me in that tone of voice. It takes me hours to calm down.
- I always get anxious when my bills come. I must juggle my budget to make ends meet.
- Why am I nervous before I travel? I can’t sleep for days before I get on the plane.
- Why do I always feel anxious when my phone dings? It’s as if I always expect bad news. And then I’m on edge when I respond.
- When I smile on my walk to work, I notice that others smile back. I’m in a better mood for the rest of the day.
- I’m always on time with my work projects, so my boss keeps giving me more responsibility. Now I just got a promotion!
- When I started to eat only healthy foods, it became easier to eat that way. Now I feel better, and my family eats healthier too.
- I call my father every week to say hello. Now my son calls me each week to check in. I’m not so lonely when he calls.
What do these examples have in common?
- They’re all actions of physical movement, speech and/or thought.
- They’re all reactions triggered by a preceding thought or external action.
- There is a consequence for the person doing the action. In most cases, those consequences affect family, friends and colleagues.
- The reactions described are perpetuated again and again. They have become habits.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could eliminate our negative habits and states of mind, and perpetuate those that serve us well? Can we use these habits to our advantage and learn from them? Absolutely yes. Let’s take the next step and see how or what is responsible for these reactions.
Who is responsible?
According to the Buddha, “I am the owner of my actions, heir to my actions, born of my actions, related through my actions, and have my actions as my arbitrator. Whatever I do, for good or for evil, to that I will fall heir.”
We may not be able to prevent what happens to us because of another individual or circumstance. Our circumstances are determined by the results of our past karmic actions and the karmic actions of others we’re interacting with. However, we can control how we respond to any situation that arises—pleasant or unpleasant. We can control how we think, act and speak. When you think about it, that is the only thing we really can control.
We’re 100 percent responsible for our own state of mind. Only you can make yourself happy or mad. You may be triggered by someone or something—or even your own thought! But you can decide how you feel and respond. If we act skillfully, we create positive karma. If we act unskillfully, we continue to propagate negative karma.
Because we have the ability (with practice) to choose how we act in response to circumstances, we can break the habits we’ve been perpetuating until now. How? We stop our habitual reactions. But as we know, when we’re triggered, under stress, in the heat of the moment, we find ourselves repeating previous behaviours, reacting unskillfully.
Mindfulness is the key to seeing the reactive thoughts develop in our minds. As the Buddha taught, our actions are preceded by thought, so we need to know what is in our minds. Once we see the beginnings of anger or irritation, we can apply the appropriate remedy so the negative habit doesn’t continue.
Everybody has the potential to be free of negative states of mind. And everyone has the potential to be a Buddha, a Mother Teresa or a Gandhi. The time to start is now. If we don’t, our habits will only continue and strengthen.
Exercise
Identify one action you took today (of body, speech or mind). Can you remember your thoughts or state of mind that preceded it?
Lama Lhanang Rinpoche and Mordy Levine are the authors of The Beginner’s Guide to Karma. Lama Lhanang Rinpoche was born in the Amdo region of historic Tibet and received a traditional monastic education. Later, he studied under several respected Tibetan lamas. Today, he teaches Vajrayana Buddhism at the Jigme Lingpa Center in San Diego, California. Mordy Levine is an entrepreneur, meditation teacher and the president of the Jigme Lingpa Center. He also created the Meditation Pro Series, a meditation program designed to alleviate chronic health issues. Visit them online at BuddhistSanDiego.com and MordyLevine.com.
Excerpted from the book The Beginner’s Guide to Karma: How to Live with Less Negativity and More Peace. © 2024 by Lama Lhanang Rinpoche & Mordy Levine. Printed with permission from New World Library—www.newworldlibrary.com.
images: Depositphotos