As a general rule, we do things without thinking about what we’re doing, but as far as Buddhism is concerned, nothing happens to a person that he doesn’t deserve. Karma knows us and will always work on the motives behind the deed. According to the teachings of Buddhism, Karma is part environmental, part nature and nurture, and part hereditary. It is the result of how we conduct ourselves and of our own past actions.
Making Decisions and Failing to Think About the Consequences
Often, we will make decisions and fail to think about the consequences. The cause of the visible effect may also not be confined to the present time. It may be traced to a proximate, or ‘remote past birth’, in other words, something that happened to us in a past life.
To understand Karma you should ask yourselves the following:
The world is shrouded in inequality. We should want to change that for others where we can. That said, no responsible or sensible person should consciously attribute such inequality or unevenness by accident, or through blind chance.
In other words, we all are part of the problem and we are part of the solution. We create our own heaven and we create our own hell. We are instrumental in how our lives go. We are the architects of our own fate. We should act with compassion and tolerance and come together.
We must also be the change we want to see in the world. We must want to do and be better. We must all work together so we create and make the world safer. We must want to leave the world a better place for future generations to come.
I'm still on the fence as far as karma goes and people getting what they deserve. It's along the same line as God's will which I have a hard time with too.
I have watched so many bad things happen to the best people, like my daughter ending up with cerebral palsy. I have also seen the best things happen to the worst people who definitely don't deserve it.
I was used to getting the shaft from life and often felt like I deserved it, but when that happened to her, I was devastated and didn't know how to handle it, so I ended up punishing myself even more.
People act like we're supposed to accept that life isn't fair, but that doesn't work for me. I wish it was that simple for me, but after what I have been through I am very conflicted and confused as to what I truly feel about karma.
The reality is that the only ones that we can really change is ourselves, so we have to focus on this and not worry so much about how everyone else behaves.
We must be the agents of change to provide a better example for others out there although we don't have any control of whether they choose to follow our example or not. The world can remain a horrible place, or we can try to make the best of it.
I remember as a very young child having the thought that one day I would have to decide whether the human race was worth saving or not and overall I have to say it is worth saving. (It's a very long story and hard to believe, even for me.)
In the end, I would like to know that my life had some meaning and to do what I can to leave the world a better place for generations to come.
I love the end of your response Randy and you're right. It's important that our life has meaning and we leave the world a better place for generations to come.
But whether anyone believes in karma or not, it happens and it exists. In my blog I mentioned that we are the creators of heaven and of hell on earth and that's right.
It's not for us to question karma. Karma works on checks and balances. On our part, we must understand our behaviour and incorporate any changes we need to make.
Our lives are dictated by karma. If we choose to ignore the things we know we need to change, karma will not influence any change in the status quo until we ourselves change it.
The more tolerant, empathetic and compassionate we are, the more good things will come to us. We must work together for the greater good and future generations.
It's not difficult to do. We need to be selfless, not selfish.
I see Karma as the ultimate justice system to hold monsters accountable, hopefully sooner rather than later. Karma will even find you behind your false God.
But I just don't know how it works with our previous lives.
Thanks Tim. Yes, your first paragraph is spot on. Karma understands us more than we understand ourselves. Karma has also worked us out before we've worked ourselves out. If more of us understood that, we'd change our behaviour.
But we never think karma will catch up with us and we continue to go through life like that. But unless our motives are honourable, karma will always serve up a taste of our own medicine. In other words what we put out there, we get back.
When it comes to karma and past lives, before a twinkle in our parents' eyes, we have already lived a previous life, several lives in fact, so being born means we come into this world with karmic debt. Karma stems from our previous lives that will predetermine our current life. What we didn’t finish in a previous life we will come back to finish now.
What we didn’t 'make right' in our past lives, will always present itself in this one. All hardships we face are the consequence of lingering karma, which can be reversed by us in this life, through lessons we've come to learn.
If karma is generated by our own actions, then this works both in positive and negative ways. When we put out good we get good back and we reap what we sow etc. I am content with that.
It absolutely is but we don't live our lives or behave as if it is. We need to create our own heaven here on planet earth.