Frequent Asked Questions

Karma

Definition of Karma.

There are few definitions of Karma.  Karma can be generalized understand as “The Force.” or in the Buddhism, it means “The Cause and Affect of a Deed or a Thought.”  very much in analogy with Newton’s 3rd law “When a force applies to an object, there will be an equal and exact opposite force exist against the applied force.”

Karma can be best understood as: the result of a cause.  Why do you think people say "what goes around, comes around."

Affected fields of Karma:

  Time

        Karma spans through time (Past, Present and Future).  Karma could not travel to the past, but is carried onward to the

        present.

  Space

       There is no limited space for Karma, unless there is no time-space.

  Relativity:

       Individual Karma:

            One on One:   You do good deed, good result return.  You do bad deed,

                                    bad result returns.

      Group Karma:

            One to Many:  A king with bad karma (a dictator) could really bring bad “luck” to his

                                    kingdom and subjects (drought, plagues, war, sufferings, etc.)

            Association:

                        Parents to Children:

                              Since children inherit properties from parents, some of their parents

                              bad karma will be passed down as well. Mother’s diet during her

                              pregnancy could affect the fetus greatly.  Father with sexual

                              transmitted disease could cause serious congenital development  

                              for that fetus. 

            Many to One:  Like the king who told his subjects to do some deeds.  As the

                              leader, he will earn the karma as proportion to the leader's benefit (exactly the amount he

                              taxes his subjects.)  If they do good deed, he will earn good karma (same tax rate). 

     If they do bad deed, he will be responsible for the tax-collective

     proportion of bad karma as well.

            Many to Many:  People in one village, one country, or one planet share the same

                             karma with each other. 

    Local and Global Karma.  These types of karma could not be void at that place.  One must move away from the

                             affected fields (to avoid the wrong place at the wrong time situation).

Influence:  All karmas have limited influence in the grand scale of infinite time and infinite space.  As soon as the karma potential runs out, that’s it. (i.e. nobody stays in Hell forever, and nobody stays in Heaven forever).  If  there is no action, no thought, there would be no karma. 

 Combination:  Karma usually can be seen in combination.  Some types of miracle were noticed by human can be attributed to the said karmas that do not have any influence on such subjects.

 Conditions:  Most of the Karma cannot take place until the right condition appeared, except for hell dwellers and Heaven Dwellers, where the transition takes place immediately.

Types of Karma:

Generally there are two types of Karma:  Good and Bad.  At the individual level, there are three forces that affect’s one life, directly or indirectly affect by one’s karma:  Internal Hinders, External Hinders, and Past Karma.

            Internal Hinders:  Limitations of your physical body due to the Karmic distribution during the conception.

            External Hinders: Limitations of your current physical environment and current living environment.

            Past Karma:  Good or bad Receivable Karma that affect you and your life, mainly affect your decision makings and

                                 interactions with others and yourself.

But for the collective whole, Local, Global, and Universal karma play significant role in advance or decline of a country or civilization or the forming and decaying of a world, and the Internal Hinders, External Hinders, and Personal Karma plays significant role on one's destiny.

Why Karma?

Because of beings. If there is a disparity occurred, things will seek to balance such disparity out. Net sum is always a big Zero (a zero sum gain). (Think of a stock market)

Is Karma fair ?

Do nothing, get nothing.  Sow something, harvest such thing.  Yes, it’s fair!  Feeling can not be equate with fairness.  Don't want to get wet, don't go swimming in the water.  Don't want to get burn, then don't play with fire.

There are debates that stated "The past life karma affects are totally absurd and unfair."  They said “Since I don’t know what I did in the past, and my old lives and bodies of such pasts were already terminated.  It is not fair for me to pay for what I did in the past.”  Such logics are flaw; consider the following points of views:

0. The living pay the sin of the death: Is the soul right now that you claim to have is the same or different?  If it is different, then since when it was different?  Is today soul different than last month soul?  If no, then when people dies and goes from one stage of existence to another, their karmic distribution would effective starts to shape their new forms (Balancing the merits and debts of past lives), and the deal are done and sealed.  One would start out fresh with free will, but is still under the influence of one's former karma, which was created by oneself.  If there is no karma, then one is really free and nothing can bind that entity.  This is why Buddha taught his followers the way to escape the karma cycle (a.k.a. the circle of life and death).

1. Past time deeds should not affect present life:  If that was the case, we could not jail a person for killing his neighbor, because he committed such act in the past.  His action has already caused damage to his neighbor, and once it is done, karma would follow.  For greater time scale, it does not seem fair, but to the infinite length of time, such time scale is too short.

2. Don’t know or don’t remember of such deeds so should not be counted:

Say if the person committed some crime, got scared, ran and fell down, hitting his head on the ground.  He got arrested and put in the hospital.  When he got up, he got amnesia, but now he have to serve his time.  He called out to the judge and said it’s not fair for him to be incarcerated since he did not remember what he did.  Well, does it fair for him to escape the punishment?

3. I said sorry, now do I have to serve my bad karma ?

Well, that will be for Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Gods to decide.  We would suggest doing good deed and forward your merits to beings that you have offended.  It may or may not work. One thing for sure, your sins could be forgiven, but your karma could not be made null without the decisions of the affected parties.  If the affected parties decided that you must pay exactly for what you did, there is NOTHING that Gods nor Buddhas nor Bodhisattvas can do.

So forget about the “Christians are not perfect but are forgiven” motto.  It would not work with Karma.

4. Ignorance is not an good excuse: 

If you don't know or remember what you have done in the past, that is not a good excuse to avoid or defer your karma.

If you don't believe in Karma does not mean it would not affect you (i.e. "The road runner does not learn the law of gravity so it would not fall" idea)

If you don't know any of these ideas, it would harm you more (i.e. People who knows about electricity and people who does not know anything about electricity still get shock if they grab the live-wire.  People who does not know about electricity will be in great harm if they grab the high-voltage live wire.)

5. God will take care of my karma for me:

The sad news is you can be forgiven for doing bad things in front of God's grace.  But, he could not take care of bad Karma for you.  You will have to face it yourself.  (See the answer for the question " Can God/Buddhas/Bodhisattvas get rid of one’s karma" at the end of the page)

Core of Karma:

1. Addition of previous lives Karma:

Karma could not be dissipated by itself.  As long as people generate karmas, they keep pilling on.

2. Habitual Karma:

Love to do something. (Praying, helping people out, stealing, smoking, cursing, being lazy, etc.)

3. Serious Karma:

Killing, stealing, bear fault witness against people, telling lies, and teaching lies to people.

4. Near Death Karma:

Very potent Karma.  At the time of death, if your heart were pure and calm, you might get a second chance to go to a good place to study and to repent for your bad deeds even if you were very naughty.  If you were good all your life, yet at the time of your death, your soul was full of anger, hatred, greed, stupidity actions and thoughts, then these near death karmas could lead you straight to Hell or bad realms.  You won’t have to stay long, however, depends on how strong your bad thoughts and actions just prior to death.  This is why the Pure Land concept come in to play here.  Heed these advices well.

How the Karma is determined, and by whom ?

There are four types of karma determination.  It is determined by one own thoughts, and not by any God or any supreme power.

Serious Deed but Light Intention:

Ex: Killed a person but did not mean to do so.  (i.e.: Played with gun and shot someone accidentally.)

Light Deed but Serious Intention:

Ex: Injured someone but the intention was trying to kill that person.

Light Deed and Light Intention:

Ex: Do minor bad things to people but out of kidding or prank (light harm intention)

Serious Deed and Serious Intention:

Ex: Killed someone and really wanted to kill that person at the first place.

Distribution of Karma:

Past Deed, Present Karma:

Did something in the past, now, out of no where, when you have tried to live a good decent life, bad things continues to pile on.

Present Deed, Present Karma:

Plant watermelon, harvest watermelon.  Work hard, study hard, great reward.  Involved with drug, wasted life.  An immediate karma.

Present Deed, Next Life Karma:

Did a good deed, but will not get the reward until next life.

Present Deed, Future Karma:

Study hard today, past the test tomorrow.

Present Deed, Undetermined Karma:

Do some deeds right now, but such Karma may never have enough condition to form.  (I could not think of anything right now.  But will add it later)

How to avoid Karma

 The correct question should be “How to avoid bad karma?”  One wise man said “Do not misunderstanding Karma”, and that should be our correct answer.  As long as one has not reach the stage of Buddha-hood, one will make mistake and induces  karmas as the results.  But if one does “no harm” to others and to self, or “be kind and humble and treat every beings with respect”, or “Do unto other as you want them to do unto you”, the affect of bad Karma will be reduced significantly.

So, the correct answer for now is: You cannot avoid Karma.  So, don’t do anything that will induce bad karma unto you.  You shall get what you sow, sooner or later.

How to reduce Karma ?

We don’t know how long we have existed? How many lives have we had?  What type of actions and deeds that we did in our previous lives (good or bad), so we cannot accurately know what type of Karma is expecting us (i.e our sins and their punishments), so in order to reduce Karma, we need to find persons that can help us with that matter, namely: Gods, Buddhas, and Great Bodhisattvas.

But the most important single factor is:  We have offended and caused harm to beings in the previous time.  Not all of them demanded payback, and some of them even ready to let go of the pass grudges, but we MUST repent and apologize to them.  Depend on our pure hearts and sincerity, only Gods, Buddhas, and Bodhisattvas are able to deliver our repentance to them and make peace between us and the offended beings.  Sometimes, Gods, Buddhas or Bodhisattvas have to give some of their own merits away for those beings as compensations so that they will be happy and let go of our pass sins.  There are exceptions.  Sometimes, the beings that we have hurt, offended, or killed (directly or indirectly) would not forgive us, and would not rest until the bad deeds are repay in the same manner (or with interest).  If that are the situations, God, Buddhas, and Bodhisattvas can help us to defer our karma until we are strong enough or understand enough to pay for our own karma.  After the karma run their courses, shall we can continue with our quests again  

Is Karma unscientific?

 There is no “Karma Meter” to measure one’s Karma or understand the effected fields of the karma.  Only beings without any hindrance can see the affect of the karma, but to be able to see all Karma from eons ago and unto the future, only Gods, Buddhas, and great Bodhisattvas can see them clearly.

This to all of the scientists still remain a hypothesis since there is no concrete evidence of such Karma exist.  But by their definitions, we can also state that:

1. There are plenty of close results in Karma that support our evidences.

2. There are enough information regarding the karma based on existing sutras and discourses.

3. Detection devices (i.e. Buddhas, Bodhisatvas, Patriarchs) who told us of what they are.

4. Condition of people lives.  Why good and bad things happened to people, good or bad.

5. Immediate Karma: Karma that happened almost immediately to the doers.

6. The current karma game of “Crimes and punishments” that everyone participates in this world.

7. Bad things or bad luck or serious illness happened to good people

8. Someone has all the luck.  Always be at the right place at the right time...(Insert your known billionaire name here)

Can God/Buddhas/Bodhisattvas get rid of one’s karma ?

The honest answer is “I don’t know.”  According to some sutras, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas can grant enough merits to people to offset their “light” karma, but serious offense involved other beings could not be solved without the agreement of all involved parties.  If one side decided to carry on with the justice, there is little that anyone could do.  Not that it would be good for both sides or for the party insists to carry out the Karma retribution, but really not much that anyone could do.

Sometimes, a prayer to Bodhisattva Listening To The World Voice (Avalokitesvara) asking for help seemed to have no effect.  And other time, it did help.  According to one of the Bodhisattva of our present time, no call to Listening To The World Voice Bodhisattva (Avalokitesvara) ever gone unanswered, but he chose the best option for us.  That option may not be what we really want, but then, beggar cannot be choosy.

However, I am not Buddha or Bodhisattvas, so the above statement only reflected what I have learned from my master and from my research.  It’s not the absolute truth since lives and karmas are very dynamic, but the foundation remains the same.  Hope that helps to your quest.  Your comments and suggestions are welcome.

Does that mean everything that I am doing now is being controlled by my karma ?

Not everything that we are doing is being controlled by our own karma.  An example should make it very clear.  Let's say that we have to buy a boat, and we can only afford to buy a boat within our means and resources.  The boat are our bodies, the means and resources are our karmas.  Now, we launch our boats and navigate them around and go to places that we wish to go.  We are still in control of our boats, but our decisions along the way will be influence by our own actions and our karmas (i.e. what do we know about the water pathway, our capability to handling the boat, and how gutsy we are).  If we careful and be contented, then not much is happening until the boat structure starts to disintegrate.  If we mishandling and abuse our boats, they would disintegrate much quickly.  Or if our boats are small and not seaworthy, and we take them out to sea,  and if our karma are bad, we might encounter the storm, and our boats would be destroyed.

So with this bodies, we should use them to collect our merits by doing good deeds, helping others, and commit no offense to other sentient beings, we can afford to get to better places.  And if we continue to do so, someday we can be liberated and be able to help others.  In general sense, we do have some control.  While we are in control or not in control, we must always use our head and our precepts to guild us through the good and bad time.  Then no matter how bad or good our karmas are, it will run out of it course, and as we no longer generate any karma, we shall be free.  Free at last, we can really say that we are now free from all with our wisdom as our guiding light.

Does that means I can ignore about Gods and bad mouth them ?  How about bad mouth the Christian God ?  How about bad mouth the Muslim God ?  How about other gods ?

The most important thing that one should know is never, ever try to offend other sentient beings and their beliefs.  Their beliefs could be right or could be wrong, and unless we are personally be appointed by Buddha to teach sentient beings, we should focus on our problems not theirs.  Even in Buddhism, people are still doing the wrong things, believe the wrong paths, so we should fix our own internal problem first, and less critical of others.

Also, we would not dare to offend the human kings unless we wish to have a death wish, a terrible death wish, then why do we want to offend the heaven kings ?  Never ever make any sentient beings angry.  If you make the heaven kings and heaven lords angry, then you are the fool.  If you make the devils or ghosts angry, then you better be perfect ALL the times, because the minutes you step out of line, you will pay for your stupidity.

Therefore, you should go through life with extreme caution.  Do have compassion for all beings.  Do have the generous attitude toward all beings.  Do treat them with love and respect because they will be happy to forgive you if you're accidentally offended them.  To ask Buddhas, Bodhisatvas, and Gods to help and protect all sentient beings, because all of our karmas are mesh together.  We are in it together, therefore, we must take care of our problem together.

When you can read about other religions and try to understand their points of view.  It's fine if you disagree with them, but if you haven't have the God eyes, Dharma eyes, Buddha eyes, then ask for Buddha help.  Don't be too arrogant and jump to conclusion, and bring bad karma into your quest for no reason.