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Tuesday, March 07, 2006 Buddhists believe in karma. The chinese term for karma, loosely translated, means "cause and effect". It explains karma very succintly: it refers to the belief that whatever happens, happens for a reason. What you encounter, experience, is a direct or more often indirect result of your own thoughts and actions. Direct results are easy to prove. If you anger somebody, and he punches you, your experience of pain and injury is a direct result of you angering the person who causes hurt to you. Indirect results are more complicated. Maybe you did something nice for a friend and he tells somebody else. Then that somebody else begins to respect you, and treats you nicely. That is a simple example of indirect cause and effect. Buddhists believe that this has a significant influence on every person's life and the experiences and encounters he has. This has filtered loosely into mainstream chinese culture. "我一定是上辈子欠了你" ("I must have owed it to you in my past life) is one expression sometimes heard. Good deeds will always be rewarded. Since Buddhists believe in reincarnation as well, the idea of karma has been extended to cover past lives and future lives. Meaning, if you do something good now, you might not reap the rewards in this life, but in your next life. Or your next next life. Basically, karma will not owe you rewards. Nor punishments. So next time, before you get angry or upset over something someone did to you, reflect on what you have done to deserve it. It is almost always something you did, that caused what happened, unless it's karma left over from your past lives (convenient explanation, isn't it!) for which payment is due now. If it's something good, keep it up! If it's something bad, then please don't repeat your mistakes again.
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