What is “Karma” ?
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The “karma” concept is often misunderstood, even in Asia, where the term came from long time ago, and where this word is related to their own culture. Karma is always seen as a negative thing and was used to justify sad moments of our lives. Present sufferings are due to actions done in the past.
When people think they are guilty for a sad situation, most of them fall into a feeling of impotence. This is a distortion of the real meaning of Karma in a Buddhist context. Accepting your karma is not living with a guilty feeling and without knowing what bad causes we have made in the past. Accepting your karma is having great self-confidence to rule your own destiny and the trust to make it the best destiny on every moment.
In simple words, “karma” means “action”. Is about how the universal causality principle works and its similar to the scientific definition. Scientific theories, like the one stated by Isaac Newton, supports the cause/effect principle “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” This is a very familiar phrase. The difference between material causality and the Buddhist karma principle is that Karma can´t be seen or measured. Your Karma includes spiritual aspects that can´t be seen like the feelings of happiness or suffering, the goodness or cruelty.
In 1993, Daisaku Ikeda, President of The SGI talked about 2 visions:
The Buddhist concept of causality differs from material causality theory according to the modern science. It keeps a predominance on the natural and objective world: a world dissociated of the subjective human worries. Causality, form the Buddhist point of view covers a wider angle that includes the human existence. For example: let´s suppose that an accident or disaster occurs. The material causality theory will identify and describe how the accident happened but it will not explain why certain individuals were involved. In fact, the material causality theory forbids this kind of questions.
In contrast, the buddhist notion of causality is exactly about these kind of disruptive questions. Originally, the Sanskrit word “Karma” meant to be “work” and it was associated with “doing” or “making”. In the Buddhism, the karma can be created in 3 levels: trough the thoughts, the words and the actions.
Of course, in your karma, actions has higher impact than words. When we express our thoughts with words, we create more karma than when we only think about them. Likewise our words and our actions are originated on our mind, they have a high influence.
The karma could be considered as the hearth of our personality, the deeper trends stored on the deepest level of our lives.
The deepest cycles of causes and effects extends beyond the present existence. These causes will set the way in which we are born; and they are continued beyond our death. The purpose of Buddhist practice is to elevate our basic life-tendency to reach our supreme human potential in this life and beyond.
An old buddhist text exposes.” If you want to understand the causes that existed in the past, look at the results as they are manifested in the present. And if you want to understand what results will be manifested in the future, look at the causes that exist in the present” (“The Opening of the Eyes,” The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin).
As all the things, the karma is flowing constantly. We create our own present and our own future through the decisions that we make in every moment. The teaching of the karma does not encourage the resignation but empower us to become protagonists our lives.
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