Karma - by Nonin Chowaney

In Sanskrit, karma literally means action, and there are three kinds: actions of body, speech, and mind. So, whenever we move, speak, or think, we have acted, or created karma. This is what the word karma means originally.

Karma in Buddhism, however, has a broader and deeper meaning. It is the cornerstone of the law of cause and effect. Simply stated, this is: actions produce results. Positive, or wholesome, actions produce positive results, negative actions produce negative results, and neutral actions, neutral results.

So, whenever we act, we produce results. When we throw a stone into a pool of water, a disturbance is created, and this disturbance creates ripples that extend all the way to the edges of the pool in all directions. So it is when we act. We create something, call it energy if you will, that extends into the universe in all directions. If we speak kindly to someone, quietly and with respect, we are acting positively, and this has positive effects on all around us. If we speak harshly, out of anger, or if we scream and holler, we are acting negatively, and this has negative effects. The most affected are those closest to the action, including ourselves; we are affected in the same way the water near where the stone entered was affected.

We also need to be aware, however, that the ripples from the disturbed water affect the whole pool and that the ripples from negative speech extend outward also. Not only is the person spoken to directly affected but also all those near where the action took place, and this extends indefinitely. Those affected may carry the negative energy with them into their next encounter and that can be affected also. Perhaps the person hollered at picks up the anger, takes it home, and responds to their spouse or children negatively. Then, the children pick it up and take it to the playground, and a child there picks it up and carries it to her home, and so on. Eventually, or perhaps quickly, it comes back to us. Quickly, if someone smacks us in the mouth after we've spoken harshly to them! Eventually, when the person we hollered at is asked six months later if we'd make a good supervisor for the department.

This eventual coming back is called karmic retribution. Zen Master Dogen said, this can happen over three stages of time: this life, the next life, and the life after. We never know when were going to experience the effects of what we've done, so we need to be careful. We never know when it'll come back to us or how, but it will.

Hitler's example is a good one to consider here. His actions had enormous negative effects, and his violent death can be looked at as karmic retribution. The effects of his actions have also continued into the present day, over fifty years after he died. The poisonous energy of Nazism and white supremacy is still being picked up and manifested by people all over the world, and it will be until, finally, no one picks it up.

Our actions, then, not only affect what we are but also shape the conditions in which we live. Ultimately, the law of cause and effect means that any given thing, (including the world we live in) is the result of all the actions of all beings since the beginning of the universe.

So we better be careful how we act! When we were kids and were insulted, we'd say, "Take it back; you take it back!" But truthfully, once something is done, it can't be taken back. It has a life of its own; the energy continues and continues, and there's nothing we can do about it. All we can do is act positively and constructively now, in this moment, and create positive conditions at this time and for the future.

We can, however, acknowledge what we've done. It won't affect the results of past action but will affect us from here on. This is called repentance. Zen Master Dogen said that although karmic retribution for negative actions must come in one of the three stages of time, repentance lessons the effects, bringing release and purity. This can be done at any time. Here at Heartland Temple in Omaha, we do it formally every morning by reciting the Formless Repentance verse at the start of morning service. Its called formless because we don't direct it toward specific actions but toward everything we've done. This is the verse:

All the karma ever created by me from beginningless greed, anger, and delusion born through body, speech, and thought I now fully avow

In other words, I acknowledge all that I've done. Here, we focus on negative actions, actions motivated by the three poisons: greed, anger, and delusion. We avow them, acknowledge them. We don't deny them or try to escape responsibility for what we've done, but we acknowledge our actions and their consequences. This acceptance is an opening process. We own what we've done and no longer blame others for the conditions of our lives. My teacher, Zen Master Dainin Katagiri, said that "repentance is the perfect openness of our hearts that allows us to hear the voice of the universe beyond the irritation of our consciousness."

This is the first step towards turning things around and trying to act positively from this moment on. After Formless Repentance, we recite the verse of the Triple Treasure and the Four Vows. We take refuge in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, and focus our lives in the Buddha Way. Then, we dedicate our lives to liberating all beings from suffering by reciting the Four Bodhisattva Vows:

Beings are numberless; I vow to free them. Delusions are inexhaustible; I vow to end them. Dharma gates are boundless; I vow to enter them. Buddhas way is unsurpassable; I vow to realize it.

Its important for us to say these things over and over, so we chant these verses every day. Like all ritual behavior, if we engage it and perform it again and again, it works on us on a deeper level, and we are eventually transformed by it.

Human life is incredibly deep and spacious. Through the practice of zazen, we come to know this depth intimately. We also come to know, however, that even though we live deeply, intimately, with all beings, this depth is manifested through our karmic lives, our day-to-day lives, which are shaped not only by actions moment-by-moment but also by all past actions.

In The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma, the great Master who brought Zen to China writes about living out this karmic life at its most difficult times, when adversity strikes:

When those who search for the Path encounter adversity,they should think to themselves, In countless ages gone by, I've turned from the essential to the trivial and wandered through all manner of existence, often angry without cause and guilty of numberless transgressions. Now,though I do no wrong, I'm punished by my past. Neither gods nor men can foresee when an evil deed will bear its fruit. I accept it with an open heart and without complaint of injustice. The sutras say,When you meet with adversity don't be upset, because it makes sense.

The level of openness here is very high. How many of us can accept adversity in this way? We moan and groan, or blame others for our problems, frequenting striking out in anger and compounding our problems in the process! Bodhidharmas method, however, cuts off adversity at the root, by accepting it and not acting negatively, which only plants the seeds for more adversity in the future.

Bodhidharma then goes on to approach the matter from the other side:

As mortals, were ruled by conditions, not ourselves. All the suffering and joy we experience depend on conditions. If we should be blessed by some great reward, such as fame or fortune, its the fruit of a seed planted by us in the past. When conditions change, it ends. Why delight in its existence? But while success and failure depend on conditions,the mind neither waxes nor wanes. Those who remain unmoved by the wind of joy silently follow the path.

How we handle present conditions determines subsequent conditions. This is probably the most important aspect of the law of karma for us to remember. What we are now determines what we will be. If something negative happens to us, if, for example, we are in an accident or contract a serious illness, we need first to accept things and bear them with equanimity. This does not mean passivity, however. Some think that Buddhist practice is nothing but apathetic acceptance and withdrawal, but this is a misunderstanding. We need to accept and bear the circumstances of our lives with equanimity, but we strive for that because negative responses blaming, anger, or depression only compound our problems. They do not help. This doesn't mean we have to like our circumstances or not take any steps to ease or cure them.

However, when dealing with our own circumstances or when facing injustice, violence, or social and economic imbalance on a societal level, we need to act and encourage others to act in ways that alleviate our own suffering and that of all beings. We need to remember the ancient law of karma: positive actions produce positive results; negative actions produce negative results. These are truths we cannot escape.