In modern times, we use the word karma in many ways. ‘Ain’t karma a bitch’—meaning what ‘Goes around, comes around.’ It can also refer to the Golden Rule from the Hebrew and Christian Bible: ‘Do unto others what as you would have them do unto you.’ But, in the context of this article, we’re dealing with ancient times, and going back 2,500 years to India where the Buddha lived and taught. What is karma in Buddhism? Do we have to believe in reincarnation for karma to be relevant?
Karma is a Sanskrit word that literally means ‘action’ or ‘doing’. In Hinduism, it is believed that everyone is trapped in samsara (an endless cycle of birth-death-rebirth for eternity). The concept of karma in Hinduism describes a system in which beneficial effects are derived from past beneficial actions, and harmful actions create misery in your next lives. However, what was considered as a beneficial action was in the hands of the highest members of the caste system, the Brahmins. The Brahmin priests would perform a ritual on your behalf and that would bring you better karma for your next life. The problem was that if you were of the lower castes, even merchants, common laborers and especially the untouchables, that option was not available to you. You were trapped.
Karma in Buddhism
Along with The Four Noble Truths and The Eightfold Path, the Buddha repudiated the ancient concept of karma. The Buddha said that the ‘intent’ of the action is more important than the action itself and anyone, no matter what caste, had the power to change their own destiny by doing good deeds with the intention of caring. So each individual could change their destiny, not only in this life, but in future incarnations. It was a complete democratization of karma. In essence, the Buddha revolutionized ethics. With karma available to everyone, action and intention had real consequences. Essentially, it means that we are in charge of our own moral condition. The buck stops with you: your destiny and moral condition were no longer controlled by the whim of the gods or the rituals of the Brahmins.
So answering the two questions I posed above, ‘What does karma mean in Buddhism?’ It means helping others and performing good deeds with the pure intention of compassion. ‘Do we have to believe in reincarnation?’ My answer to that is ‘No’. We can live in the present moment during this lifetime and help others. This requires no belief in reincarnation.
Related article: The Noble Eightfold Path: Guidance For Life’s Challenges
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Your mind is the garden
Before we can sow seeds of compassion, we must take care to choose fertile ground on which to sow. That means that we must act with an open heart and the right intention. Our mind is like a field, and performing actions is like sowing seeds in that field. Virtuous actions sow seeds of future happiness and non-virtuous actions sow seeds of future suffering. These seeds remain dormant in our mind until the conditions for them to ripen occur, and then they produce their harvest.
We all have a lot of garbage in our lives. We can use that garbage as compost. We all suffer, but we must not allow our suffering to prevent us from seeing all the miracles of life. If one tree in our garden is sick, we must tend to it carefully, but don’t ignore the rest of your garden. A well-tended garden will bear life-sustaining fruits and vegetables along with beautiful blossoms that soothe the soul. Although flowers are impermanent, like us, it makes them all the more precious.
Other ancient religious texts such as the Bhagavad Gita say that the secret to life is ‘to act well without attachment to the fruits of your labor.’ Most of us have heard ‘The road to hell is paved with good intentions.’ This extremely cynical view on good deeds may actually warn us to be very careful on how we approach and conduct our actions for the good. But we must act with good intentions. It is our intention that matters. If you are helping others and giving of your time, do not do so to gain ‘brownie points’ or recognition for your ‘success’. That is not karma. Real karma in Buddhism comes from a place of compassion for the suffering in the world. When we commit to something, we will experience some measure of failure as well as success. If we focus only on the results we will become discouraged and devastated.
We can give our best, create what we can, and trust in the larger process of life itself. We can plan, care for, and tend to but we can’t control. We must let go of the outcome.
“Move forward as occasion offers. Never look around to see whether any shall note it. Be satisfied with success even in the smallest matter, and think that such a result is no trifle.” – Marcus Aurelius
Be a vessel for virtue: watering your seeds
Buddhist thought and practice are skillful means for cultivating three basic elements of our own character: 1) Wisdom, 2) Compassion, and 3) Integrity. These are known as The Three Pillars of Buddhism. Buddhists have reverence for all life and this is called ‘virtue’. Our life on this planet is short and goes by in the blink of an eye, but the smallest act of kindness can change the world and if we cultivate integrity and kindness, we pass that on to others, to the next generation. We can literally become a vessel for virtue. Like a pitcher of fresh water we can pass it on to others so they can drink from the well of kindness and water their garden.
Related article: Watering Roots, Not Leaves: Cultivating Compassion Effectively
Tending our garden: cultivation of care
In Buddhism, ethical questions are not framed in terms of good and bad, but on suffering and its causes. Stealing is harmful to us and the wider community. Buddhist training does not view the world through the lens of ‘shame’, of the concept of ‘sin’ or speak of a God who sets moral rules and punishes wrongdoers. Instead, it describes the natural laws of karma (cause and effect), interconnectedness, and who we really are!
Buddhist traditions teach that we are born with an innate basic goodness and inner nobility. There is no denying that all of our actions, words, and thoughts have direct consequences. Often, we judge people by their situation, appearance, and yes, wrongdoing. But Buddhists don’t regard those who do harm as ‘sinners’ or intrinsically ‘evil’. They act from ignorance, and their own suffering. We don’t know what suffering has caused the other person to act this way. Allow me to present a scenario for you.
You are at a busy market on a hot afternoon carefully selecting the freshest fruits and vegetables and after your purchase you head home with all your groceries stuffed in a large paper bag. Just as you approach a corner at an intersection, somebody bumps into you, causing you to fall and your groceries are strewn all over the sidewalk and crosswalk. Enraged, you jump to your feet ready to give someone hell. But, just behind you still lying on the sidewalk is a man with dark glasses and a white cane. He is blind. How quickly you change from raging anger to genuine concern for the welfare of this poor man. The spilled groceries no longer matter.
Buddhism teaches that wrongdoing emanates from ignorance, delusion, cravings and that people are not inherently evil. In this case the culprit was literally blind.
Karma in Buddhism: planting seeds on the Eightfold Path
“Plant a green tree in your heart and maybe the singing bird will come.”
“Plant a thought – harvest an act
Plant an act – harvest a habit.
Plant a habit – harvest a character
Plant a character – harvest a destiny.”
– First Nations Shoshone proverb
When we walk and live the Eightfold Path, we can act, not out of aversion or grasping, but as a labor of love. Our actions are a product of our wisdom and compassion, even when the immediate result is uncertain. When we act for the long-term, there will be pressure to take sides, grasp opinions, constantly measure the results, and try to control everything. But grasping is not the way to wisdom.
“When we do the best that we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life, or in the life of another.” – Helen Keller
Praise and blame, obstacles and triumph will come and go. It is not given to us to know how our life will affect the world. What is given to us is to tend the intentions of the heart and plant beautiful seeds with our deeds. Do not doubt that your good actions will bear fruit, and that change for the better can arise from your life.
“Do not depend on the hope of results but concentrate on the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself.” – Thomas Merton
When our efforts seem futile, we can trust that in another time and place there may be unexpected results. When we are trying to address a problem, improve the state of the world, help a friend, comfort a grieving child, it may seem to be going nowhere. Yet our actions are like planting seeds in the ground. We don’t know for sure when they will bear fruit, and what seems like failure may be a time of gestation. Our work toward the good can be sustained if we don’t measure the success or failure of our actions by the immediate and superficial results. I think that is why I love gardening so much. It is so good for the soul and it teaches us patience. When I am working in a garden, I am totally in the here and now—without trying to be.
How to practice Karma in Buddhism
“It is for us to pray not for tasks equal to our powers, but for powers equal to our tasks; to go forward with a great desire forever beating at the door of our hearts as we travel toward our distant goal.” – Helen Keller
“To see things in the seed, that is genius.” – Lao Tzu
A person with little financial means or security may say to themselves, ‘But I have nothing to give.’ Oh yes you do, oh yes, we do. Act as if you matter, whatever you do in life, whether you feel that way or not. There are many ways in which we can give. Give away thanks. Give away praise. Give away information. Give away time. Time is a precious commodity in the modern era. Most importantly, give away love. Be kind to others, while including yourself in your circle of care.
“In giving you are throwing a bridge across the chasm of your solitude.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Give away information
So much of what we have in life comes with great difficulty. And, often, we see others struggle as much as we did. Turn this around, and begin giving others as much help as you can give. We must give with no expectations of return. More likely than not, however, the return will not only benefit the person you are helping, but you will find greater meaning in your own life. For some reason, when you become a support to others you become bigger than you are. Moreover, when people use what they have learned from you, your effect in this world is greatly magnified.
Give away praise
Often the people we find most difficult to praise are the ones closest to us—our partners, our children, our parents, our co-workers. A lot of the difficulty comes from anger and resentment. Yet, surprisingly, when we praise the people in our lives, we release this negativity and open the door for their being loving toward us. In relationships, too many of us focus on the negative, and have no difficulty reminding significant others of their shortcomings. No wonder so many relationships don’t last. It is natural that we want our loved ones to be affirming and supportive. It is important to surround ourselves with giving, loving, and nurturing people. You must become what you want to attract; be the kind of person you would want to surround yourself with. The laws of attraction: like attracts like.
Give away time
In this modern era, time, literally, is the most precious commodity. There never seems to be enough of it. I watch my son who has just become a father (I’m a Grandpa!) tending to his wife and child while working a very high-pressure job. I often wish I could be there to help, but he lives in Luxembourg and I am in Canada. And he took the time to create my own blog for me, which literally is like giving the nuclear codes to a chimpanzee!
When you think about it, our time on this planet is limited, so time is our most precious gift. How do you give away time? Listen to a friend, write a note of thanks, help someone learn, get involved in something bigger than yourself and become a participating member of your community by volunteering your time. All of these take you out of yourself and help you operate from a different part of your being—the part that is loving, nurturing, and abundant. However, it is absolutely essential that you do not take on too many projects and that you leave time for yourself.
Give away love
When we let someone be who they are without trying to change them; that is giving away love. When we trust that someone else can handle his or her life, and act accordingly, that is giving away love. When we let go and allow others to learn and grow without feeling that our existence is threatened; that is giving away love. What we often define and perceive to be love really isn’t—it is being needy. Love is generally confused with dependence; but in point of fact, you can love only in proportion to your capacity for independence. The ability to give also depends on whether you think you count or not, so in that respect self-esteem is an essential element in the process. We must love and care for ourselves first and foremost.
Give away smiles
It takes very little for us to smile. Sometimes, I will be in the grocery store or mall and see people with grim, hostile faces. It is so sad. So I smile everywhere I go and I smile when I meditate. I smile if I am in pain, if I am suffering and eventually the smile brings me back to the present moment. Basically we suffer the most in the past and in the future.
Yesterday is but a dream
And tomorrow only a vision –
But today – well lived in the
Present moment,
Makes all our yesterdays
Full of beautiful memories
And all our tomorrows
Visions of hope.
Final thoughts
Giving is flowing outward toward genuine connection and is the greatest antidote to fear. It’s about letting go of your crouched, withholding self and standing tall with outstretched arms. It’s about feeling a sense of abundance. Like any other skill, however, it takes practice. Giving from the position of ‘I count’, enhances this ability.
“This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as being a worthy one, the being a force of nature instead of a feverish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making us happy.
I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and, as long as I live, it is my privilege to do whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle for me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I’ve got to hold up for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it to the next generation.” – George Bernard Shaw
In the final analysis, it is kindness, only kindness to others and to ourselves that matters.
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