Karma

I was reading an interesting topic on the Buddhist forum I sometimes go to (www.lioncity.net/buddhism) which began by asking, if everything is the result of Karma, how do you explain to a mother of a handicapped child that this is a result of the kids past life's karma?

It is hard to believe that past lives affect the current one isn't it? Thats the one thing about Buddhism that I have trouble with. Certain Zen schools do away with the issue by simply saying it is neither skillful, nor a beneficial usage of time to concern yourself with past lives and understanding details of Karma. I tend to agree with that mentality since there's really nothing we can do except speculate.

I tend to think that the idea of rebirth is kind of thrown in to make Karma work when people try to interpret Karma in a very literal and physical sense. For example, someone could do nothing but good deeds their whole life, yet end up getting served shit on a stick everytime, and die young. How can Karma be real in a literal and physical sense if this can happen? So the idea of rebirth gets put in for two reasons, firstly, motivation to be good since it "appears" Karma may not ripen in this life, rebirth is required to motivate someone to be a good person, and likewise, rebirth is required to motivate someone to not be a bad person.

However, people shoot holes in this too, they ask, if it's not "me" who's going to be reborn (since, in Buddhism there is no self, yet there is rebirth, which is extremely confusing...) then why do I care if some future version of me has to experience my bad Karma?

There are various responses to this. It isn't you that is reborn but at the same time it is, is one which is particularily tricky to explain. Another response is, if you only care about you, and not your future self, then why would you care about any creatures around you? Why not just go kill a cat? Of course this results in people saying, yea, why don't I just go kill a cat? Why does anything matter?

I think it can be simplified without even stating whether or not rebirth is a fact. If you believe there is a future you, and you do things which you believe could generate bad Karma for that future you, then that is bad Karma in itself. However, this is sort of a circular argument if you believe Karma will not ripen in one lifetime.

My personal take on Karma, which is probably not the official accepted belief is this: I suspect Karma does ripen in this lifetime. It does not however need to manifest itself in the physical world. It will however manifest itself through positive and negative states of mind. I'm not even talking about concious guilt or anything, but I just think it affects the way we think, which affects our actions, which in turn affects the outcome of events.

You ever play a game where you get halo's or horns as points depending on what you do? Saw a racing game once, if you ran people over you got horns, if you avoided them you got halos. If you kill a bug, you may not ever feel conciously guilty about it, but I think it puts a seed of aggression in you. If enough seeds of aggression ripen into an action, there may be negative consequences. It's also kind of like crossing lines. Have you ever noticed that once you cross a line, it's always easier to cross again? Like stealing, you steal once, it's hard, you're nervous, but if everything goes right (and assuming you don't feel too guilty, or maybe even if you do) it's easier to do it again. This is also like helping strangers, easier to do if you do it often. Not only is the same line easier to cross, but crossing a line also makes similar lines easier to cross. This is the entire theory behind gateway drugs, try one, you cross that line and may be tempted to try harder drugs. Or back to the stealing example, maybe first you steal a pop, then you steal a magazine, then you steal movies, clothes, video games, and so on. Maybe first you kill a bug, maybe next it's a cattapillar, maybe next a frog, where are you going to draw that line in the sand? In this sense, Karma does ripen in our life time, just not in a direct and physical way. Just because I randomly punch someone in the face doesn't mean I'll get punched in the face, it will however put a negative spin on my thoughts which will result in a negative outcome to my actions.

As far as the original question, how does Karma come into play when a child is born handicapped? I don't think it does, in most cases. If the doctor preforming the delivery comes in drunk and the kid becomes handicapped as a result of a mistake, well... thats got nothing to do with the kid's Karma, and everything to do with the Doctor's Karma. Either way, it's the kid's choice to take his life and turn it into something positive or something negative. Sure, this means some peoples lives may be harder then others, but at the same time, succeeding through a hard life would also be much more rewarding don't you think? It's like betting double or nothing.