Explaining Karma...

Although most westerners have heard of karma, there's still a lot of confusion about what it means. For example, many seem to think that karma is only about being rewarded or punished in the next life. And it may be understood that way in other Asian spiritual traditions, but that's not exactly how it is understood in Buddhism. 

To be sure, you can find Buddhist teachers who will tell you that karma (or kamma in Pali) is all about good or bad rebirth. But if you dig deeper, a different picture emerges.

Karma

The Sanskrit word karma means "volitional act" or "deed." The law of karma is a law of cause and effect or an understanding that every deed produces fruit.

In Buddhism, karma is not a cosmic criminal justice system. There is no intelligence behind it that is rewarding or punishing. It's more like a natural law. 

Karma is created by the intentional acts of body, speech, and mind. Only acts pure of greed, hate and delusion do not produce karmic effects. Note that intention may be subconscious.

In most schools of Buddhism, it's understood that the effects of karma begin at once; cause and effect are one. It's also the case that once set in motion, karma tends to continue in many directions, like ripples on a pond. So, whether you believe in rebirth or not, karma is still important. What you do right now impacts the life you are living right now. 

Karma is not mysterious or hidden. Once you understand what it is, you can observe it all around you. For example, let's say a man gets into an argument at work. He drives home in an angry mood, cutting off someone at an intersection. The driver cut off is now angry, and when she gets home she yells at her daughter. This is karma in action - one angry act has touched off many more. If the man who argued had the mental discipline to let go of his anger, the karma would have stopped with him.

Continue reading BELOW the FOLD.

SOURCE

Excerpt fron Lion's Roar - Should one try to convince a Westerner just coming to Buddhism to accept the principles of karma and rebirth fully?

Bhikkhu Bodhi: I wouldn’t begin by trying to impose the full weight of classical Buddhist doctrine on a Westerner who has newly come to Buddhism. Yet I wouldn’t disguise or camouflage the teachings. I would tell someone exactly what the Buddha teaches.

I would say, though, that if one is coming to Buddhism out of the blue, one should begin by examining those principles of the Buddha’s teaching that can be verified within one’s life here and now. One can see, for example, that when one observes ethical conduct, the quality of one’s life improves. One can see that when systematic development in meditation diminishes greed, anger and ignorance, one becomes more mindful, more aware, and gains greater insight into experience. One will see, as a result, that one experiences greater happiness, peace and contentment. On that basis, I would say that one can recognize where these teachings are coming from: they are coming from the Buddha, the Enlightened One.

Many people call themselves Buddhists having only a vague notion of what Buddhism is about. That’s okay. You could be a beginning geologist and not understand all of geology, but you still call yourself a geologist because you are studying it.

Once one gains a working confidence in the Buddha—based on what one can validate and confirm in one’s own experience—then one should be willing to place trust in those teachings of the Buddha which lie beyond the scope of one’s immediate experience. Not out of blind submission to the authority of the Buddha, but because one has gained experiential validation of some aspects of his teachings. Therefore, if one wants to follow that teaching to its full extent, one should be ready to accept on trust those teachings that lie beyond one’s present capacity for confirmation.

Additional reading.