Source: Buddhism A Brief Introduction by Master Hsuan Hua
To end suffering we have to find its cause. The Buddha found that the fundamental cause of suffering is ignorance. Ignorance in turn leads to the arisal of self centered desire. Ignorance and desire combine to blind us to preclude any possibility of realizing our inherent spiritual nature. Confused and dazed we "mistake fish eyes for pearls" i.e confuse the ebb and flow of things impermanent with our true self.
Because of ignorance living beings create karma. The word "karma" means "activity". Karma more specifically is activities we do over and over again - activities rooted in desire and governed by the law of cause and effect. The law of cause and effect, simple stated, is that every good or bad act of body, speech and thought, generates a corresponding good or bad result. The cause necessarily brings the result, which differs only in degree and time according to circumstances.
For example, someone berates you, and then you scold him in return. His berating you is the result of past karma which has not come to fruition. When you scold him, you are creating new karma, which will bring equally unpleasant results in the figure. All the things you do in body, speech and thought are causes. And all the things that happen to you are results. Thus, the present is both the fruit of the past and the seed of the future. What you are is what you have done; and, what you do is what you will become.
Karma, however, should not be construed as "fate" or "predestination". Karma is not fixed and unalterable. Only the principle or "law of karma" is unalterable: you reap what you sow. Yet free will and conscious choice are present in and inform each and every action. The individual is free to choose, but not free to evade the consequences of those choices. Once there is an action with intention, the results inexorably follow. One cannot escape this immutable law, but one can understand and master its workings and thereby escape the cycle of existence with its endless births and deaths.
Hence one of the goals of Buddhist practice is to attain the pure conscience and resulting clarity of mind that enables one to make wise choices and avoid errors in cause and effect. Even sages, including Buddhas and Boddhisattvas, are not exempt from the law of cause and effect; they simply do not err in cause and effect. The stress on moral precepts and meditation in Buddhism thus makes sense within the context of karma. Morality and mindfulness are designed to keep us in touch with our actions and more importantly with the intentions driving those actions. Actions motivated by selfish desire and ignorance invariably result in unwholesome karma and entrapment. The converse is equally true. Actions taken free of selfish desire and delusion invariably result in wholesome karma and genuine freedom.
Compassion, the other central virtue of Buddhist practice, also arises from a clear understanding of karma. The principle of karma implies and confirms a deep inter relationship between all beings and all things. The inter-relatedness among all things means that what touches one, touches all. That is the truth that all Buddhas and Boddhisattvas awaken to. The dichotomies we make between self and others, body and mind and man and nature are all fabrications and false. We thus in a very real way, '"do unto ourselves what we do unto others"
Compassion however goes beyond instrumental kindness i.e being good to others so they will be good to us. Compassion literally means "being one with everyone". It is a way of seeing and being in absolute identify with all that lives.
Thus understanding karma is central to understanding Buddhism - the teaching of wisdom and compassion. Karma is the primary force that keeps us turning in the illusory cycle of birth and death. When understood and mastered it is also the same force that can free us from this hapless cycle and give us the compassion and wisdom to truly benefit the world. The Buddha gave an analogy for those caught in the cycle of karma" "Bad karma that is created like milk, does not curdle at once. Fermenting it follows the fool, like a fire covered by ashes".
The family and social environments we are born into and even our bodies are the result of our karma from past lives. The entire world as well manifests from the collective karma of living beings.
"Living beings individual karma,
Leads to worlds of infinite kinds,
Therein of those who grasp at life
Each receives a different measure of suffering and happiness.
The reason why people undergo seemingly unwanted rewards and retributions must ultimately traced back to causes or "seeds" we planted in the past. We ourselves are responsible for everything that happens to us.Karma is fair, impartial and never in error. All the many things you do to others will return to be undergone by yourself.
If you want to know of your past live causes,
Look at rewards you are reaping today
If you wish to know your future lives
You need but notice what you're doing right now."
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