| Buddhism is a dharmic, non-theistic religion, a | | | | that he/she develops peace and love. He/she may |
| philosophy, and a life-enhancing system of | | | | live the same life anew and he/she may not |
| psychology. In Sanskrit or Pali, the main ancient | | | | experience the anger or the pain of anger etc. in |
| languages of Buddhists, as Buddha Dharma or | | | | those same situations. In a sense, his/her karma is |
| Dhamma, which means the teachings of "the | | | | one of the main determinants of his/her experiences. |
| Awakened One." | | | | In this sense too, we may say that our sufferings |
| Karma is one of the most important concepts in | | | | comes from our karma and our states of mind. |
| Buddhism. Karma is an imprint in one's Mind. When one | | | | The underlying factor in the formation of Karma is |
| performs a good deed out of good intentions, the | | | | Intentions. What gets imprinted into one's mind is |
| good intentions come from the Mind. Having done | | | | largely decided by one's intentions. If I accidentally |
| that good deed, the residues of these intentions stay | | | | stepped on a spider, for example, squashing it to |
| in one's Mind as "imprints", and that is "good karma". | | | | death, and let's say I didn't even notice, there was |
| The opposite goes for evil deeds (or what the | | | | no intention, how can there be an imprint into my |
| Buddha would call "unwholesome deeds") done out of | | | | mind? But if say I stepped on it out of "fun", the |
| greed, hatred etc. | | | | desire to cause harm now gets imprinted. In later life, |
| A person's karma affects a person in two ways. The | | | | I may become less sensitive to the value of life, I |
| first is his/her disposition. If a person is angry | | | | may be bothered by this experience, I may find |
| performing many deeds with anger, his/her mind will | | | | myself more likely to be hateful, etc. etc. That, |
| be imprinted with experiences and intentions of | | | | friend, would be my karma. In a similar way, let's say |
| anger. Because of this imprint, in a similar situation, he | | | | I lost $20 while touring the slums of India. The |
| she would be more likely to feel angry. In a sense, | | | | money is nothing to me, so I won't even notice. But |
| the imprint creates and reinforces a sort of mental | | | | somebody found the money and fed his family for a |
| habit that causes a person's mind to react in a certain | | | | month, saving a dying child's life. If I wasn't even |
| pre-disposed way. | | | | aware that I lost the money, how can there be good |
| The second and more important way karma affects | | | | karma for me? |
| a person is by affecting his/her experience. Our | | | | This concept of Karma was one of the main |
| experiences, our feelings of joy or sufferings, come | | | | differences between the teachings of Buddhism and |
| mainly from our reaction to perceptual inputs. Using | | | | Jainism. Mahavira Jain taught that all actions, |
| an angry person as an example, in many situations, | | | | intentional or not, creates karma. The Buddha, |
| he/she feels offended, angry and that seriously | | | | speaking from his insights into the mind, taught that |
| affects his/her state of mind. He/she often feels the | | | | the Intention plays the deciding role. From my |
| pain of anger, very little peace. But if that person | | | | experience as a mediator, I verified Buddha's position |
| practices meditation, develops his/her mind, etc., such | | | | for myself. |