Expert: Alex Wilding - 3/24/2009

Question
QUESTION: Hi, I have a quick question.  I understood karma to be an a-moral force, like nature itself.  I understood that if a child were born blind, a Hindu might argue that it was the result of negative karma from a previous life, a Buddhist would never reach that conclusion.  A Buddhist would view karma as only one factor out of many.  Do I have that correct?

ANSWER: In a word yes. It must, however, be conceded that some Buddhists might well jump to the hasty conclusion you describe, but they would not have the full support of, say, scripture for doing so.
All the best
AW

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: So, karma would be one factor among many for a future life's existence?

Answer
One of the main points here is the question of just what the mechanics are that causes "karma" to operate. Inevitably, there are different views, but it seems to be commonly held that it is the continuum of an individual's thoughts and mental states that provides the "storehouse" for the karmic seeds. In other words, when we act we plant seeds in the stream of our own being, and these are what act as the causes to attract us to circumstances that are conditioned by that first action.
Now it seems reasonable to say that the main force acting on us in the "in-between" state, the "wind of karma" as it may be called, is just the thoughts swirling out of control in our own minds. It therefore seems to follow that our karma (our past actions) is far and away the most important factor governing the general kind of rebirth we are thrown into. Then, of course, once we get into that new life, all sorts of other factors will come into play, other people will do various things that may not have been quite expected, accidents will happen and so on, so that karma will then not be so overriding as it may have been in getting that birth in the first place.
All the best
AW