Expert: Stuart Resnick - 3/23/2009

Question
I'm a little confused about karma.  I understood Buddhist believed after one died, that karma was an a-moral force, much like nature itself.  One's actions in a previous life was a factor in a future life, but not the only factor.  That while a Hindu may believe that a child born blind was the result of negative karma from a previous life, a Buddhist would never reach that conclusion.  Am I correct?  Thank you for your response.

Answer
Everything in this world is the natural process of cause and effect. The name for this is "karma."

In your question, you speak of "negative" karma. All of these ideas, good/bad, positive/negative... are made by your thinking. Originally, there's no good and no bad. With thinking, you make "I want something"; only then does good and bad appear. "Good" is what gets you what you want, and "Bad" is what prevents you from getting what you want.

A child is born blind; this is the natural functioning of cause and effect. Maybe the difficulties of blindness will help the child develop great compassion, and he'll become a wonderfully kind person who helps the world in profound ways. Whether you call the blindness "positive" or "negative" (or better yet, don't call it either) is a creation of your thinking. Which way do you like?

An eminent teacher said:

Good and Evil have no self-nature.
Holy and Unholy are empty names.