Expert: Justin Choo - 5/21/2006

Question
Namo Amitabha.   I m Poh again . A Chinese from Malaysia .  Consider the following scenario .  A man robs a woman and  kills her .  When the event takes place , which of the following is / are true ?   1) The woman must have done something bad in her present / previous life that causes her the bad happening .  2) The man is making a bad action to rob and kill the woman and he will receive his bad karma in future .  3)The woman didn t do anything wrong in present or previous life . Since she gets robbed and killed now ( a sacrify with no reason ) , she will be richly rewarded by positive karma in the future   4)If 1 & 2 as listed above are the correct answers.Can we say that for every event ,it must have a set of double-karma(i name it DOUBLE-KARMA because i don t know what term to use ) taking place ?  And this double -karma is the cause that sets a series of endless events in the universe .   Exp:The woman previously did something wrong , now she gets robbed and killed . The killer will receive his negative karma in future . The person who causes the killer to receive his negative karma will in turn get his karma too . And this goes on and on . Right ?    Will appreciate if you could elaborate more on this matter .Thank you very much   Namo Amitabha  

Answer
Hi Poh,

First I must remind you that kamma is one of the 4 topics that cannot be fully comprehended.  The Buddha had warned us not to spend too much time in probing something that cannot be fully understood.  Just like the Christians say,"God works in mysterious ways."  Kamma works in mysterious ways!  The beginning of the vicious cycle of events relating to kamma can never be known by ordinary mortals like us.  But one thing for sure, when kamma is created (volition action), there will be a corresponding result, vipakka.  The time of its ripening, we do not know.  I got this feeling that you will not be satisfied with my answer.  But this is the way it is.

Smile from justinchoo :-)