Expert: Bodhicitta - 1/19/2005

Question
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Followup To
Question -
How does karma apply to one not a human?
Answer -
Hi Brenda
can you expand on that question a bit please?

Bodhicitta
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Hi Bodhicitta.
I found the question on a Buddhist forum.
www.thebigview.com
The person asked,
"Just some questions hopefully someone can answer about reincarnation and karma.

How does karma apply to one not a human. Say one is an animal, or a hellbeing, or a heavenly being. How does one get good karma, or bad karma? This is unexplained in all the sources i have seen.
What/who judges your karma, and thus reincarnates you to what best fits your karma?"

Perhaps if you have time you could visit the site yourself.

Anways.
Thank you.

Brenda

Answer
Thanks for your question.

The subject of Karma is a complex one , and is I feel often misrepresented . Karma has become one of those expressions thats hit the American and English languages but its meaning isn't the same as the original meaning in India
as far as I can tell.

I recently wrote something on this for the BBC web site
relating to the Tsunami.

The first thing to realize is that Buddhists have a very vast view. So there is endless time, endless space, endless possibilities in terms of exitences we can be born into etc.

Karma is the Buddhist law of cause and effect, everything we do has an effect. Every action we do causes a ripple in the cosmos. All the beings in the cosmos are endlessly causing ripples. We are all connected in various ways
to places, other people, worlds, groups of people. We are also connected to the ripples caused by our past actions both in this life and our endless past lives.

Buddhist teachings say that this endless web of cause and effects is very complex and impossible to understand by ordinary beings. Only Buddhas can understand Karma.

So this is the general background. So if you havent understood Karma don't worry. if you have then think again you probably have an over simplistic view the same as everyone else!

One wrong view of karma is that Karma is Justice. That someone somewhere is judging you and punishing you. This
is clearly a view fed by judo-christian views of an all mighty God who would judge you. There is nothing like this
in Buddhism.

In Buddhism we do something and act in a certain way and that sends waves out - these waves have energy - they reflect off the world and change the world. So causes have effects. We our masters or mistresses of our destiny.

One Buddhist teacher in response to a student who asked about their past lives said that if you wish to know about your past lives look around you at the present. The present is causes by the past.

Another Buddhist teaching says that through endless time we have all done everything. We have all been murderers, mothers, fathers, brothers, doctors, and every possible thing. All these actions have sown seeds that will come to fruition in our future lives. As to when different seeds might come to fruition - only Buddhas could tell you!

So this view of karma should cause us to have tremendous compassion. All beings have been our parents, all beings have been our children . if we see someone suffering we know that in the vast scheme of things everyone will suffer.

From time to time good karma will come to fruition. We will then have a good stable situation. A birth in a good country and in a good family. Buddhism says that if we have a good birth we should practice Meditation without delay because it is only temporary and it will soon decay!

the only escape from the sea of Karma is practice meditation and realize the dream like nature of the world around us. Enlightenment , waking up is the only answer.

You ask about Hell. Hell is a particularly bad fruition of Karma. Aggression is at the fore. We might experience this as a very bad rebirth that last a long time. It might be moments within our human life.
When the seeds of karma that produce Hell appear we would
be stuck with a difficult situation until they burn out.
It might be difficult to do very much about this until it stops. But the Buddhas and awakened beings in the Universe
work tirelessly to free beings from Hell because they can not help themselves.

The animal realm is a particular extistence with a lot of ignorance. the mind and intelligence of animals is obscure.
They see the world through frosty glass. Again it might be difficult (not impossible) for animals to do good actions.
But the karma of being an animal will burn out and they
will move on. Buddhas and enligthened beings work tirelessly to help animals. We as humans should help them to.

thanks for the reference to the site. I bookmarked it and will look at it a little.

I hope my answer helps a little. there is such a lot that could be said . so i have said a little.

Take care
Bodhicitta