Expert: Bodhicitta - 11/15/2007

Question
hi..ive recently become interested in eastern philosophy after reading a book on reincarnation by the founder of the hare krishna movement AC bhaktivedanta swami prabhpuda.. in it , he mentions that negative karma can be transmitted intergenerationally, for example , a parents bad karma can be transmitted to their children ,( a kind of original sin?).. it seems this works the other way round too, children who sin can incur bad karma on their parents causing them to suffer.... is this just a hindu interpretation or is this a  universal property of karma..

a seeker...

Answer
Hi Richard
I am here as an expert on Buddhism and you ask a question
about Hinduism. I feel I am not qualified to give you
a definitive answer on the Hare Krishna tradition.So this
is just a set of guesses from me to respond to your
interesting question. If you get other answers please
do let me know...

I can say to you that Karma is very strange stuff. There are
many traditions of Karma which vary across different Indian
traditions. The meaning and understanding on Karma varies
from tradition to tradition within different Buddhist traditions and within different 'Hindu' traditions. The old vedic ideas of karma are different from the more recent
Buddhist and Hindu traditions. I think in general all this
is not well understood by modern practioners.

Buddhist interpretations of Karma tend to emphasize intention as being important. The intention of someone
when they commit an action is the most important thing
in determining the result. This is often seen as the innovation of Buddhism in Karma. But I suspect this
is a gross simplification of a complex subject.

What I can guess  concerning your question about
what AC bhaktivedanta swami prabhpuda was saying
is the following. Places,
countries, families, professions and all groups of people
have conditions associated with them. To be born at a particular
place at a particular time would have a certain destiny and
particular outcomes associated with it. That if you like
is common sense really. If you were born as a king in
a wonderful country you might have a good life. If you were born in a family that was poor with hardly anything to eat
your life might be miserable. The question then is why
are certain people reborn to particular conditions? Well
that is Karma, and that is associated with the actions
you have carried out, and the connections you have made.

So it would not be hard to see that if you had a connection
with a particular family you might be reborn in that family
in the future. If the family has performed negative
actions and is living in a bad conditions as a result
that might be something you keep coming back to.

But I usually end any of  myanswers on Karma by saying that
Only the Buddhas understand Karma and rebirth. So anything
we might say as confused beings is mere speculation!

Good luck on your search

Bodhicitta