by Rita Chaney

Created on: August 13, 2007

A central theme in Buddhist philosophy is karma. Karma is the consequences of behaviors or actions performed in the past. Karma can be positive or negative, depending on intention and action that occurred. Even though the word "karma" in Sanskrit means "action", Buddhists believe the intention or motivation one has as they perform a behavior is a determinant of the karma that will come back to the person in the future. For example, if you intentionally say or do something to hurt a person's feelings, something similar may happen to you someday, either in this life or one of your future lives, according to Buddhist philosophy.

Individuals struggle to accept karma and how it works because there is no defined time limit on when the results of good or bad deeds come back to them. Karma just happens when it happens. We may receive karma for something we did today ten years from now or in another lifetime. Buddhist philosophy does not support the idea of "instant karma", as they believe consequences that occur in the here and now are connected to deeds done long ago, perhaps in a previous life.

INTENTION AND KARMA
Intention is significant in Buddhist doctrine because it exists first in the mind. Is one's intention to be kindly, caring, and altruistic or hurtful, angry, and vindictive in words or actions? Intention determines what behavior or action we will perform and how we will perform it. Having intention is like having a plan. When a person opens her mouth to say a nasty comment, she apparently has the intention to be hurtful and unkind. It is intention, then, that drives a person to perform positive or negative deeds.

KARMIC SEEDS
There are 2 kinds of karma: the action of intention-what we think and feel about doing something and the intended action-the actual action we do that we were pondering. Karma is the actual action performed although some Buddhism experts postulate that the intention is also considered karma. It is believed that "seeds" from our intentions remain in our psyche and that we accumulate these karmic seeds as potential consequences for our intentions that will occur for us in the future. Metaphorically, the seeds may either come to fruition, i.e. they ripen, or they can be destroyed. The seeds can be cast out by the Four Powers of Purification. Buddhists believe that if we have a negative thought or intention, even though we didn't act on it, a weak karmic seed will remain in our mind. This seed could possibly cause negativity for us in the future.

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>