a buddhist perspective

Last Friday, a government official made a statement to a newspaper reporter regarding another country having nuclear weapons. There were doubtless other factors also at work, but the statement by one man contributed a lot to crude oil increasing by $11 to $139 a barrel in just one day. 

I am not qualified to say what the karmic retribution from this will be. But this incident is a particularly good example of how what is said can have the potential to bring about major outcomes.

The general principle is that what we say to others can lead to them taking particular actions. We will then, at some point, have to undergo the consequences of what we set into motion. Those with more influence have the potential to set into motion much greater outcomes.  For example,  as petroleum is either a component of almost everything produced and is also used to transport goods, such a large price increase can affect all but the most isolated people on earth. That's an enormous amount of karmic retributions.

Fortunately, most of us do not have such enormous influence. But even if we only negatively influence five or ten people with our speech, that will still incur a great deal of painful karmic consequences for us. 

A few days ago a comment was made on another entry. The writer wrote that he could see that,

"Whenever we're being treated badly…it's our bad karma. When others treat us badly, it's perfectly all right for them [to do so]. So at what point does this stop? Surely, we can't keep 'accepting' or suffering bad treatment? At what point do we stop being takers?"

Personally, I wouldn't say that it was "perfectly alright" because the person who is mistreating us is committing their own harmful actions and will have to suffer their own painful results in the future. They will find themselves in a similar position to our current one. So ideally we would feel badly about the future suffering that the other person is currently creating for themselves.

What of our situation? Our bad retributions are the results of our bad actions. If I do something wrong, how can I expect to avoid the consequences? It is fair for me to receive the results of my actions. It would not be fair if I could evade the results. And if I resent these karmic results by becoming angry or upset, I’m just committing more wrong actions that will result in additional bad results!

The reality is that I laid the ground work for my karmic retributions. There's no point in blaming the person who delivers these retributions to me. We're not "taking it" in the sense that the other person is mistreating us for no good reason. We're simply receiving what we created for ourselves. So there's no point in getting upset with the "messenger."

And actually, with our current understanding that painful situations are the direct result of past wrongdoings, this is the best time for us to undergo our bad karmic consequences. As much as we have difficulty accepting these retributions even when we have learned of causality, imagine how much more difficult it will be in a future lifetime when we know nothing of cause and effect.

The following is from a thoughtful reader who took the time to respond to my question of how he came across our websites: 

I am a beginner in the practise of Pure Land Buddhism. Since young, I visit temples from time to time with my family. Although I consider myself a Buddhist, the right conditions never arise for me to learn more about Buddhism. 

In October of 2006, I decided to visit Nan Tien Temple in Wollongong which is around an hour south of Sydney. On the way to the temple, I was happily speeding along the highway till I was stopped by the traffic police for speeding. Other than a speeding ticket with a huge fine, it also came to my attention that my driver licence was about to expire. As such, I decided to renew my licence at the RTA (Road Traffic Authority) in Sydney the following week.

So one weekday morning the following week, I was walking to the RTA when I come across a sign advertising free distribution of Buddhism books. The shop that the sign was referring to was closed and I made a mental note to visit that shop one day. 

A few days later, I finished work early and decided to visit the shop. This was the first time I visited Maha Bodhi Buddhist Centre which is run by Mr Michael Chen and his wife Mrs Jennifer Chen. They are kind enough to introduce some books on Buddhism to me and since then I had been visiting them every few weeks.

After being formally introduced to Buddhism by Michael, my interest in Buddhism grew...I never looked back since.

When the seeds we have planted mature, conditions will be such that "coincidences" will occur. As we see in the above account, they can do so in most unusual ways. So we don't need to try to force things to happen. By according with proper conditions, as the reader did by renewing his license, the conditions will unfold naturally.  A shop will be noticed, a mental note to visit on another day will be made, and the visit will be paid. All through according with proper conditions.

Our every thought is a karmic act. If a cause arises from wisdom, so then will the effect. If a cause arises from ignorance, so will the effect. Unfortunately, we plant causes mainly because of our ignorance, and this is why we have created innumerable transgressions in our past and present lifetimes. Most of the time, our bad deeds outweigh our good ones! If our good deeds had exceeded the bad ones, we would have already transcended the cycle of birth and death.

As long as we remain in this cycle, we will undoubtedly commit more bad than good deeds. Thus, we should be very cautious and mindful. Fortunately, as the Buddha tells us, our karma is not fixed and can be transformed. Since everything arises from our minds, our karmas also arise from our minds. Since our wrongdoings are created by our minds, then they can also be transformed by our minds.

One of Ajahn Chah's disciples had a knee problem that could only be corrected by surgery. Although the doctors had assured him his knee would be well in a couple of weeks, months went by and it still hadn't healed properly.

When he saw Ajahn Chah again, he complained saying, "They said it wouldn't take this long. It shouldn't be this way." Ajahn Chah laughed and said, "If it shouldn't be this way, it wouldn't be this way."

~ Ajahn Chah