One of the most misunderstood concept in Buddhism is karma.
When asked to explain karma, we usually sum it up as, good deeds beget good outcome and evil deeds brings horrible retributions.
This is a logically, politically and religiously right summary, but karma is more complicated than that.
Otherwise, why do some bad people get away with their evil deeds and seemed to be having a great time. Whereas some good honest people suffer a horrible illness or meet a terrible accident?
Many people who look upon Buddhism as a religion, carry a mental habit of blind belief.
They think that by believing hard enough, an invisible power is being invoked and it will manifest into a reality. Without realising it, they are thinking that they possess the power of a god. The power to will things or situation into existence.
Therefore when they believe in karma, they have this wishful thinking that the world will operate according to their fancy or according to their definition of justice. WISHFUL THINKING.
It’s amazing how creative they can be. For example, if someone is being nasty, they believe the power of karma will create a little misfortune to punish that person. Maybe trip and fall with a slight bruise would do great. Or perhaps a small episode of loose bowel will be delightful.
BUT, this is not what Buddha taught.
Yet, I have seen and heard people exclaim in delight, that karma had previal when they witness suffering of someone hateful. Especially in the office.
For a start, we are ignorant and unenlightened. We cannot define how karma works.
While we can be sure that we get an apple tree when we plant an apple seed, no one can tell the exact point in time whereby the seed will germinate or sprout. No one can tell how many branches or leaves or fruits will result consequently.
In the same manner, we do not know when the result of an action will bear fruits. Neither do we know how it will look like.
It is therefore wishful thinking on our part, if we believe that another person’s karmic reward or punishment will happen when we are there to witness it, or it will happen according to our fancy. That’s just super ego.
When we start giving karma a personality, we are becoming caveman again. Without wisdom, we imagine things beyond our comprehension by inferring it from our daily experience.
If we believe karma is a bitch, then we must be one too😉
So let’s stop giving karma a bad name.
May all be well and happy.
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I am just an ordinary guy in Singapore with a passion for Buddhism and I hope to share this passion with the community out there, across the world.
Bodhi-Bowl 
Very well written! I think karma is also a chance for people to change for good, rather than a punishment.
Have a nice day😊
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Yes indeed. 🙏
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I don’t see in my life a person who did bad karma get bad result or bad time or in bad condition but instead of I see lot of people who are innocent who are good have bad result have bad time suffering pain and only suffering either by illness or their financial condition. I believe not in karma is because of this but sometimes I see a child who has a born illness or any disorder then think what is his karma he didn’t even do any karma is there any reincarnation process in this universe I can’t understand what is karma why it happen what is the actual process of karma.
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Thank you for taking time to share your thoughts. The topic of karma is difficult to grasp especially when we are unenlightened.
sometimes, I experience unpleasant situations with other people without even realising I was the cause of that unpleasant situation in the 1st place.
Your comment inspired metoshare more about karma in the following post.
https://bodhi-bowl.com/2019/11/03/more-about-karma/
Hope it provides more information.
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I get lot of information from your link you have a wide knowledge.
I honestly think and decoded that if god gives punishment very rapidly like you do something bad after doing this you get sudden result and something bad happens to you. Then everyone believe in God and karma no body do bad karma then 1 st thing in my mind is this whole universe has its nature are not permanent it can change then if people don’t do bad karma it becomes stop finish every one enlightened then whole universe seems like boring and people of majority lived in fear that if I got something bad then suddenly i get severse back in form of punishment. A
nd second thing is in my mind decoded that god plays hidden game with us in this game we don’t know what is rule and what is ruler but we know that if we obey the rule god will enlightened us and if we unfollow god is gives results according to our karma. But the main thing is god tested us if we people make trust or not in them self or in ourself.so it increases our either trust or doubt. This is according to what I am thinking and decoded.
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Thank you for sharing your belief and decoding. This gives me an opportunity to share my thoughts and the Buddhist approach to enlightenment.
I hope that Buddhist who has a mental habit, of a notion of God, will benefit from this reply.
In Buddhism (and important for Buddhist), we are taught to let go the concept of God, if we wish to become enlightened and see the Truth.
This is because man likes to imagine God as a super being. When man think in this way, the God that he imagine in his mind, is based on his human experience.
Human mind is afflicted by Craving, Hatred and Ignorance. Therefore, the God imagined by man is characterised by Craving,Hatred and Ignorance.
When that happened, God is created by Man. That makes enlightenment impossible.
According to your current understanding, God seems to have many characteristic of a man. For example, the idea that God intended for the universe to be chaotic so that it is not boring. (it reminds me of Loki in Greek mythology) Or God is playing a game. Or God is testing us and then deciding if we deserve a reward (like how I train and play with my puppy)
All these are based on man’s human experience. (which is far from the Truth)
To have enlightenment, we have to remove this “mental trap” that we create for ourselves. We have to stop “creating” God according to our human experience. If we “create” a God based on our human experience, that God in our mind is an Idol. (It is man made). In Buddhism, we say “Do not be attached to a form, when one is attached to a form, one cannot see the Buddha”
Once we let go of Form or “man made god”, we have to train the mind to stop delusion. Delusion prevent us from seeing the Truth. To stop delusion, we have to meditate.
This means, enlightenment is cultivated through our own effort. We can’t wait for enlightenment cluelessly. (That is why we teach, Enlightenment is not a reward from God)
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I don’t think about enlightenment my focus is how karma works in universe.
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May we realise how karma works in the universe 🙏
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