Karma is a Buddhist concept of fate and free will

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

Karma is a word that cannot be translated. One of its main meanings is "deed". However, in the ancient Hindu language (called "Sanskrit") there are so many interpretations of karma that it is impossible to decipher it so literally.

If you reveal this meaning, based on the quality of its everyday use, then you may notice that a huge part of the semantic load of this word is lost or simply lost its clarity. According to a survey among Americans, the following was revealed: people believe that karma is fate. Moreover, this is necessarily a bad fate, evil fate, an unchanging and incomprehensible force that originates in the past and is projected into the future. Americans use this word in the sense that it is impossible to fight karma, and people are powerless in the face of an inexorable fate. Therefore, many people believe that karma is fatalism, and reject the Eastern concept. Indeed, according to uneducated people, any injustice or suffering can be justified by karma: “He is poor, and this is his karma”, “She has no children - this is all karmic.” There is only one step from such thoughts to statements that these people definitely deserve suffering. On thetoday, however, pseudo-Buddhist concepts have gained ground. Everywhere you can see ads like "karma diagnostics". In specialized institutions, people are given the opportunity to know their karma with 100% accuracy. The phrase “cleansing karma” is also popular, and this rite is carried out by various magicians, psychics, and sorcerers. However, few of them really thought about what he was trying to do.

Misperception is a consequence of the fact that karma is a Buddhist concept that was brought from East to West along with a completely non-Buddhist one. At the moment, to be extremely honest, we can say that many modern Buddhists perceive karma as a fatal fate and evil rock. However, early native tradition shows that this view is also erroneous.

In traditional Buddhism, karma is a multifaceted, non-linear and complex concept. Oddly enough, but in this matter the past is not given so much importance, in contrast to the ideas of modern Americans. Many pre-Buddhist schools in India believed that karmic responsibility follows a straight linear path, that is, actions in the distant past unambiguously affect the future and present. However, such a concept implied the limited freedom of choice of a person. The Buddhists looked at the question a little differently.

For the followers of the teachings of Prince Siddhartha Gautama, karma is a complex network of causal feedbacks in which the present moment is formed andpast, present, and even future actions. Therefore, the present is not necessarily absolutely predetermined by the past. The nature of this perception of karma is symbolized by a stream of water. Thus, karma is not submissive impotence. This is the idea that a person can release his latent abilities in the present moment. It doesn't matter where you come from. The motives of the mind at this moment are important.