Karma
Buddha was twice asked by his disciples whether man’s
karma is personal or not. Each time he fended off the question,
and did not go into the matter; to know this, he said, would not contribute to
liberating oneself from the illusion of existence. Buddha
considered it far more useful for his disciples to
meditate upon the
Nidana
chain, that is, upon
birth, life, old age, and death, and upon
the cause and
effect of suffering.
The
way to transcend karma lies in the proper use of the mind and the
will.
The
one-ness of all life is a truth that can be fully realized only when false
notions of a separate self, whose destiny can be considered apart from the
whole, are forever annihilated.
Behold,
I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man ACCORDING as his
WORK shall be.
“According to the law of nature, one
cannot perform an action that harms others
without first generating a defilement in the mind –
anger, fear, hatred, etc.;
and whenever one generates a mental defilement, then one becomes miserable, one
experiences the sufferings of hell within.
Similarly, one cannot perform an action that helps others without first
generating love, compassion, good will; and as soon as one starts developing
such pure mental qualities, one starts enjoying heavenly peace within.
When
you help others, simultaneously you help yourself; when you harm others,
simultaneously you harm yourself.
This is Dhamma, truth, law – the universal law of nature.”[6]
“And
when the mind has been purified, then without any effort one abstains from
actions that harm others since by nature a pure mind is full of goodwill and
compassion for others.[7]”
Herein
lies a very old and profound realization: that the growth of
consciousness concerning oneself proceeds simultaneously with an awareness
of guilt. This realization is already expressed in the
biblical story of
