Karma in Tibetan Buddhism

The Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy of Karma is one of the central issues addressed in Tibetan Buddhism, and an important part of its general practice. Although karma is a common concept throughout many Eastern religions, it has different meanings to each of them. Karma is created by physical actions, speech, and even our thoughts. People often think they are creating “good karma” when doing kind things, and when they make a mistake, they are creating “bad karma”. In actuality, there is no good nor bad karma—-there is simply karma. It does not have a malicious nor benevolent personality-—karma creates whatever the individual manifests. Tibetan Buddhism teaches that every creature has transmigrated helplessly since beginningless time under the influence of ignorance and that their lack of understanding has led to performance of actions that have created connections with cyclic existence. In order to break this pattern, we must reorient our thinking to accord with reality. Tibetan Buddhism draws on the current human intellect for problem solving as opposed to a higher deity or power.

Karma is a dependent entity-—one whose forces are a direct result of one’s thoughts, actions, and words. According to Tibetan Buddhism, the Buddha taught that one’s present life is only one in a beginningless series of incarnations, and each of these is determined by one’s actions in previous lives . Tibetan Buddhist philosophy believes that we are born again after we die, and subsequently, the karma we create in past lives is carried into our next. The Tibetan Buddhist concept of karma is similar to Newton’s Third Law of Motion, which holds that for every action there is a concordant reaction…this is presented as a universal law that has nothing to do with abstract ideas of justice, reward, or punishment . Karma, whether one is aware of it or not, is constantly being created. Karma can have immediate reactions, or reactions may come later in life. By understanding the ball-and-chain relationship between karma and the individual, one can better understand Tibetan Buddhism as a whole.

See also: Tibetan Buddhism, Buddhism, Karma

References: Powers, John. Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism. Ithaca, NY, USA: Snow Lion Publications, 1995. Print.