Being open, tolerant, and unafraid of the world around us is energizing and healing. And it’s catchy.
When you adopt a positive view of life and the world, you send vibrations and bio-messages to people around you, your loved ones, co-workers, and even total strangers. It’s an unspoken language immediately discernible and works like magic, like a genuine warm smile that melts the scowl of the sourest of faces. And perks up a room full of lonely strangers.
Call it an expression of the principle of allurement or law of attraction: show a warm and positive interest in the people you interact with daily and in most cases, you will be delightfully rewarded with their agreement and cooperation.
It’s human nature: we like people who like us and are turned off by the chemistry of those who are aloof, abrasive, and thoughtless.
This cause and effect dynamic is a variation of the Buddhist perception of karma that states, in simple terms, that we get what we deserve. And that no one is to blame for our thoughts and deeds but ourselves. Consequently, whatever we think and do in our everyday lives has an effect on the outcome of our future. Hence if our action was motivated by anger, greed, or delusion we would be unhappy. On the other hand, the right (intelligent) action, one that is free of anger, greed, or delusion results in happiness.
AFFECTS EVERYBODY
Zen, like other schools of Buddhism, views karma as an inescapable, causal force on Earth that affects everybody. Karma usually refers to deeds corrupted by ignorance. To free oneself (and others) from that ignorance-caused karma and the recurring cycle of samsara, one must be enlightened through the direct experience of satori and its extension or outcome, the sublime state of consciousness, nirvana.
Karma is limited in scope to causality at the human level of thought and behavior. Karma comes from the Sanskrit word Kri which means “doing.” The Western equivalent is “action”. It is therefore volitional and has nothing to do with moral punishment or justice administered by mysterious forces: there is no Supreme Being (in Buddhism) to punish the wicked and reward the good. We do it to ourselves.
YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW
Karma is simply human action and reaction, with all their physical, psychological, moral, and socio-economic ramifications. To use a popular expression, “You reap what you sow.”
In this context, the fruits of karma are direct consequences of our volitional or karmic acts. In the case of an earthquake, for example, human failure of judgment (volition) such as building flimsy homes near fault lines or in the harm’s way of volcanoes may lead to unnecessary deaths, injuries and suffering among the affected populace (effects or fruits).
The survivor’s karma of tragic proportions would compel them to rebuild their broken lives from scratch, a struggle that may take an entire lifetime.
