Karma’s a Bitch…or is it just you?

Karma – one of the most popular, but perhaps least understood concepts in Buddhism. 

We’re all well aware of the two infamous sayings associated with karma – “karma’s a bitch” (said ever so spitefully when we know someone’s actions will come back to bite them) and “what goes around comes around.”

The latter has become well known thanks to everyone’s favorite heartthrob Justin Timberlake (who can resist those moves and that voice, though?) You all know exactly what I’m talking about – the 2006 classic we all blasted while wishing revenge upon our enemies. JT seemed to be so affected by the idea of “what goes around comes around” he literally wrote a song devoted entirely to it, not to mention he produced the equally (steamy) music video featuring Scarlett Johansson as his love interest.

Here’s a little refresher...for old times sake
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOrnUquxtwA

I hear these two phrases thrown around constantly – I’ve used them myself plenty of times. But, my idea of karma has been expounded upon during my spring semester here at UNC Chapel Hill. I’m currently enrolled in a Theravada Buddhism course (RELI/ASIA 285 for any of you fellow Tar Heels who may be interested!) and the course has really changed my idea of karma.

It seems to be that the majority of people (my age and even older) share the general conception that karma quite literally means, what goes around comes around. If you type the phrase into Google, the first definition that pops up is “proverb: the consequences of one’s actions will have to be dealt with eventually.” I mean, that makes sense…right? You do something, like donate the $20 you found on the street to a good cause instead of keeping it for yourself, and you think that after the universe/higher powers recognize your good deed, it’ll come back in some way to benefit you in the future. Sounds like a pretty sweet deal. But – on the opposite end of the spectrum, we all know that karma can have some bitchy tendencies when we partake in a not-so-wholesome action. I spilled my coffee all over my notes as I was studying a few nights ago, it had to be the universe punishing me for something I did wrong…right?

Well – sort of. Because of my experience with my Theravada Buddhism course, I have this hankering that karma isn’t really the bitch…

Let me tell you why. 

Before we delve into a deeper examination of karma, I’m first going to take you on a little trip into the wild world of Buddhism…Theravada specifically. Now, while there are many different Buddhist schools, my course focuses specifically on Theravada Buddhism. Theravada literally means “Doctrine of the Elders” and is the only extant tradition of an original group of 18 early Buddhist schools. Theravada is dominant in Sri Lanka and mainland Southeast Asia (Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia.)

In Buddhism there is this really nifty thing called the circle of Samsara. See the picture below…

Also known as the endless cycle of wandering, the circle of Samsara keeps us in an endless cycle of rebirth that keeps us from attaining Nirvana. The ultimate goal for Buddhists is to transcend the circle…but mind you that is no simple task. There are 6 realms within the wheel, in which all beings are a part of the same circle of lives and are reborn into one of the six realms. Now I won’t get into too much detail, but it is understood that the human realm is the most rare, and most favorable birth. In the human realm, there is enough suffering to motivate transcendence and enough freedom to act on this aspiration. So if you’re reading this…kudos to you for being human!

But – what mystical forces dictate which realm you are reborn into?

Surprise, surprise, KARMA DOES!

In the Theravada tradition, karma is the principle that creatures are reborn according to the nature and quality of their past actions. Karma is a natural law, inherent in the nature of things (does that sound Buddhist-y or what?) We can think of karma as a continual cycle that plants seeds and yields fruit – in which the intent behind our action determines the nature of the seed. It is not the action itself, but the psychological impulse behind an action that is karma.

There’s “bad” or “unskillful” action, akusala. The three motivating roots of unskillful action are greed, hatred, and delusion. Akusala is unskillful in the sense that it produces spiritual or material harm to oneself, others, or both. It is ultimately destructive to intuitive wisdom. Then there’s “good” or “skillfull” action, kusala. There are three motivating roots of skillful action, non-greed, non-hatred, and non-delusion. Kusala is skillful in that it produces an uplifting mental state in the doer of an action and wholesome in that it involves a healthy state of mind.

Here is where one our of greatest misconceptions about karma lies – karma doesn’t just bring results in the next day or the next week – an action has effects in the present life, the next life, and in eons of future lives. But an eon…that’s kind of like forever…right?  Though this thought is slightly unnerving (something I did 5,000 years ago could have effected by current human rebirth?) it essentially means that appropriate results of karma will come in time, but we have no idea when that time will be. So, where you end up in the circle of Samsara (i.e. where you are reborn) depends on your actions in your present life as well as your hundreds and thousands of previous lives. The karma that you build up from those lives and this life dictates where you go next.

But here’s the crazy part…rebirths are not rewards or punishments – they are the natural results of certain kinds of action. We typically think of karma as something that works to either reward us or punish us, but Theravada Buddhism shows us that this really isn’t the case. Sometimes we even go as far to say that “she has bad karma” as if it is a condition that gets placed upon a person.

In Theravada Buddhism, and Buddhism in general, there is no external or objective judge whose job is to punish you or reward you for your actions. This works in direct opposition with our Abrahamic, Western view of how the universe works. The majority of us hold an idea of a higher power that will ultimately decide our fate. But in Buddhism, there is karma, and it works as a process.

Karma is the process by which your actions shape your life – and it turns out that JT may have been hitting on something important. 

What goes around really does come all the way back around, but not in the way we think.

…Maybe karma’s only a bitch if you are.