Q&A

Q: This brings to mind the perceptions that other people close to you may have about you and the effect of those perceptions, how those perceptions become your own, somehow, and create a lot of suffering.

A: The fact that someone else has a bad perception of you is the result of past bad karma. But whether you accept that perception or not, that’s your present karma. If you tried to change everybody’s perceptions of you to be good perceptions, you’d never come to the end of them. So you have to ask yourself, “To what extent do I have to accept these perceptions? If I can’t change their perceptions of me, how can I learn how not to adopt those perceptions myself? And how can I learn how not to suffer from the fact that they hold those perceptions about me?” Learn to exercise you powers of choice in this area.

Q: How to keep an internal balance when all around is the perception that the world seems to be collapsing, with all the cruelty and other bad things happening around us?

A: You have to realize that the karma of the world is the karma of the world. Your karma is your karma. Even though the world may seem to be determined on going to hell, you can still maintain your good karma. You don’t have to go to hell along with them. You can develop the perfections, by developing goodwill, your persistence, your determination. Look for opportunities where you can be of help.

There’s a sutta where the king comes to see the Buddha, and the Buddha asked him, “Where are you coming from in the middle of the day?” The king is remarkably frank. He says, “Oh, the typical things of someone who’s obsessed with gaining power and maintaining power over a vast sphere of land.” The Buddha says, “Suppose someone trustworthy were to come to you and say, ‘There’s a huge mountain moving in from the east, crushing all living beings in its path.’ And another trustworthy person says, ‘There’s another mountain moving in from the south, crushing all living beings in its path.’ Two other trustworthy people say, ‘There’s another mountain moving in from the west and another mountain moving in from the north, crushing all living beings in their path.’ With this terrible destruction of life, what would you do?” The king replies, “What else could I do but practice the Dhamma?”

Then the Buddha says, “I’m telling you, aging, illness, and death are moving in, crushing all living beings in their path. What are you going to do?”

“What could I do but practice the Dhamma?”

And as for you, what else are you going to do? It’s your good karma that can’t get crushed, your good karma that you take with you. That’s your treasure. If other people are throwing their treasures away, that’s no reason for you to throw your treasures away. And you’re not the only one who will benefit. There are the people you help through your virtue and generosity, and there are the people who are inspired by your good example. That’s my recommendation.

Q: If the karma is already predetermined, is it determined that we have to suffer?

A: There are some bad things that will happen because of your past karma and there may be some really good things that will happen because of your past karma. Sometimes they’re unavoidable, but the question of whether you’re going to suffer from them or not, that’s up to your skill in the present moment. That’s the part that’s not predetermined.

Q: Is there a way to understand collective karma, and how does that affect us? For example, people who are born in different countries, like some people who are born in Brazil or other countries: Is there a karmic root or something that leads to that? What’s the relation?

A: Karma is something you do individually, because each person’s karma is based on that person’s individual intentions. Now, it may be the case that different individuals in different places have done something bad that’s very similar; later on they all happen to be born in the same place, and their bad karma comes to fruition at the same time. So if something bad happens to a lot of people in Brazil, it’s not the case that Brazilian people all did the bad karma. You may have people born here who in a past life were born in other places, and they did their bad karma individually in other places. But then they happened to be born here and met a similar fate all at the same time. This is why you have large numbers of people dying in accidents or disasters of one kind or another.

Maybe I shouldn’t have said Brazil. People born in America right now have a lot of bad karma.

Q: The questioner was preparing to receive some visitors. So she’s reflecting about some things that happened during the preceding week for her. For example, she went to five stores to do chores and out of the five places where she stopped, at four of them she had problems. First, something with the cashier; second, something with the price; third, something with the system going down and so forth. So it seems to be working repeatedly for her over time. People tell her this happens to everybody, but she feels that this is personal. Can you say that this is a karmic thing or is there any suttas or anything that would explain this?

A: The Buddha said if you try to think about these things you go crazy. Just recall the basic principle that if there’s some difficulty, there were some unskillful actions in the past. But as for exactly what those actions were, the Buddha discourages you from thinking about it. And as for how long this bad karma is going to last, you don’t know.

Some people think that karma is like a bank account, and that what you see at any one moment is the running balance in the account. But that’s not the case. The Buddha says it’s more like having a field, and every action you do is like planting a seed in the field. You’ve got some good seeds; you’ve got some bad seeds. Some of them will sprout slowly; some of them will sprout quickly. Maybe right now some bad seeds are sprouting, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have some good seeds ready to sprout soon.

And the Buddha says you can water the good seeds with your attention, so they grow more quickly. What that means is that when you see somebody else who is suffering, you don’t say, ”Well, they’re suffering because of their bad karma, so they deserve to continue suffering.” Maybe they have some good seeds that are not sprouting yet. And try to put yourself in that person’s place. If you were suffering from some bad karma sprouting, wouldn’t you appreciate someone helping you? So here’s your chance to invest some good karma by helping that other person if you can.

In your own case right now, you’ve got some bad karma sprouting, but that doesn’t mean that’s the only karma you have. And remember that all of us in the human realm have a mixture of good and bad karma, so don’t be embarrassed by the fact that some bad karma is currently sprouting in your field.

Q: I’m wondering what to do when you are dealing with some really strong, stormy fabrications—really strong rage or lust—and you’re just a step away from doing an unskillful act, but you’re not able to just sit and meditate. What should you do?

A: This is when you need some strong medicine. For instance, with lust: the person you’re lusting for—imagine taking the skin off. Do you still have lust? Some people who are really desperate may still have lust, and then the question is “What is still feeding the lust inside me?” Sometimes the lust is not focused on the object or the person. It’s focused on the story you tell yourself. “I do this, then I do this, then I do this, and she does that, and she does that.” In a case like that, ask yourself, “How much longer do I want to keep falling for these lies I tell myself?” Think of your lust laughing at you. Tell yourself, “Just this once I’m going to say No.” See what happens.