# data[].attributes.body
Read and supplement your notes.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Karma

Karma is a concept encountered in several Eastern religions, although having different meanings.

Teachings about karma explain that our past actions affect us, either positively or negatively, and that our present actions will affect us in the future.

Buddhism uses an agricultural metaphor to explain how sowing good or bad deeds will result in good or bad fruit (phala; or vipāka, meaning 'ripening').

Solely through our actions?

Early Buddhist writings (particularly SN 36.21: see related links for an annotated translation) suggest that not all that we experience is the result of past action; it may be due to natural events of one sort or another. This is one point on which early Buddhism appears to differ somewhat from later Tibetan teachings, which suggest that all the good and bad things that happen to us are the results of past actions.

Whilst there might be doubt, or different opinions, about why we are experiencing some sort of misfortune, there is no doubt that we can resolve any suffering in the present moment through the Buddhist teachings of mindfulness and action based upon good motives.

Beyond this life

For Buddhists, karma has implications beyond this life. Bad actions in a previous life can follow a person into their next life and cause bad effects (which Westerners are more likely to interpret as 'bad luck').

Even an Enlightened One is not exempt from the effects of past karma. One story tells that the Buddha's cousin tried to kill him by dropping a boulder on him. Although the attempt failed, the Buddha's foot was injured. He explained that this was karmic retribution for trying to kill his step-brother in a previous life.

On a larger scale, karma determines where a person will be reborn and their status in their next life. Good karma can result in being born in one of the heavenly realms. Bad karma can cause rebirth as an animal, or torment in a hell realm.

Buddhists try to cultivate good karma and avoid bad. However, the aim of Buddhism is to escape the cycle of rebirth altogether, not simply to acquire good karma and so to be born into a more pleasant state. These states, while preferable to human life, are impermanent: even gods eventually die.

Self-determined

The word karma means 'action', and this indicates something important about the concept of karma: it is determined by our own actions, in particular by the motives behind intentional actions.

Skilful actions that lead to good karmic outcomes are based upon motives of generosity; compassion, kindness and sympathy, and clear mindfulness or wisdom. The opposite motives of greed, aversion (hatred) and delusion, when acted upon, lead to bad karmic results.

Karma is not an external force, not a system of punishment or reward dealt out by a god. The concept is more accurately understood as a natural law similar to gravity.

Buddhists believe we are in control of our ultimate fates. The problem is that most of us are ignorant of this, which causes suffering. The purpose of Buddhism is to take conscious control of our behaviour.

Moral habits

The Buddha taught about karmic 'conditioning', which is a process by which a person's nature is shaped by their moral actions.

Every action we take molds our characters for the future. Both positive and negative traits can become magnified over time as we fall into habits. All of these cause us to acquire karma.

This shows why Buddhists place such importance on being mindful of every action they take.

Getting rid of karmic conditioning

Acting on karmic habits increases their strength. Buddhists gradually weaken any negative thoughts and impulses that they experience, through allowing them to arise and depart naturally without acting on them.

In this way karmic habits can be broken.

Rebirth and disability

This view of the world can raise a particularly charged question. Do Buddhists believe that disabled people are suffering for misdeeds in a past life?

The subject is more complicated than it appears, says the Venerable Robina Courtin, a Tibetan Buddhist nun, in this radio discussion on religious attitudes to disability.

In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Karma is a concept encountered in several Eastern religions, although having different meanings. Teachings about karma explain that our past actions affect us, either positively or negatively, and that our present actions will affect us in the future.

# data[].attributes.headline
Here is a video that explains karma from a fairly secular perspective.

# data[].attributes.subject
Here is a video that explains karma from a fairly secular perspective.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Karma Is Real | Corey Lerch | TEDxCaryAcademy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Corey explains how karma affects us, not because some supernatural force keeps score, but because the actions we take have direct consequences for our quality of life and for the world we get to live in. Unfortunately, many altruists treat karma as trade or sacrifice; they take on a "give to get" mentality that always yields a net loss.

# data[].attributes.headline
A clear explanation of the six realms of rebirth

# data[].attributes.subject
A clear explanation of the six realms of rebirth

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Six Realms are a description of conditioned existence, or samsara, into which beings are reborn. Although sometimes they are described as "real" places, more often these days they are appreciated as allegories.

The nature of one's existence is determined by karma. Some realms seem more pleasant than others -- heaven sounds preferable to hell -- but all are , meaning they are temporary and imperfect. The Six Realms often are illustrated by the Bhava Chakra, or Wheel of Life.

(These Six Realms are the realms of the world of desire, called Kamadhatu. In ancient Buddhist cosmology, there are Three Worlds containing a total of thirty-one realms. There are Arupyadhatu, the formless world; Rupadhatu, the world of form; and Kamadhatu, the world of desire. Whether it's useful to know anything about the thirty-one realms is a matter to debate, but you might run into them in old texts.)

Please note that in some schools the realms of Devas and Asuras are combined, leaving five realms instead of six.

In Buddhist iconography, a bodhisattva is placed in each realm to help beings out of it. This may be Avalokiteshvara, bodhisattva of compassion. Or it may be Ksitigarbha, who travels to all the realms but who has made a special vow to save those in the hell realm.

As the name suggests, the Hell Realm is the most terrible of the Six Realms. Hell beings have a short fuse; everything makes them angry. And the only way hell beings deal with things that make them angry is through aggression -- attack, attack, attack! They drive away anyone who shows them love and kindness and seek out the company of other hell beings. Unchecked anger and aggression can cause rebirth in the Hell Realm. More "

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Six Realms of Desire in the Buddhist Wheel of Life

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Six Realms are a description of conditioned existence, or samsara, into which beings are reborn. Although sometimes they are described as "real" places, more often these days they are appreciated as allegories. The nature of one's existence is determined by karma.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
nidanas (literally "fetters," but more broadly preconditions) in this chain, and although the picture depicts them in linear fashion, Buddhist scholars take pains to point out multiple possible feedback loops (with one element leading to the next in linear fashion, but also reinforcing other off the elements, and one common metaphor for this process is of water rushing from trickles to streams to rivers to oceans (getting more volume all the time).

# data[].attributes.headline
Samsara, Paticcasamuppada (Dependent Origination) and the Wheel of Life

# data[].attributes.subject
Samsara, Paticcasamuppada (Dependent Origination) and the Wheel of Life

# data[].attributes.body
(Paticcasamuppada is Pratitya samutpada)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Samsara, conditionality and the Wheel of Life

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
An article exploring samsara, the conditioned wheel of life, and how Buddhism use these ideas to describe reality. Religious education resources on Buddhism for students.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Discovering Buddhism Module 6 - All about Karma

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Learn the essential facts about the law of cause and effect. Explore ways to deal with life most effectively and take control of your future! Learn more about Discovering Buddhism at http://fpmt.org/education/programs/discovering-buddhism/. Study Discovering Buddhism courses on the Online Learning Center at at http://onlinelearning.fpmt.org

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.authors[].name
Mindah-Lee Kumar (The Enthusiastic Buddhist)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What is Karma? Definition of the Law of Cause and Effect in Buddhism

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Karma is a complex and often misunderstood concept in Buddhism. Karma means 'action' as well as the law of cause and effect. In this video I explain what karma is and how we can use it to empower ourselves and our lives so that we will only meet with favorable conditions and happiness, now and in the future.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.authors[].name
Mindah-Lee Kumar (The Enthusiastic Buddhist)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Reincarnation, Rebirth, Life After Life & Past Life Evidence

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Life after life, reincarnation and rebirth are fascinating concepts. In Buddhism, life after death is a readily accepted concept, but is it really true? How do we know if we have had multiple lives?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
vinaya samadhi & prajna lecture hall hong ko...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
[English] 12 Dependent Origination - Lecture 1

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
12 Dependent Origination- Lecture 1, by Venerable Guan Cheng at the International Buddhist Temple 觀成法師 主講 英語 十二因緣 第1講

# data[].attributes.headline
This is a really clear explanation of karma and pretty stumped.

# data[].attributes.subject
This is a really clear explanation of karma and pretty stumped.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Talk broadcast on The Buddhist ( http://www.thebuddhist.tv ) television channel in Sri Lanka on practical application of the Buddha's teaching of dependent origination. Please submit questions to my YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/yuttadhammo or Google Moderator: http://www.google.com/moderator/#16/e=1e4f6&v=24 subscribe for updates here: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=yuttadhammo and don't forget to click the "like" button to help promote these videos!