July–September 2016, Volume 43
Features
Contemporary Ideas about Karma
Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines karma as “the force generated by a person’s actions held in Hinduism and Buddhism to perpetuate transmigration and in its ethical consequences to determine the nature of the person’s next existence.” Karma is a fundamental Buddhist concept. Buddhists hold that wholesome deeds and intentions create beneficial karma, and unwholesome deeds and intentions create harmful karma.
The consequences of a person’s deeds might not be revealed in his or her present life, but only in subsequent lives. This is why some people might not seem to “reap what they sow.”
It is questionable whether all Buddhists have subscribed to the doctrines of rebirth and karma as elaborated above. Over time, ways of mitigating or reversing the effects of karma appeared in Buddhist traditions, and many contemporary Buddhists believe in transmigration but do not think their everyday behavior will affect their future lives. Some may even reject karma and rebirth as fatalistic justifications for prejudice, such as sexual discrimination, or for such misfortunes as poverty, physical disability, and natural disasters.
What is karma? How do people today understand it? We may need to rethink karma, an important Buddhist concept that has often been misinterpreted and exploited for various reasons, so that Buddhism will continue to be a spiritual guide for people’s thoughts and deeds.
Understanding Karma for Today
by Dominick Scarangello
What Does Karma Really Mean?
by David R. Loy
The true focus of the karma teaching is not on the consequences (effects) but on one’s actions (causes).
Karma as the Constructive Activity of Experience
by Maria Heim
Karma . . . is not so much reaping what one sows but the constant work of fashioning who one becomes.
Chinese Buddhist Perspectives on Karma
by Beverley McGuire
Neither a theodicy nor a license to judge other people’s actions, karma provides a means of confronting and responding to one’s own life and morality, but the most honest stance toward other people’s suffering is that of extreme humility.
All Sentient Beings Are Bodhisattvas
by Fumihiko Sueki
Modern Buddhists have . . . concealed [the] doctrine of karma and the cycle of rebirth or have sought to abandon it as violating the true teachings of the Buddha. But are they right to do so? Should we reject the concept of past and future lives and assume that our few decades in this life are all there is?
Reviewing the Buddha’s Teaching on Karma and Its Social Ramifications
by Jonathan S. Watts
The Buddha repudiated both past karmic determinism (pubbekaṭavāda) and theistic determinism (issarakaraṇavāda), because they lead to passive resignation and discourage taking action that can be of direct benefit.
Essay
Discovering the Lotus on This Shore:
by Jon Holt
Miyazawa wrote stories and poems in order to help others understand, venerate, and propagate the Lotus. In doing so, he created works that are both very Japanese and very worldly.
The Actual Refugee Crisis in Europe
by Ignacio Marqués
We have seen European leaders meeting in Brussels to consider the promise of providing more facilities to Turkey if it agrees to stop the crowds of refugees and allow them to remain in its territory, forbidding their access to EU countries.
Niwano Peace Prize
Abiding by the Laws of Interdependence The 33rd Niwano Peace Prize Acceptance Address
by Dishani Jayaweera, Cofounder of the Centre for Peace Building and Reconciliation
The Niwano Peace Foundation awarded the thirty-third Niwano Peace Prize on May 12 to the Centre for Peace Building and Reconciliation (CPBR) of Sri Lanka for its distinguished contributions to peace building and reconciliation in Sri Lanka during and after the country’s twenty-six-year civil war and its help in rebuilding a society that honors diversity. The presentation ceremony took place in Tokyo. In addition to an award certificate, CPBR received a medal and twenty million Japanese yen. The cofounder’s acceptance speech follows.
