Past Karmas are the Cause

 

Question: I want to know why bad things happen to good people.  My mom is one of the most amazing and kind people that I have ever known.  She has been kind and compassionate to many people over the course of my lifetime that I have witnessed.  I want to know why she hasn't had a more pleasant life? 

Response: I am so sorry to hear about your mother's difficult life. Our current lives are the result of our past karmas. When good people suffer, they are undergoing the retribution for past misdeeds. By not complaining and trying to help others, your mother is repaying her past debts and planting the seeds for a better future lifetime. And it is possible that she has already begun to improve her life through her kindness to others. As difficult as her life has been, it might have "supposed" to have been even worse.  So her compassion to so many people may have already helped her. We just don't know.

I watched my mother suffer from loneliness in the last few years of her life and do understand your pain for your mother. One day, about a year after my mother had died, something shifted and the daughter in me realized what the nun in me had been saying for many years. All beings in samsara suffer, each in their own way. When there is life, there is suffering.

But the suffering can end. And through our devotion to our parents and our dedication to our practice, we can help ease that suffering. This is the very motivation that enables us to keep going when continuing becomes so difficult.

Going Up?

At the end of the Amitabha Sutra, the Buddha explained that the Pure Land method is hard to believe. What did he mean by this?

Briefly, belief in other methods can increase gradually, but in Pure Land Buddhism one is taking a giant step from samsara (the cycle of rebirth) to the Western Pure Land. Belief is much harder because the step is so high we can’t see over the top. With other methods, we can see what’s on the next step so it’s easier to believe.

Imagine coming from a land where there is much suffering and arriving in a new land. In our old land, we only had small single-story dwellings. But in this new place we see a building that is very high. A kind-looking gentleman smiles gently at us. We approach and ask what is at the top of the building.

The gentleman replies that it is a wonderful place for it doesn’t have all the suffering that our land does. He then tells us that we can go up the building and live at the top if we would like. We ask how we can do that.

He points to some steps and says we can take those but it will take us a very long time. He then points to some closed doors and says that, alternatively, we could take the elevator, which will safely and quickly take us to the top.

We can see the gradual rise of the steps and so we’re okay with the idea of walking up them. But what about this magical device called elevator? What if the apparently nice gentleman isn’t telling us the truth? What if he doesn’t really know what’s at the top of the building? Wouldn’t it be safer to just take the steps?

This is essentially the newcomer’s predicament. We tend to doubt the “quick fix.” In most situations, this is very wise. But doubting the efficacy of the Pure Land method will result in not only our continued suffering, but the suffering of those we wish to help as well.

Mother and Child

One morning, in the spring of 2004, I opened my window blinds, sat down at my desk in front of the window, and glanced out to look at the lawn and pond. Several yards in front of the window, I saw a tiny bunny hovering over the body of a full-grown rabbit. The rabbit had apparently died in a small indentation, about a yard across, in the ground. Throughout the day, I watched as the young bunny ran back and forth over and over across the lawn chasing away a large bird that was trying to get at the dead rabbit.

When not chasing the bird, the bunny bit off mouthfuls of the tall grass growing in the indentation, went to the rabbit, and placed the grass on top of the body. The process took considerable time, as the bunny had to keep chasing off the hungry bird at the same time. The bunny was still trying to fend off the bird when I shut my window blinds that evening.

One morning in the spring of 2005, I saw a grown rabbit hop straight to the spot where the other rabbit had been buried. The rabbit rearranged what remained of the still discernible mound of grass and then hopped back the way it had come from around the side of the building. I did not see the rabbit in 2006, nor in 2007 as I was then working in another room.

It is now spring, 2008. Late Monday night, I returned to the US from two months in Australia. Tuesday, I woke up in the afternoon trying to readjust to a very different time zone. Wednesday was my first morning in about eighteen months to work at my desk in my old spot in front of the window.

The thick grass outside my window was deep and due for the weekly cutting. I could still see the spot where the rabbit had died for the grass has yet to cover the “burial mound.” As I watched, I saw a rabbit come around from the side of the building and hop straight to the spot. It remained a few seconds and hopped off a bit to the left of the spot. Then it hopped straight back to the spot, rearranged some of the dead grass, paused a few seconds, and hopped right back the way it had come from around the side of the building.

Affinities span many lifetimes. They do not involve just human beings. And just as humans can be filial children, other beings can as well.

Is it Really Unfair?

 

Question: I have deep faith in Buddhism as a logical and systematic approach, almost philosophical, to life. But the other bits of it, the rebirth bits (where do we find proof? I know many people are said to be able to remember their past lives but perhaps they're just over imaginative? coincidental recounting of incidents that are taken as one's past life, or even schizophrenic people?), as well as the parts of being reborn in the Pure Land if one were to harbour pure thoughts while reciting Namo Amitabha - but how can it be fair to the poor man who spends his entire life reciting it well but nearing his death, loses concentration for a split second because of something beyond his control, e.g loud noise outside his hospital ward which is something beyond his control, thus, losing a wonderful chance to be reborn in the Pure Land, as opposed to someone who has never chanted Namo Amitabha and suddenly, converts to a Pure Land follower and goes to the Pure Land just before he dies? It's so unfair.

Response: First, those who can truly remember their past lives are extremely rare and have much good fortune. Others may be "over imaginative" as you said or perhaps unable to really tell what the "memories" are.

Second, those who are reborn in the Pure Land exhibit certain signs such as saying in advance when they will pass from this life, passing away without any sign of illness, passing away at will, remaining standing or sitting after passing. Or the body may remain flexible and maintain a good color many hours after death. The signs indicating rebirth are to be carefully checked and validated before being made public. 

As for the conditions surrounding our death, we need to conserve our good fortune to create the right condition as we are dying. No other time is as important as this as our last moments lead us to our future rebirths. The person who suddenly encounters bad conditions, like that loud noise, did not have enough good fortune to ensure a peaceful, quiet environment. 

And that person who hears of the Pure Land at the last moments and dies while chanting is unbelievably rare! We cannot count on that happening to us. This exceptional occurrence happens because the person was a practitioner in past lifetimes and conserved his good fortune in this lifetime. So he had the wonderful conditions to be conscious, to encounter a good spiritual advisor, to immediately and completely believe in the Pure Land, and to be able to practice, all while facing death. The coming together of all these conditions is unbelievably rare and the direct result of profound previous practice.    

Neither Judge, Jury, nor Executioner

Question: You mentioned in an earlier posting about the Buddha saying that we are not to go teach other people or point out their mistakes. Yet, when I meet a bad encounter (e.g someone being racially discriminating to me, or seeing someone do something bad to another person, which makes me want to raise the issue to the someone/the authorities so that this may stop in future, etc), I am so tempted, in my anger, to do something to that person. I tell myself that this thing I am doing to them, is the effect of the bad 'deed' they have just committed. What is your take on this?

Response: When we react out of anger, we are not benefiting anyone because we are merely planting more seeds for anger. Anger—righteous or otherwise—always makes a situation worse. It might seem to help for the moment, but we will have merely postponed the acrimony through our failure to act wisely. Acting wisely occurs when we are calm and thinking logically and intuitively.

While our reaction may be the effect of their cause of getting angry, if we choose to "deliver" the cause, especially out of anger, we will become further tangled in the karmic situation. It is not our place to dispense justice. The wrongdoer will receive the retribution for what he or she has done as cause and effect is a natural, universal law. So the question in casualty is not "if" but "when."

Also, your compulsion to become involved likely comes about because you are already involved in the karmic situation from a past lifetime. So if you do consciously choose to intervene now, you need to do so out of right intentions and wisdom or you yourself will suffer more in the future. If you are able to act wisely and calmly, you have the possibility to settle this karma link.