Before I begin, I would like to make one thing clear. What I am about to share should not be understood as a strictly orthodox doctrinal interpretation of Buddhism. Rather, it is my personal understanding, drawn from many years of Buddhist practice, meditation, and reflection on the workings of the mind.
As we go through life, good things happen to us and bad things happen to us.
Yet sometimes we see people who spend their lives doing good and helping others, while little good fortune seems to come their way.
This may lead us to wonder: “What is the point of doing good? If I create wholesome karma but receive nothing good in return during this lifetime, does it really matter?”
We also see the opposite.
Some people harm others, behave selfishly, and create suffering, yet appear to live comfortably and successfully. Then people ask:“If karma really exists, why is that person doing so well?”
We often understand karma through a simple principle: Good actions bring good results. Harmful actions bring negative results.
I believe that the law of causes and conditions does operate. But why, then, does the reality before our eyes sometimes seem to contradict this?
I would like to explore this question through the Yogacara concept of alaya-vijnana, the storehouse consciousness, and its relationship to karma.
Pouring clear water Into muddy water
Imagine a large container filled with very muddy water. I use this muddy water as an analogy for the countless karmic seeds accumulated in the alaya-vijnana through previous lives and our present life.
Now suppose that a person begins to live differently. He helps others, practices generosity, sincerely repents his harmful actions, meditates, and works to purify his mind. I think of these actions as gradually pouring clean water into the muddy water.
If you pour one bowl of clean water into a huge container of muddy water, will the entire container suddenly become clear?
Probably not.
From the outside, it may appear that almost nothing has changed. But does this mean the clean water had no effect?
No.
Even if we cannot see it clearly, the cloudiness has become slightly weaker.
Pour in another bowl, then another, and continue doing so. Eventually, the water must surely change.
This is how I understand wholesome actions, merit, repentance, and spiritual practice. Performing one good deed does not mean that something wonderful must happen to us the following day.
If the karmic tendencies accumulated over a very long period are powerful, the change may not yet be visible. But just because we cannot see the effect does not mean that wholesome karma is having no effect.
We see only the broken arm
Let me offer a more extreme analogy.
Once again, I am not claiming that karma doctrinally or mechanically operates in exactly the way described in this example. This is simply an analogy for explaining how I have come to understand, through my own practice, the relationship between karma and conditions.
Suppose a person’s past karma and surrounding conditions could potentially come together in a serious accident. Imagine that, under one set of conditions, a car accident might result in severe injuries to both legs.
But throughout life, this person continually performs wholesome actions, accumulates merit, sincerely repents, and cultivates the mind.
We might imagine that these wholesome actions interact with existing karmic conditions and lessen the severity of what eventually occurs. Instead of suffering devastating injuries to both legs, perhaps the person experiences a smaller accident and fractures an arm.
Yet while looking at the arm in a cast, that person might think: “I have tried to live a good life, and I still broke my arm. What was the point of doing all those good deeds?”
But what are we actually seeing?
We see only the broken arm. We cannot see what did not happen. We cannot know whether greater suffering was avoided, whether certain conditions were weakened, or whether another outcome never came to fruition.
As ordinary beings, we do not possess the wisdom to perceive the entire network of causes and conditions. We can see the result that occurred. We cannot see the result that did not occur.
To me, this is a very important point when considering karma.
The same can be said of harmful karma
Now consider the opposite.
Suppose someone’s past karma and conditions might otherwise have resulted only in a relatively minor injury. But throughout the present life, this person continually harms others, deceives people, causes suffering, and creates further unwholesome karma.
I believe it is possible to understand those new actions as interacting with existing karmic conditions and contributing to a heavier result. What might have been a fractured arm could, in our analogy, become an accident resulting in severe injuries to both legs.
Yet an outside observer might say: “That person has done terrible things for years, and all that happened was one accident. Perhaps karma does not exist.”
But we do not know.
We do not know what karmic conditions were already present. We do not know what became lighter. We do not know what became heavier. All we can see is the single result that finally appeared before us.
For this reason, we should be very careful about judging another person’s karma merely by looking at the circumstances of that person’s present life.
Why we must cultivate the mind throughout our lives
This brings me to something I consider extremely important in practice.
We must continue cultivating and purifying the mind throughout our lives. We gradually work to purify the clouded karmic tendencies accumulated within the alaya-vijnana.
Return to the analogy of muddy water.
One bowl of clean water will not instantly make a large container of muddy water clear. But what happens if we continue pouring clean water into it, day after day?
Gradually, the cloudiness begins to fade.
I believe repentance and spiritual practice work in much the same way. If we live with sincere repentance, examine our own actions, perform good deeds, practice generosity, meditate, and continually observe our own minds, then the power of deeply accumulated karmic impurities can gradually be purified.
This is why spiritual practice is not something we do for one day and then finish. One meditation session does not erase all karma the following morning. Practice is the work of a lifetime.
The Buddha also walked the path of practice
Before awakening, the Buddha too walked the path of practice within the cycle of birth and death. Through sustained meditation, spiritual discipline, wisdom, and purification of mind, he overcame the defilements and realized awakening.
From the perspective of my own practice, I understand this as a process of continually purifying the clouded karmic tendencies accumulated within consciousness until the originally pure nature of mind is revealed.
Some later or expanded traditions associated with Yogacara describe a completely purified dimension of consciousness in terms of a ninth consciousness, amala-vijnana, or “immaculate consciousness.”
Again, I am not presenting this as a definitive statement of orthodox Yogacara doctrine. As I stated at the beginning, I am describing the relationship between karma and consciousness as I have come to understand it through my own years of practice.
What we cannot see
If you do good and good fortune does not immediately appear, do not be discouraged. And when you see someone behaving badly while apparently enjoying a successful life, do not conclude that karma does not exist.
We cannot see the countless karmic tendencies accumulated within another person or all the causes and conditions surrounding them. We see only the single result appearing before us at this moment.
We can see the broken arm, but we cannot see the legs that were not lost.
Wholesome actions are not lost. Harmful actions are not lost either.
And at this very moment, through our thoughts, words, and actions, we continue to create karma and leave new impressions upon the mind. Therefore, rather than calculating the karma of others, we should first look into our own minds.
Today, pour another bowl of clean water into the muddy water.
Repent a mistake.
Perform one more good deed.
Show compassion to another person.
Look into your own mind one more time.
Do not become discouraged simply because the water does not immediately become clear.
If we continue pouring in clean water, the cloudiness will gradually fade. That, to me, is the life of a practitioner.
Just because we cannot see a change does not mean that no change is taking place. The mind we purify today changes the person we become tomorrow. And when that practice continues day after day, it becomes a force through which our karma can gradually be purified.
Venerable Tanmyeong
Zen seeker on the path
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