At the most exoteric level of understanding Karma is explained in way not very different from the Christian/Islamic idea of heaven and hell. Basically when you die you appear before Yama, the lord of death, and your good karma is weighed against your bad and the balance sheet indicates what kind of rebirth you will get. In the case of Buddhism there are Six Possible Major Realms you can go. Three are considered, more or less unfortunate and three, more or less fortunate. Each realm has sub realms and, in all, they form a continuum from extreme happiness to Extreme Suffering, Heaven to Hell. It should be noted that this does significantly deviate from the common Christian and Islamic conception in that ones existence in any of these realms is never eternal. At this level of conception Karma is view more or less as a system of reward and punishment. To all further understandings, this level of understanding is known as a provisional truth. There is no external being distributing reward and punishment. It is only true for the result it brings. It has no other basis. The result it brings is the guidance of behavior of those who because of the depth of their delusion can’t comprehend any more subtle understanding and only be motivated by fear of punishment and hope for reward. This is an important developmental crutch for those who need it. The Behaviors that are thought at this level to lead to punishment tend to obscure the mind in ways that prevent more subtle understanding from being possible and the ones thought of as leading to reward create potentials that can lead to greater understanding. So however limited this level of view is it serves an invaluable function for those whose developmental stage requires it.
At the next level of understanding, Karma is understood to be simply a revelation of the mechanics of cause and effects. The behaviors that were thought to bring punishment are now understood to simply create causes that result in undesirable effects and the behaviors that were thought to bring reward are now understood to simply create causes that result in desirable results. Even to deeper levels of understanding this understanding is not considered provisional because it accurate as far as it goes. Causes do create corresponding results. Apple seeds produce Apple trees and more apples not lemons. From here on, the deeper levels of exposition simply convey more subtlety and nuance as to how it actually works.
At the next level of understanding it understood that the motivation for actions shapes the kind of effects that will result. This doesn’t negate the previous understanding. Causes do lead to effects. However the motivation for actions greatly effect the kind of cause that is created and thus the effect. Lying to protect you own ego creates a different result then lying to protect the feelings of someone else. Telling your grandmother that she looks very beautiful in her Easter dress, even though you think it is ugly will create a positive cause even though lying in general should be avoided, if the reason really is compassion towards your grandmas feelings. Now if you said the same lie because grandma can be very sharp tongued herself and you just didn’t want to listen to her berate you then the cause created would be different.
At still subtler levels karma is seen to operate by reinforcing that state of consciousness and style of perception that engender a behavior. A simplistic example is that killing reinforces the perception that the world is hostile, causing one to perceive threat and be hostile, leading to situations that such a person feels the need to kill.
I am only giving the barest of explanations of the Buddhist view of karma here because my purpose is to convey understanding of how relative truths change according to the development of individuals. I will be talking at great lengths about Karma in future posts because it is an often misunderstood topic that has great relevance to Global Alchemy.
In my next post I will explore another example from Buddhism to illustrate the Principle of Two Truths.