Karma, the action of body, speech, and mind, affects every aspect of our life.

Actions affect both doers

The law of karma is one of the most important laws governing our lives. When we understand it, and live
our understanding, when we act on what we know, then we experience a sense of wholeness and peace. If
we live in a way that is out of harmony, ignoring the nature of things, we then experience dissonance, pain,
and confusion. The law of karma is one of the fundamental natural laws through which we create these
vastly different realities. It is as though we are all artists, but instead of canvas and paint, or marble or
music, as our medium, our very bodies, minds, and life experience are the materials of our creative
expression. A great sense of fulfillment in dharma practice comes from knowing this and from actively
creating and fashioning our lives.

Karma is a Sanskrit word (kamma in Pali) that means “action.” The law of karma refers to the law of cause
and effect: that every volitional act brings about a certain result. If we act motivated by greed, hatred, or
delusion, we are planting the seed of suffering; when our acts are motivated by generosity, love, or
wisdom, then we are creating the karmic conditions for abundance and happiness. An analogy from the
physical world illustrates this: if we plant an apple seed, the tree that grows will bear apples, not mangoes.
And once the apple seed is planted, no amount of manipulation or beseeching or complaining will induce
the tree to yield a mango. The only meaningful action that will produce a mango is to plant a mango seed.
Karma is just such a law of nature, the law of cause and effect on the psychophysical plane.

The Buddha used the term karma specifically referring to volition, the intention or motive behind an action.
He said that karma is volition, because it is the motivation behind the action that determines the karmic
fruit. Inherent in each intention in the mind is an energy powerful enough to bring about subsequent results.
When we understand that karma is based on volition, we can see the enormous responsibility we have to
become conscious of the intentions that precede our actions. If we are unaware of the motives in our minds,
when unskillful volitions arise we may unmindfully act on them and thus create the conditions for future
suffering.

The law of karma can be understood on two levels, which indicate the vast scope of its implications in our
lives. On one level, karma refers to the experience of cause and effect over a period of time. We perform an
action, and sometime later we begin to experience its results. We plant a mango seed, and many years later
we taste the fruit. The other level of understanding karma has to do with the quality of mind in the very
moment of action. When we experience a mind state of love, there comes naturally, along with it, a feeling
of openness and love that is its immediate fruit; similarly, when there are moments of greed or hatred, in
addition to whatever future results will come, we also experience the painful energies that arise with those
states. Our direct awareness of how the karmic law is working in each moment can be a strong motivation
to develop skillful states of mind that create happiness for us in the moment, as well as produce the fruit of
well-being in the future.

Another dimension of the law of karma helps in understanding how individual personalities develop. While
it is true that there is no enduring entity, no unchanging self that can be called “I,” it is also quite obvious
that each of us is a uniquely changing and recognizable pattern of elements. This comes about because each
of us has in our own way, both consciously and unconsciously, cultivated different mind states. If we
cultivate loving-kindness, we experience its taste in the moment and at the same time are strengthening it
as a force in the mind, making it easier for it to arise again. When we are angry, we experience the
suffering of that anger as present karma and are also strengthening that particular pattern of mind. Just as
we condition our bodies in different ways through exercise or lack of it, so we also condition our minds.
Every mind state, thought, or emotion that we experience repeatedly becomes stronger and more
habituated. Who we are as personalities is a collection of all the tendencies of mind that have been
developed, the particular energy configurations we have cultivated.

We tend not to pay attention to this conditioning factor of our experience, thinking instead that once an
experience has passed it is gone without residue or result. That would be like dropping a stone in water
without creating any ripples. Each mind state that we experience further conditions and strengthens it.
When we see how this is happening in our own minds, we begin to get an intuitive sense of something the
Buddha spoke of often in his teachings, the conditionality of the six realms of existence. These six realms
are the manifestations of strongly developed patterns of mind. They refer to the different realities we
experience from moment to moment, and also to the actual planes of existence in which beings are reborn
according to their karma.

According to the Buddha’s teachings there are six realms or planes of existence: the four lower realms of
suffering, the human realm, and the higher planes of the various heaven worlds. The lower realms are
conditioned by intense anger, hatred, greed, and delusion, and when we cultivate these states, developing
them as a pattern of response to situations, they become a strong force in the mind. Not only do we then
experience the present karma of the painful feelings in the moment, but we also create the conditions for
possible rebirth in realms of terrible suffering.

The human realm is the first of the happy planes of existence. It is said to be the most conducive for
developing wisdom and compassion because of its particular mixture of pain and pleasure. In the lower
realms the intensity and degree of suffering is too great for most beings to develop wholesome qualities of
mind, while in the higher planes of existence everything is so blissful that there is little inspiration to
practice. It is precisely the combination of pain and pleasure in the human realm that provides the best
circumstances for deep understanding and realization.

We take birth as human beings conditioned by a basic attitude of generosity and nonharming. These mind
states create the powerful karmic force that results in birth in this realm, and indeed, these qualities of mind
reflect a true humaneness. When generosity and morality are practiced and developed even further, they
condition rebirth in the deva realm, the heavenly planes of existence. In these deva worlds everything is
pleasant, beings have refined bodies of light, and there are delightful sense objects on all sides.

The highest planes of conditioned existence are the brahma realms. They are characterized by great bliss,
which is a happiness beyond sensual pleasure and is the result of the cultivation of a deep concentration of
mind known as absorption. Understanding the law of karma is known as the light of the world because
through this understanding we can take responsibility for our destinies and be more truly guided to greater
fulfillment in our lives.