Karma is a central concept for understanding life and spiritual cultivation. Many people view karma as a mere story, failing to accept and understand its impact on life's trajectory. Only by truly grasping its importance can we gain the willpower to face and handle karma.
The Birth of Life and Karma
To understand karma, one must first explore what it means to be living. Life is filled with "impermanence"; all people and things are transient. Beyond the worries of material needs, people must also face spiritual emptiness and interpersonal entanglements. Many people, even if they possess everything, still feel empty and fearful, knowing that everything they have will eventually be lost. However, the root of the problem is not "impermanence," but our lack of deep exploration into the meaning of life. The purpose of life is:
Experience and Growth: To constantly learn and grow in the "game" of life.
Embodiment of Karma: Life is a manifestation of cause and effect, which can be changed through spiritual practice.
Seeing Through Illusion: Life is an interweaving of illusion and reality, and through awakening, one can discern the truth beneath the illusion.
A Ladder to a Higher Realm: Life is a ladder for spiritual cultivation, helping us transcend worldly limitations and eventually attain enlightenment.
Therefore, the core principle is this:
It is not that "karma" precedes "life"; rather, it is because "life" exists that "karma" is created.
Life specifically refers to a spirit's existence in the "human realm." In the animal kingdom, the law of the jungle prevails, and there is no karmic retribution. However, in the human realm, actions (or inactions) produce karma. For example, killing someone will not only be punished by worldly laws but will also require a karmic settlement in the next life. This means that resolving karma is a necessary part of spiritual cultivation and a key step towards enlightenment and achieving one's righteous fruit.
The Three Classes of Karma in the Mortal World
It is essential to recognise that there are three classifications of karma we need to know and understand.
1. The First Classification: All Karma
This refers to the totality of karma accumulated across all lifetimes since your first incarnation in the human realm. For a spirit that has reincarnated dozens of times, the accumulated karma can be immense. To face and resolve it all at once is an almost impossible task that would cause extreme suffering and might lead one to give up. However, there is a key point here: if a person has never awakened their wisdom or explored the meaning of life in as many lifetimes before, their habits, mindset, and behavioural patterns will be very similar in each life. This causes them to repeatedly attract people and situations with whom they have past-life connections, re-enacting similar karmic scenarios or consequences within a familiar circle. In other words, your actions (or inactions) are predictable. Understanding this provides an opportunity for change.
2. The Second Classification: "Three-Lifetime Karma"
This is a more manageable system established by divinity to help sentient beings. It means that in this life, you are meant to face and resolve the main karmic issues created in two of your past lives (they may not refer to your immediate past lives). For example, if you may have failed "History" six lifetimes ago and "Mathematics" two past lives ago, the divine might have you retake both subjects in this life. This system does not overwhelm or render you helpless; rather, it provides a clear "syllabus" for your trials or tests in this life, allowing you to review and correct your thoughts and actions in a targeted manner. If you can accept and diligently face your "Three-Lifetime Karma," even if you don't achieve full enlightenment in this lifetime, the wisdom you gain will be carried into your next life. Because it reflects the core patterns of your total karma, handling it is equivalent to dealing with the root problem of all your accumulated karma.
3. The Third Classification: Karma Created in This Life
This refers to new karmic conditionings that are created in your current existence. If a person does not believe in karma and is careless in their speech or actions, they will add additional karmic burdens to their next life. There are two main ways to create karma in this life:
Creating Karma with Others:
This involves forming resentment and hatred toward people, leading to disputes and the creation of "karmic creditors." Creditors can be reborn (like family or colleagues, whom you must face and resolve issues on your own) or unborn (spirits who have received a mandate to pursue a debt owed to them in a previous life or those who slander you in the netherworld). In this century, unborn karmic creditors are resolved by the Divine Court of Adjudication through a "court trial" model to ensure fair resolution and prevent future entanglements.
Creating Karma with Oneself:
This means being difficult with oneself, for example, through an excessive sense of responsibility, arrogance, negativity, or overthinking. This leads to emotional turmoil, depression, and further harms interpersonal relationships by projecting one's karma onto others.
How to Overcome Karma?
Overcoming karma does not mean choosing a life of seclusion, as that only resolves karma with oneself; karma with others must still be faced. This explains why many who were monks or nuns in past lives must return to secular life to resolve their entanglements with others. Therefore, the true way to overcome karma is to face life and actively resolve it while living in this world. The keys to overcoming karma are:
Managing Emotions: Emotions accumulated through reincarnation (for example, anger, jealousy and fear) directly influence our behaviour in this life. We must recognise the roots of these emotions and understand that a strong reaction to someone may stem from an unresolved issue from a past life.
Observing the Ego: The "ego" is the sense of self-identity created for self-preservation and recognition. It amplifies our emotions, justifies feelings of anger and resentment, and resists "letting go," thus creating more karma. One must consciously strive to transcend its influence.
Practical Methods: Techniques such as meditation, practising forgiveness, reframing one's mindset, self-inquiry, and journaling can be used for assistance.
In conclusion, the trials on our life's path, especially our "Three-Lifetime Karma," are the cultivation assignments given to us by Divinity. If we can pass these tests, we have the opportunity to elevate our spiritual level and even achieve enlightenment within this lifetime.