Buddhist Karma in simple terms

Lately, I’ve been reading a book from 17th century China by a famous Buddhist named Oǔ-YÌ (蕅益, 1599- 1655) who provided a commentary on the Amitabha Sutra, one of my personal favorite sutras.²

Towards the beginning he writes the following:

When you plant melon seeds you get melons, and when you plant bean seeds you get beans. [Effect follows cause] like a shadow follows a physical shape like an echo responds to a sound. Nothing is sown in vain. This is called “believe in the result.”
(trans. by J. C. Cleary)

Ou-Yi was writing with particular attention to developing a sense of faith in one’s efforts in Buddhism, but when I read this, it struck me as a very succinct way of understanding karma in Buddhism. If you plant melon seeds, they bring forth melons, not pumpkins. If you plant beans seeds, in time they will bear beans, not apples.

So, when looking at your own conduct, what actions are you committing? Based on that, what sort of fruit do you think they will naturally bear?

But let’s take one step further back and look a certain sutra in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, the Nibbedhika Sutta (AN 6.63):

The Buddha: “Intention, I tell you, is kamma. Intending, one does kamma by way of body, speech, & intellect.”
(trans. by Ven. Bhikkhu Thannisaro)

The word kamma is another word for karma. This quotation by the Buddha reiterates this point: karma begins with intention. People like to focus on the action part of it, but action doesn’t happen if you don’t have intention first.

So, if you are concerned by the conduct you are committing and the fruit it will bear, step back and ask yourself: what is your intention? While you’re at it, also consider the impact those actions will have on your own mind and further actions.

This sense of reflection into oneself, one’s mind, one’s actions, and one’s interaction with the world is Buddhism in a nutshell.

Namu Amida Butsu

P.S. This post is in honor of Hōnen, the founder of Jodo Shu Buddhism in Japan. He passed away this day in 1212, and his death is still observed yearly in a holiday called Gyoki-e (御忌会).

P.P.S. If you’re interested in reading more from Ou-Yi, you can order a free copy from the The Corporate Body of the Buddha Educational Foundation.

P.P.P.S. The Ven. Bhikkhu Thannisaro provides a nicely written article about karma too if you’d like to read more. The term bhikkhu is the proper term for a Buddhist monk, just as we call Jewish priests rabbis and the leader of an Islamic Mosque is called an imam. Buddhist ‘nuns’ are called bhikkhunis by the way.

¹ Pronounced “owe-ee”.

² Apparently Ou-Yi’s too. He wrote on the sutra prolifically toward the end of his life as the culmination of decades spent in Buddhist practice, study and ascetic training. He lived to witness the collapse of society at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and felt the Amitabha Sutra and Pure Land Buddhist teachings were particularly apt for a broad range of people in such a chaotic time.