Episode 36: Situations and Choices

The teachings of karma are vast and profound, and they are central to the message of the Buddha  •  the term “karma” is often oversimplified, dumbed down, and intermingled with notions of blame and reward, judgment and punishment  •  but the teachings of karma are not about judgment or punishment; they connect us to a vast interconnected web of cause and effect which is totally impersonal and inexorable  •  a central notion of karma is that our actions matter: every action leaves some kind of an imprint or a result, and every action comes from somewhere  •  action in the dharma can be boiled down to a simple formula: given the situation that I am in, what should I cultivate and what should I refrain from cultivating?  •  the Buddhist view of karma is both realistic and visionary; without choices, without open possibility, there would be no path  •  to a large extent the teachings of Buddha are that we can work with whatever our situation is, no matter how difficult  •  the more we understand the workings of cause and effect, the more the choices that we make can further our understanding and progress on the path of dharma.