ABSTRACT

Karma literally means action. Actions have causes and in turn beget consequences. Thus the law of karma is often described as the law of cause and effect. The premise that all actions have causes that in turn generate effects potentially provides the ground for a complex ethics of action. The relevance of reincarnation to karma rests in the fact that, within a Hindu and Buddhist frame, karma is accumulated and the effects of one’s actions can be dispersed across lifetimes. Individual karma is intertwined with collective karma — be it familial, caste, gender, regional, national, planetary, to name but a few. The evaluation of karma as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ subscribes to a worldly assessment of these terms. In so doing this mode of reasoning belies its so-called spiritual basis. Living thus by the principles of karma, reincarnation and dependent co-arising enables us to commit to a present and future that honours the reality of our complex interdependence.