Karma is a Buddhist concept of destiny and freedom of will

Karma is a word that can not be translated. One of its main values is the "act". However, in the ancient language of the Hindus (which is called "Sanskrit") there are so many interpretations about karma that it is impossible to decipher it so literally.

If you disclose this value based on the quality of its daily use, then you can notice that a huge part of the semantic load of this word is lost or just lost its clarity. According to a survey among Americans, the following became clear: people believe that karma is fate. And this is necessarily a bad fate, an evil fate, an unchangeable and inconceivable force that originates in the past and is projected for the future. Americans use this word in the sense that it is impossible to fight with karma, and people are powerless in the face of inexorable fate. Therefore, many believe that karma is fatalism, and reject the Eastern concept. After all, according to uneducated people, karma can justify any injustice or suffering: "He is poor, and this is his karma", "She has no children - it's all karmic." From these thoughts one step to the assertion that these people are unequivocal and deserve suffering. To date, however, pseudo-Buddhist concepts have become widespread. Everywhere you can see ads like "diagnosis of karma." In specialized institutions, people are given the opportunity to learn their karma with one hundred percent accuracy. The phrase and "cleansing karma" is popular, and a ritual is performed by a variety of mages, psychics, sorcerers. However, few of them really thought about what he was trying to do.

Mistaken perception is a consequence of the fact that karma is a Buddhist concept that was brought from the East to the West along with a completely non-Buddhist concept. At the moment, to be extremely honest, we can say that many modern Buddhists perceive karma as a fatal fate and evil fate. However, the early primordial tradition shows that this opinion is also erroneous.

In traditional Buddhism, karma is a multifaceted, non-linear and complex concept. Strangely enough, but in this issue the past is given not so much importance in contrast to the views of modern Americans. Many pre-Buddhist schools in India believed that karmic responsibility goes along a straight linear trajectory, that is, actions in the distant past uniquely affect the future and the present. However, such a concept implied the limited freedom of choice of a person. Buddhists looked at the question a little differently.

For followers of the teachings of Prince Siddhartha Gautama, karma is a complex network of cause-effect feedbacks, in which the present moment is formed by past, and present, and even future actions. Therefore the present is not necessarily absolutely predetermined by the past. The nature of this perception of karma is symbolized by the flow of water. Thus, karma is not submissive powerlessness. This is the idea that a person can release his latent possibilities at the moment. After all, what's important is not where you came from. The motives of the mind are important in a given second.