Thursday, August 14, 2008

BUDDHIST THEORY: Karma 3

Recently, I have found troubles arising from the karmic residue caused by an omission. Taking this as an example, I can show you how karma works for me.

It was a bitterly cold winter morning and I was neither rushed not at leisure. I had a lot to do, but enough time to do it in. I was walking from the mall to the store, having collecting my tax forms from the news agency when I saw a blind lady walking along the side of the pathway with the aid of a stick. My initial reaction was to ensure I did not get in her way, but then I saw there was a fallen piece of tree in her path, a little ahead, that she would soon encounter via her white stick.

My mind filled naturally with the urge to remove the storm-fall, so as not to inconvenience the woman. However, my mind also filled with thoughts such as:

* suppose she tripped over me, trying to help, instead of the stick on the ground

* she was too close to it already for me to help in time, perhaps

* she might get confused by my presence, if something rushed in front of her

Because of these thoughts, I knew I had two choices - to speak first, and then to remove the small branch from her path, or to walk on past and ignore the situation. I chose the wrong option and paid for it karmicly. I will explain the results of my choice in my next post.

1 comment:

Name: Holly Bowne said...

A cliffhanger! I am very curious to hear how this turned out.