As many fans of the hit NBC show My Name is Earl may know, the lead character Earl decides to live his life making amends for the bad things he has done in accordance with the divine principle of Karma. In his simplified words, the truth behind karma is, “Do good things and good things happen.” However the concept of karma isn’t that simple.
The basic definition of karma is simple enough. If translated from Sanskrit, it simply implies a meaning of action. To be more specific, Pandit Shriram Sharma Acharya says in The Absolute Law of Karma that “Karma covers any kind of physical, verbal, mental, or social activity.” There are two different schools of thought, however, on how karma, the actions people take, affect lives.
Traditional notions of karma follow the same concept hinted at in My Name is Earl. Actions in the past affect the present, and the actions of both the past and present affect the future. When people mention karma in their daily life, this is the version they are putting faith in. This idea of karma also implies the idea of destiny, that everyone has a fate from which he can’t escape.
The other insight, which follows more in line with Buddhist beliefs, is one that contradicts the previous notion by instilling the idea of free will. Yes, past actions can influence the present, but at the same, actions occurring in the present moment affect not only what might happen in the future, but also what is happening at that very moment. Also, sometimes past actions will have little or no bearing at all.
The image Thanissaro Bhikkhu presents in the article “Karma” to illustrate this idea is water. Bhikkhu states, “Sometimes the flow from the past is so strong that little can be done except to stand fast, but there are also times when the flow is gentle enough to be diverted in almost any direction.”
Perhaps the simple wisdom from My Name is Earl isn’t so bad after all. Doing good things might not guarantee a good result, but it couldn’t hurt.