The word ‘karma’ is bandied about so much in popular culture, it’s often hard to understand what it actually means. We talk of ‘good karma’ and ‘bad karma’ to describe everything from the atmosphere in a bar to how we feel on a particular day. So before taking up the question, “How do I know if I’ve changed my karma?” let’s look at what the word means from the standpoint of Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism.

The Sanskrit word karma originally meant action. Buddhism further defines this as mental, verbal or physical action that imprints a latent effect in one’s life. When activated by an external stimulus it produces a corresponding effect. So according to this concept, one’s actions in the past shape our present and our actions now will determine our future. Further, the law of karmic causality is said to operate over the three existences of past, present and future and even extends to karma formed in past lifetimes. This accounts for the differences with which we are born into this world.

At this point, it might be easy to think there’s no escape from karma. We could even go as far as to take a fatalistic viewpoint, saying that everything is mapped out for us, so what’s the point of trying to change? We can particularly feel this when facing the ‘impossible’: the ‘thing’ that either won’t change, that we feel can’t be touched or affected by Nam-myoho-renge-kyo or that we think we’ve changed, but has returned again.

However, Nichiren Daishonin states that even immutable karma which was traditionally considered unchangeable can be changed. In the Gosho ‘On Prolonging One’s Life Span’ he states, “Karma also may be divided into two categories: fixed and unfixed. Sincere repentance will eradicate even fixed karma, to say nothing of karma that is unfixed.” (WND, p.954; MW 1, p.229) Although we might long to believe this, we may still feel in our heart of hearts, that the impossible is still impossible.

It is important to understand, however, that karma is not an outside force. In the light of the Buddhist principle of the oneness of life and its environment, changes made in our inner world will be reflected as changes in our outer world. Thus changes appear when we change our karma.

In today’s world, we may tend to think that we deserve happiness only after we’ve achieved a particular desired-for change – such as passing exams. This way of thinking may be rooted in Judeo-Christian beliefs that we will be rewarded with a place in heaven after we’ve changed. Some forms of Buddhism also encourage this way of thinking, promising a place in heaven or the pure land after a lifetime or many lifetimes of practising austerities. According to Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism, we make a ‘true cause’ every time we chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, meaning we tap into the true cause or enlightenment and are free from the shackles of our karma as we fuse our lives with the Gohonzon. Happiness does not lie in some far-off place like heaven or after we have bettered ourselves. Because we take full responsibility for our own actions, and therefore our own results, we are empowered to seize our own destiny and change it for the better.

Buddhism defines nine layers of consciousness. This doctrine helps to explain how karma is stored and how it can be changed. The eighth (alaya) consciousness is the storehouse of our karma. Alaya literally means ‘accumulation’, as in the name Himalaya mountains which means ‘accumulation of snow’. All of our experiences are filtered through the initial seven layers of consciousness and stored in the eighth, which exists as an unconscious memory of all our previous actions and reactions. This influences our reactions at any given time, based on our past experiences, including those of previous lifetimes.

You may recognize the repetitive patterns in your behaviour. You may find, for instance, that someone at work always makes you angry. Much as you reflect and determine that the next time it happens you will rise above it, you find that you are stuck in the same pattern of behaviour. Or you may find that after having had an unhappy relationship, you get together with a new partner, but that soon the same problems start to occur in the new relationship. These kind of behavioural patterns are all included in karma.

Psychology recognises the existence of conditioned responses such as are stored in the eighth consciousness and seeks to help people change these through understanding or self-awareness. Although it undoubtedly helps to understand our behaviour with our rational minds, our most deeply ingrained karma cannot be changed in this way, because the eighth consciousness lies deeper than the rational and intuitive mind (sixth and seventh consciousness). Our thoughts are therefore constantly influenced by our karma.

In order to change karma fundamentally, we have to get beyond its influence into the realm of the ninth consciousness, which is pure and undefiled, free of karmic impurities. Nichiren Daishonin defined the ninth consciousness as Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, the universal law of life. When we chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, we are expressing our Buddhahood. As we do this more and more, we become aware of those karmic tendencies which are restricting us. As our confidence grows, we feel able to challenge these tendencies and establish a new direction in our lives, based on our ever-emerging Buddhahood.

We reveal this original state of Buddhahood in our life through our practice of this Law. In this way, we use our karma – problems, difficulties and tendencies – as a means to share our lives and help others overcome their problems. We made a vow to reveal our lives as common mortals; in other words, to live our daily lives firmly rooted in society.

True happiness depends on what is in our hearts. No matter what we may gain materially from manipulating others, if we are hating or disrespecting them, then at that moment we are suffering, as well as making the cause to suffer in the future.

The implication of the doctrine of karma is that we cannot blame anyone else for our suffering. Of course this does not mean that others are not accountable; they will reap the rewards of their own actions. The important point is that our suffering comes from inside us, not outside. Again, this may seem strict, but in fact it is extremely liberating. After all, we cannot change other people. Or rather, the only way we can change other people is to change the way we relate to them, by first of all changing ourselves. When we open our Buddha nature through chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, we react differently to others, based on wisdom and compassion rather than anger or greed. Because of this, people respond to us differently.

This does not mean that when we practise we avoid the effects of our karma. In fact, we find that those hidden things that cause us to suffer start to surface. This means we are changing them. They surface because we are tapping into the ninth consciousness, underneath the storehouse of karma. The flaws have to come to the surface in order to be purified, as in the process of forging iron. This can be quite unsettling and sometimes very difficult. There is, however, no such thing as karma which cannot be overcome. Practising Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism makes us much stronger and better able to deal with difficulties, because we are able to revolutionise our lives fundamentally.

Karma is not a matter of oneself alone. As well as individual karma, we also share karma with our families. Likewise, we share it with our communities and society at large.
Unless we can overcome our own anger, for instance, how can we hope to stop war? In overcoming our own karma, therefore, we start a chain reaction to change the karma of our families, communities and the world.

If you want to understand the causes that existed in the past, look at the results as they are manifested in the present. And if you want to understand what results will be manifested in the future, look at the causes that exist in the present. (MW 2, p. 172)

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This page was last modified on Sunday, August 20, 2006.