Instant karma?
Is there such a thing as instant karma? Recently I was in a store where I shop all the time and could not find anyone to pay for an item I wanted to buy. I had spent well over $200 just moments before but had forgotten I had this small item in my pocket. The cost was less than a dollar. I knew that if I couldn’t pay for the item I should leave the store without it, but instead I just took it. Then when I was loading the rest of the items into my car, I dropped and broke an $8 item. Coincidence? (no signature)
“Nudgie Lama” (aka David Nichtern), a senior teacher in the Shambhala Buddhist lineage of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and former director of Karma Choling Meditation Center in Vermont, responds:
When a particular “karmic seed” is planted, it is said that it will ripen when the causes and conditions come together to bring it to fruition. From a certain point of view, instant karma is actually good fortune. The feedback from the situation comes back fast and furious, giving us a chance to shift our awareness and return to a more wakeful space. From that point of view, there are no innocent coincidences. Every single thing that happens, down to the smallest detail, is interdependent. We are living on the inside of a Swiss watch.
On that same question, Karma Queen adds:
Coincidence? Probably more like guilt -- another word for instant karma. Fortunately a sense of right and wrong is hard-wired in human beings. Why was that item in your pocket anyhow? That’s what shopping carts are for. If you keep in mind the second precept—Don’t take what isn’t yours—you won’t be tempted to cut corners when you shop. (And if you have to wait in a checkout line, you can always use the opportunity to practice patience and mindfulness.) Since a guilty conscience weighs heavier with time, you might want to consider returning to the store and paying for the item. You don’t have to make a big deal of it: just say you realized you’d neglected to pay for something the other day, and hand over the exact amount you owe. If you’re not ready to take that step, you could give a dollar to charity or the next homeless person you see. Generosity is an antidote to greed.
