[Buddha-l] karma and consequences

[Weng-Fai Wong]

I notice something interesting that always comes up with the discussion of
karma and karma-vipaaka. Something like "a good guy gets cancer and dies; it
may be due to his past life karma" seems not to be acceptable to a Westerner
whereas for someone Asian, it is. 

The Westerner seems to find this a pervasion of the notion of fair play and
justice, as well as a case of "rubbing salt on the wounds".

However, for someone Asian, it in fact provides closure and a sense of
solace. The window of justice goes beyond the current live. Furthermore,
that I am luckily than the dead person does not mean that I am somehow
better or superior. As a Chinese saying goes, "it is not that the karma will
not come, it is just that the time is not right yet." All of us have a mix
of good and bad karma manifesting at different times. It may be that my good
karma is manifesting now while the dead man's bad karma manifested in the
same time window. It by no means excludes the possibility that fortunes will
reverse within the same time window some time in the future.

As for abuse of the doctrine: with enough creativity, anything can be
abused.

As for proof: there is no proof that by driving safely, I will not get into
an accident (eg. someone crashing into me). Nonetheless, it is generally
true that the likelihood of the consequence of me not getting into an
accident is much higher if I don't run red lights, or change lanes
recklessly. Then after, I don't have proof for that either. Heck, I just
have to take it on faith.

W.F. Wong