Karma means nothing more than "action", essentially.She decidedly believes
in Karma which I think is unhealthy. Once she became a little bit "Americanized" her saying was: "what comes around
goes around", a saying she learned from her workmates in a low-paying job. For the downtrodden (not that I think you
are, I think the opposite of you), that philosophy helps them to cope but doesn't really get them anywhere better.
To her and other believers of that, they feel as if their station in life has nothing to do with ability but rather
luck, or lack of it and that the tide will eventually turn but you and I know it really never does unless we do
something to better ourselves.
You don't have to
believe in reincarnation to believe in karma; though you can, and the ideas go together well. You have to modify the
term with something like "past life" karma to specify that context.
Nor is it "what goes around comes around".
That too is a popular misconception.
In a bare bones sense, karma has to do with the biggest picture around ones
actions -- all the conditions, preconditions, consequences, internal states, etc. Actions have a follow through to
them that is bigger than most understand. When I act I change myself and the world forever. I even change my own
future actions. All these changes can be considered part of the act itself, and should be, if you accept the
Buddhist principle. That big picture is closer to the idea of karma than any western cliches you typically
hear.
We now return to our regularly scheduled program.
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