Introduction

Karma is an oft-misunderstood concept. “The prevalent idea that karma is a superstitious or archaic belief probably stems from the simplified versions of the idea that emerged from old-world Asia. In poor conditions, among uneducated people, the Buddha’s teachings were usually delivered very simply.” (p.4 Karma)

Karma, the teachings I will be discussing anyway, describe how the mind works with remarkable accuracy. This is important because as we improve our models to describe phenomena, we are able to create and predict outcomes more accurately. Newton's theory of gravity is simply a description of what already exists. Karma is a description of mental phenomena that already exist and have already been tested by science. The usefulness of the teachings lies in their descriptive accuracy across a range of different mental phenomena. When applied in the service of a goal, people can therefore assume to achieve more reliable results in more situations than with the current models describing mental phenomena.

To begin here are a few different definitions of the word as it is used in Buddhism:

Karma is:

[a] movement of the mind and what it brings. Mental movement is a deed of thought; What it causes, deeds of body and speech.

So, a "karma" can be just a thought, or a thought which goes on to inspire a deed of body or speech.

More accurately these would be considered a karmic cause. Then comes the karmic result. There are four types of karmic results: habit, similar experience, future experience, and environmental result.

We will discuss all of this in greater detail later, but I wanted to give a preliminary understanding of karma to readers who are not familiar with karma.

Karma has been unwittingly supported by decades of psychological research. In this book, I will walk you through the teaching and the scientific research supporting it.

This is not just another piece of information. It is akin to what happened when Galileo presented the idea of a heliocentric universe. Before that, astronomers had been studying the movements of the celestial field for thousands of years. We basically knew what was going on, but the math to predict eclipses down to the minute and trying to understand what was going on during Mercury retrograde was incredibly complex. Galileo’s simple shift in perspective flew in the face of what everyone knew. “Obviously the sun goes around the earth.” Anyone who looks at the natural world realistically would know that. That might be enough understanding for a farmer, but if you want to send someone to the moon you need to have a better perspective. That’s what I’m offering here and it’s not new. It’s not my idea. It’s not even mystical. It’s just a realistic, scientifically supported understanding of how life works for each individual sentient being.