On Karma and Intervention 

by Khenpo Tsultrim Lodro Rinpoche

The Compassionate Mentor

A disciple of the preeminent spiritual master, His Holiness Chogyel Yeshe Norbu Jigmé Phuntsok, Khenpo Tsultrim Lodro Rinpoche has been overseeing the monastic education at Larung Gar; educating and mentoring many successive generations of accomplished students for more than 20 years. Khenpo Tsultrim Lodro Rinpoche was born in 1962 in Luhuo County in Sichuan Province, Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. And at the age of 18, he received monastic ordination at the world-renowned Larung Five Sciences Buddhist Institute in Serthar, also more popularly known as Larung Gar. Continuing from a previous interview topic on Bodhicitta and Compassion, this issue provides some insights on karma and intervention.

An Interview with Khenpo Tsultrim Lodro Rinpoche

It is said that good begets good, evils begets evil. This is the same for people; some are born with a silver spoon, others struggle to keep themselves warm and fed. According to a story shared in From Believers to Bodhisattvas, an example of a generous king is cited. A generous king tried to give the poor and uneducated more resources and material gifts to help them elevate their quality of life – but the poor’s life didn’t improve as it is said that how much one gets today, is a result of many lifetimes’ of accumulated merits.

So, does it mean that we should just let people’s karma unfold and allow them to take responsibility, or can we intervene? And how can we help?

In Buddhism, there are many ways of helping people and giving help differs in circumstances and situations. First, one must understand that a circumstance is one of the details of the situation. For example, a person can be in a difficult situation – facing an emergency financial problem at a point in time and you help the person change the situation (by giving some financial aid), similar to doing charitable acts.

But this sort of help is brief and momentary, you do not get to the core of the real circumstances that cause the situation. Thus, if one wants to help others, it is important to allow the person to discover the circumstances in order to solve the problem or issue from the root – understanding cause and effect. It is similar to teaching a person a skill that enables him or her to regain financial stability and also secure a more long-term solution. Many well-meaning people have helped with generous donations in poverty-stricken places, and over time, it was observed that reliance on donations start to set in. How does one then balance charitable acts of love, compassion and giving?

Yes, observations as such are common because people (receivers) become complacent and they rather rely on donations and gifts. To compound the issue, they start to not want to be independent, since being dependent and reliant on others who are ready to give is obviously a less arduous task.

Thus, material help is really only one part of the equation – there must be education and understanding on both parties; the giver and receiver. Is it true that all negative (bad) situations are caused by negative karma? At any one point in time, everyone’s situation is a combination of karma and a set of circumstances (decisions arising from perceptions, thoughts, and actions). One cannot assume that everything is caused by negative karma and attribute all the suffering to it and not do a thing about a bad situation; one must acknowledge and accept the responsibilities (past, present and future) that one has a part to play too.

Does negative karma get purified only through suffering and pain, or doing good? 

The purification of negative karma cannot be seen in simplistic ways as such. Purification can happen in different ways – manifestation of pain and suffering; through repentance; and doing good and meritorious deeds. Doing good needs wisdom, as not all good intentions result in good actions. For example, you may think that giving a huge sum of money to a beggar is a generous and meritorious deed, without considering how he would use the money (to gamble or indulge in vice?).

In some circumstances, people are afraid to help, out of fear that it is “interfering with someone else’s karma” and “would take on the karma” for that person. For example, some people think that by saving a drowning man may be regarded as “interfering with the man’s fate”. Is this true? This is absolutely untrue! That is helping, not taking on anyone’s karma. If this is so, then there will not be anyone helping anyone.