Q: Whenever I face any challenges at work, I’ll tell myself I’m ‘paying’ for my past negative karma. If we have karma to face at work, does leaving the job change the karma, or only delay it from ripening? How do we know we have exhausted ‘that’ karma?
A: You’re right in that it is a tricky matter knowing whether something we are experiencing is inevitable or not. However, even if something is inevitable, the attitude we face it with is up to us. As the Buddhist saying goes, ‘Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.’ One way to know if something is inevitable is to use various means to change the situation. The last resort would be walking away. The thing is, the moment we leave a situation might coincide with the moment our karma with that situation ends too… meaning our staying with the situation might be needless creation and living of the karma of being stuck.
Since some experiences are heavily karmically influenced, even when we leave a situation, the same obstacles pop up elsewhere. But sometimes, the play of karma involved is instant. For example, if one has a bad attitude at work and suffers at one’s workplace, one might think this is the result of past negative karma ripening. However, it might simply be the creation of fresh negative karma by one’s attitude in the moment that sustains the suffering. In such a case, when one stops working, one only delays suffering, which returns upon going back to work – anywhere. One’s choice of present attitude, which creates new karma can interact with past ripening karma to alter situations to some extent too.
If the situation we are in is giving us much needless suffering, it is wise to walk away. Sometimes, the suffering we have is really unnecessary and not due to our present attitude. For example, if one suffers much from heat by working in the sun, one should not resign to fate and think it’s fixed karma being paid back. One should look for work out of the sun. This is also an example of suffering ending the moment one walks away – by creating karma wisely to counter karma sustained foolishly.
I share the same question as well. Only that my question is if I face any challenges in any aspect of my life, be it work or family, should I always think it’s past or present karma that I’m repaying and it’s inevitable without even trying various means to resolve those challenges?
And if one does try many means to resolve those challenges, how does one know certain things are inevitable when it could be simply something which exceeds the amount of wisdom or knowledge we have at that particular moment?
The example of working in the sun refers to physical sensation. How do you tell whether any kind of emotional or mental suffering one is enduring at any moment is needless or not?
I’m just thinking aloud.
There’s no need to keep thinking it’s karma or not that presents problems. If we can change at least our attitude in the moment, we are always free from the ‘total’ trappings of any situation.
We should fight a good fight to better situations. And if the fight is deemed worthy and indeed possible of winning, there’s no need to give up. Past Karma that creates obstacles changes in time, even as they ripen, and present Karma can intervene too.
If our many efforts don’t seem to resolve a situation worth resolving, which is in theory possible, we can take a rest, but continue trying later. But in the mean time, we should increase our wisdom to solve the problem and do good to lessen any karmic obstacles which might obstruct solving of it.
Actually, all kinds of mental sufferings are needless, even if they are natural and part of the process of learning. However, for those who suffer mentally, we should still care for them, to help them realise why their suffering is not needed. Amituofo