Change Your Destiny, Through Buddhism

What is Karma?

We all are born with karma. The popular belief about it is that karma is negative but karma can be either negative or positive. According to the Dictionary of Buddhism, karma comprises negative or positive potentials in the inner, unconscious realm of life, created through our actions in the past or present. These potentials will manifest as results in our present or future when the conditions are right.

Karma is viewed not only as a way to explain the present. It accounts for our individual natures, our tendencies, the circumstances of our birth and explains the differences between all living beings and their environment.

Karma is not Fatalistic

The concept of karma in Nichiren Buddhism is not fatalistic. Karma is seen as a potential force through which you can influence your future.

You don’t know how deep the roots of a problem might be. Some roots are shallow and it won’t take a lot of time to surmount the problem. Others are much deeper and to overcome the problem might take weeks of months of effort.

There is no karma that is so bad that it cannot be transformed for the better through Buddhist practice. As a matter of fact, a major reason for the practice is so we can transform bad karma we have created in the past. In this way we can overcome negative aspects of our lives and become happy.

How is Karma Created?

Let’s say you do something on a repetitive basis. This includes ways of thinking, ways of speaking and physical actions. When you act, think or speak you create a potential which lies dormant in your life.

if you want to change your current life for the better, then you must make different causes in the present.  Let’s say you never have enough money.  But you also have the tendency to overspend on a regular basis. In order to change this tendency you will want to start by chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo with your goal, of being financially secure.  Then you will get ideas of what you have to do do create the causes to have a secure financial future. Take action on these ideas and gradually your financial life will change for the better.

Some of these latent potentials wait and will form circumstances for your existence in the next lifetime, others will manifest in future lifetimes. Clearly it is to your interest to create the best possible actions in the present to ensure beneficial circumstances in future lifetimes. This is one way we can influence our future destiny. Chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo is one of the best causes you can make, since you are making the cause for Buddhahood.  You whole life will fall into balance and work well when you do this.

There is no judgment in this. Karma works very much like the natural law of gravity. We can behave in whatever way we wish, but there will always be a future, where we meet the karma we have created.

How Do You Change Karma?

Identify the issue

Let’s say you come up against a repetitive life cycle or circumstances which seem to occur over and over. Your theme song might be. “Why does this keep happening to me?” Examples might include:

  • Unsuccessful relationships where you seem to pick the same kind of person, over and over
  • A repetitive financial problem
  • Inability to hold a job and being repeatedly let go
  • A serious health problem

An Example

Let’s say an employee has trouble holding one job after another. Perhaps he is let go due to a bad temper. In this case the karma resides in the tendency to blow up rather than work something out.

The employer, who lets this person go, is just reflecting the consequences of that tendency.

The employee may not understand what the problem is, or feels justified in holding on to away of life which is detrimental to him. He may blame his past employers for his repetitive firings and not be aware of the real problem. Maybe he thinks he has financial issues when the underlying issue is his temper, which causes him to be fired,  thus creating the financial problems.

Changing Destiny

Step One

You must acknowledge that there is some problem, which needs resolution.

Step Two

You must realize that you have the power to change the situation. As long as you blame someone else, you have no power, as you cannot change someone other than yourself. Even though what needs to be changed might not seem clear right now, you have the power to transform any life issue.

Step Three

Make a resolution that you are going to chant about the situation and continue chanting until the issue is resolved. Change can occur quickly in the case of a smaller issue but in the case of a major problem, it could take weeks or months.

Step Four

You might chant to understand the problem or for a solution to the problem. An answer might come in the form of a realization. Or, as in our example, someone might give our employee feedback at work.

As you chant for clarification note anything which comes to you relating to your problem.

Step Five

Once it’s clear what the problem is, something must change. For example, when our employee recognizes his temper is causing him to be fired, he can empower himself by taking responsibility to get a handle on it. When he learns to control his temper, the consequences become different. His employer won’t fire him. When you work with the law of cause and effect and change your life in some way, your environment will shift in response, since our life situations manifest from the inside out.

You Can Become Happy

By changing your destiny in this way, you can break through life problems and become happy.

Join the Conversation

Have you had an experience where you changed an issue that you would like to share?

  • Jaime Ste.Joan says:

    When my friend bought me this book I thought it would be a hard read for me since I knew nothing about our Buddha natures. Ms. Blaine wrote her book in a brilliant format, telling a story of a woman whose life was out of control, then in the same Chapter Ms. Blaine explains how the main character is changing and why. She explains the wonderful way chanting for our goals and wishes gives us the power to receive our goals. She offers the reader a way to do a 90 day scientific challenge to prove to each of us that we are in charge of our lives by using the very simple tool of chanting for our goals. After the 90 day scientific challenge we will either believe or not. Read this book and decide for yourself if you want to change your life’s circumstances. It is a very worthwhile read. Jaime.

  • Chantal says:

    I did the 90 day challenge. Did as directed re. Chanting, frequency etc. It has been months and I am Still Waiting for my life to change, for the achievement of the goal I had been chanting for. My goal was something that was possible, has happened for/to others but would be s stretch to happen to me. I really really wanted to believe but sorry my 90 day challenge was a failure. So no I do not belief; I did not get actual proof

    • Margaret Blaine says:

      You might be interested in my book called Stepping Stones. It’s gives you a number of things to consider when chanting for a goal. Some of these can make the difference between getting or not getting your goal. The other thing to examine is whether your goal is requiring you to change in some way. If so, are you resisting that change? Some goals can’t be achieved until we make changes in ourselves. If you look up the Buddhist concept, oneness of life and its environment, you will see that to change our environment we must change ourselves. it comes from the inside out.

  • Ron says:

    I’m definitely the person that keeps going from one job to another and it hasn’t been about anger. I quit because I didn’t like it or I wasn’t making enough money, or it was because I thought I didn’t feel good enough and it reflected in how I conducted myself. With this repetitive life cycle is causing financial hardship. This has to change.

    • Margaret Blaine says:

      When we have a repetitive situation, its important to chant to see the underlying situation, about why this keeps happening. Are you looking for jobs that resonate with your inner sense of what is right for you?
      Margaret

  • Jade says:

    Dear Margaret, I really love your articles, they are so helpful and easy to understand. You have been a huge inspiration to me!
    Namaste
    ~Jade

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