It's interesting how the word karma has been adopted by american culture and used sometimes as an alternative word for luck - good or bad. I once saw a perfume named Karma and thought "jesus, no thanks! I've got enough of my own, I don't need to spray myself with manufactured karma."
Essentially karma is the law of cause and effect. Our actions affect the world around us. And since in Buddhism we believe we are all connected, the effects of those actions will come back to us eventually... like an echo or the return of a boomerang.
We might try to curb our behavior to act in a way that will create good karma. But I've been thinking lately about something my teacher once said - that karma is created by the intention, or energy with which we act rather than the actual action or the result of the action. If I give someone a present because I want them to approve of me, or because I want something in return...the intention of my action isn't generosity, it's almost the opposite. So the karma created from that action won't be positive. It might not be negative, but I shouldn't be waiting to win the lottery or anything as a result.
I think of this aspect of karma when it comes to killing bugs. Before I even start on this subject, let me say that my path is my own and I have no judgement or loss of respect for people that kill bugs. Some of them really creep me out.
But when I come across a bug in my house I notice my reaction. Fear and aversion are the big ones. Sometimes a sense of invasion, that something is in my space and I want to have control over it. These reactions make sense. But I get to choose the action that follows. If I act from fear and aversion and squash them, the karma created from that action would be negative. Not just because of killing a living thing, but because the intention or energy with which I was acting was fear and in a sense, ignorance. So the echo that comes back from that is fear and ignorance. Not great karma.
If I capture the little dudes in a box and let them go outside, it's an action that might be positive or might be neutral - acting out of compassion for the bug's right to live and my right to not be incredibly creeped out in my home.
As further proof that instant karma is not always the case - it has sometimes been my experience that upon letting the insect out of the box in the backyard, it will fly or scurry back toward me, creeping me out even further. Or in the case of the praying mantis that tried to live in my closet (yeah, they're awesome and peaceful but their faces look like aliens and I find that disquieting) , JUMP into my face when I let it out of the box.
And I could get all "you're welcome, praying mantis. Enjoy your natural habitat in south philly" disgruntled at it. Or I could recognize that he's dealing with his own little bug karma and was probably scared about being in that box and pissed about being taken away from my nice comfy wool sweater and I don't need to react and create more karma of my own.
This can be hard to do sometimes. When someone is angry and does or says something rude (their action, their karma) and then we react angrily (now our action, our karma). We can get into the habit of acting and reacting from energy or intention that wasn't ours to begin with.
It can be hard to catch ourselves. Our mind reacts, we have instincts, feelings get involved and actions result. But if we are mindful before we act...create a little space between impulse and action, we have the chance to choose the way we impact our environment and through our connection to it, ourselves.
Mindfulness is another word that is sometimes recognized as a buddhist term. And this is what it's about - being aware of our energy (the emotional or mental force that motivates our actions) and choosing actions that will impact our environment in a way we'd like to have echoed back to us.
