Everything You Wanted to Know About Karma

Karma and rebirth are often treated as Buddhism's cultural baggage: a set of Indian beliefs that—either because the Buddha wasn't thinking carefully, or because his early followers didn't stay true to his teachings—got mixed up with the dharma even though they don't fit in with the rest of what he taught. Now that the dharma has come to the West, it's time, we believe, to leave all this unnecessary baggage unclaimed on the carousel so we can focus on the Buddha's true message in a way that will speak directly to our own cultural needs. However, the real problem with karma and rebirth is that we tend to misunderstand what these teachings have to say. This is because Buddhism came to the West at the same time as other Indian religions, and its luggage got mixed up with theirs in transit. When we sort out which luggage really belongs to the tradition, we find that the bags marked “Karma” and “Rebirth” actually contain valuables. And to help show how valuable they are, here are my answers to some frequently asked questions on these topics.