By Yuki Eric Michels
I dreamt recently that I was driving somewhere — I don’t know where, but I knew where I was going. I turned into the woods, onto a rocky dirt path, thinking I knew a shortcut. Quickly, the road narrowed until it barely seemed to be a road at all.
I’d gone the wrong way. What do I do? Tread back. Reverse, slowly and steadily, back the way I came until I’m on the road I had veered from. Return to the path I knew was right. I was on my way! I didn’t need a shortcut. As soon as I got back on that road, I knew to simply continue on.
I’ve made mistakes, and I’m suffering the consequences. I want my dreams back. I want a sense of hope and joy again. Yet, I’m reaping what I’ve sown, and I have to accept that. I know I’m not alone.
We all go through this together. We collectively face the consequences of our actions and inaction — and of others’ actions and inaction. I learned from Bhikkhu Bodhi that it is Buddhist dogma which conceives that “everything you experience is a result of your karma.”
There is always a multiplicity of webs of causation behind every event. Karma is one factor. Social and economic conditions are others, among many more. These other factors can create opportunities for karmic conditions to mature, or prevent them from maturing.
Additionally, our karma is not ours alone. To conceive of your actions as purely yours is to give false truth to the ego-identity. Who are you? What have you done alone?
We all share responsibility for the suffering in the world, and we are not the sole administrators of our own karma either.
I vow to remember this, and I vow to continue returning to this path. Thank goodness for this rare opportunity to encounter and take refuge in the dharma!
Shujo, muhen, sei – gan – do – o….
