I was reflecting today on my lunch break how the concept of karmic retribution almost balances and even resolves a long-standing debate in Western philosophy: namely, that conflict between 'free will' and 'determinism'. I recall enjoying this particular debate in my early years at university, even though I was never quite able to resolve it myself. In the end, I almost tended to side more toward determinism, because I was so aware of how much is stacked against a person when it comes to making choices. Even though a person truly believes that she or he is free to choose what they want, are people really free in terms of what they want? The debate tended to turn around the issue of where one's desires come from, and whether they are freely chosen.
I didn't learn about karma until I started reading about Buddhism. My initial understanding was to take karma as being about punishment and reward: do good deeds and you will attain happiness, just as doing bad deeds leads to punishment. But it turns out, again, not to be so easily understood. Often, people might do things badly or with ill intent, and yet still receive some pleasurable result from it. But from what I have learned from the teachings of Chan, this small amount of pleasure is just a drop in an ocean compared to all the consequences that come from an action. Even if someone makes a destructive choice today and doesn't reap the result immediately, certain causes have already been created for a future retribution. I can never tell when that will arise, because I am still feeling the effects of other deeds performed in the past. So, in a sense, the concept of karmic retribution is not so easy to grasp.
I think the notion of karmic retribution resolves the problem of free will and determinism, by looking at these as two sides of the same coin. On the one hand, whatever one experiences in this very moment is the result of previous causes planted in mind. Therefore, there is no escaping the results of these causes. On the other hand, just as these results are coming from changing conditions, so I can create completely new ones in this moment. It's the fact that things are conditioned (determinism) that leads to an endless potential for new conditions (free-will). In that sense, it seems one is always capable of creating new causes and conditions. Even in a case where it seems that one is governed by strong thoughts and emotions, these thoughts and emotions are perpetuated by a tendency to keep generating new thoughts that are similar to the previous (though not the same).
Of course, the true freedom has to come from cultivating a space where one does not attach to thoughts. If I am always bringing up the same thought again and again, it's because in this very moment, an attachment to that thought has taken place. As long as there is attachment, I am just replaying previous conditions over and over like a skipping record...recreating them over and over in mind. And though the mind is always free in doing that, it is still under the illusion that the phenomena is controlling the mind.
Even without a strong sense of cultivation, I can still appreciate the idea of karmic retribution at work and other parts of life. When I am facing adversity at work, I need to reflect that the causes and conditions have already been sown, and this is what I need to take in the moment. Complaining or thinking that the situation is unfair is only going to exacerbate my emotions, and thus contribute to a view of trying to escape the current situation by blaming others. There is simply no use in complaining in this way. On the other hand, if I truly and fully accept that what is happening right now is laid down by conditions from the past, then I cease to try to manipulate the experience to look like it 'shouldn't be' that way. In fact, it should be that way, precisely because the causes and conditions were laid down previously to make things as they are now.
Instead of wasting my energy trying to make appear unfair, I can then focus my energies on what I can do with the present 'imperfections', to make things a bit better. This is a delicate work. On the one hand, it requires a sense of contrition: knowing that I have made mistakes in the past, resolving to always improve myself, and not assuming that I am always 'correct' in what I do. After all, we only know so much about what conditions we are planting in our actions. On the other hand, there is a realization that there isn't a permanent self to blame here. Conditions change, and so do sentient beings, in every single moment. In that way, there needn't be a sense of guilt, regret or , "I should have known that at the time I embarked on this journey." Because I am no longer under the illusion that I was ever an all knowing knower, I can let go of self-blame when I find myself having to learn anew, and from many mistakes.
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