Though my time with a particular Buddhist group was short-lived, I think I came away with an understanding of their view of karma. The idea of karma being: good causes, will lead to good effects. I think the caveat when using this, with respect to free-will, is it almost attempts to cancel the latter out. In my mind, if we do have free will, it means our good causes, won’t always lead to directly good effects (as spouted by the practice I was a part of for a good three-four months).
I’m reminded of one of the callers who called into one of my favorite radio shows, kind of lamenting over the amount of good they’ve done for their church, still lead to one of their sons having a drug addiction. The host of the show (who plays Jesus) said Christianity should come with a disclaimer, saying one won’t be immune from hardship/struggle, regardless of how well they lived their lives, in accordance to God’s will. This is because those around us exercise their free will.
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