Aspects of Karma: Big, Small, Shared, Individual

In the first article of this karma series, we looked at five basic rules of karma. In the second article, we looked at two stories to go into more depth on how karma requires time. This article will use four stories to delve deeper into how karma has size and heaviness, as well as the distinction between shared and individual karma.

Story 1: Lin Ji's Severe Negligence

In the Song Dynasty (960–1279), there was a government official named Lin Ji 林機. His job was to inspect and approve of request letters sent to the emperor. One time, the province of Sichuan experienced a famine, and the province sent a letter requesting the emperor to send one hundred thousand dans of grain (one dan is equal to one hundred liters) to save the citizens from starvation.

The emperor approved this request, but Lin Ji thought this amount was too much, and that the road to Sichuan was too difficult to travel, so he returned the letter and asked them to recalculate how much grain they really need, then the emperor can decided whether or not to approve the request.

Later, when the emperor heard about this, he told one of his chancellors, "The road to Sichuan province is extremely long. If we wait until the letter is delivered and for them to recalculate, I'm afraid by then too many people will have starved to death. If we must recalculate, at the very least, we should send half the amount over first."

Soon after, Lin Ji died. Furthermore, his two sons died. In ancient China, families cared a lot about having a son as a successor to the family name. Since Lin Ji's family had no more sons, they adopted a son over from a relative's family, but that son soon died too.

Image Source: GPT

(Story Source)

Commentary 1

Karma has size and heaviness. Big and heavy karma will usually fruit faster, as we saw in the story with Lin Ji. From the surface, it seems like Lin Ji didn't do anything major. It's not like he got a weapon and personally slaughtered thousands of people.

However, his actions impacted hundreds of thousands of people. He only considered not wasting resources, and he either neglected or didn't care for the fact that these disaster victims might starve to death because of his decision. If it was neglect (unintentional), that's already a heavy enough sin to cause a shortened life. If it was intentional lack of care for disaster victims' lives, then that's an even heavier sin, leading to even swifter death and an even more painful next-life retribution.

Not only did Lin Ji die early, his sons and even adopted son died early too. From Lin Ji's case, we can see the principle of collective karma. Individuals have their own individual karma. At the same time, families, groups, cities, countries, even the whole world has their collective karma. Lin Ji was the head of his family, so when he committed a grave sin, his whole family also suffered. It's analogous to if our country's leader starts a war with another country, all the citizens get affected. Thus, we need to cultivate good karma not just for ourselves, but also for our loved ones.

But just to be clear, karma is always fair, as in we only receive the results from our own karma. The reason Lin Ji's sons were born into Lin Ji's family is because of their strong karmic affinity, and the reason they died after Lin Ji's sin is because they must have committed similar sins in their past lives, so their death is still a result of their past actions. If they did not commit the sin in the past, then even if Lin Ji committed a grave sin, they would not die, and they probably wouldn't have been born into Lin Ji's family.

Story 2: Wei Zongda's Great Intention

During the time of Emperor Huizong of Song (1082–1135), there was a man named Wei Zhongda 衛仲達, who held a position in the imperial academy (a very prestigious position at the time). One night, his spirit was brought to a court in the spirit world. The court judge ordered the clerks to present the records of Wei's good and bad deeds for judgment.

When these records were brought forth, Wei was astounded to see that his bad records filled the entire court, while the record of good deeds consisted of just a single scroll as thin as a chopstick.

The judge then ordered for the records to be weighed on a scale. Surprisingly, the pile of bad records that filled the court was lighter than the thin scroll of good deeds.

Wei said, "I am not even forty years old yet, how could I have accumulated so many bad deeds?"

The judge said, "When you give rise to a single thought that is improper, it is considered a bad offense there and then. It does not have to be carried out through action to be counted as a wrongdoing."

Wei then asked what was recorded in the single scroll of good deeds.

The judge replied, "Once, the imperial court planned to repair a great stone bridge at the Three Mountains. You submitted a proposal to advise against it. This scroll is a copy of your proposal."

Wei said, "Although I did make the proposal, but the imperial court did not listen and began the project anyway. My proposal had no effect on the matter. How could it bear so much weight?"

The judge replied, "Although the imperial court did not accept your proposal, your intention was for the wellness of tens and thousands of people, to prevent them from unnecessary toil and hardship. Such an intention is truly great. If the imperial court had listened to you, then your good karma would have been even greater."

Image Source: GPT

(Story Source: Liao Fan's Four Lessons)

Commentary 2

Wei Zhongda's case is kind of opposite to Lin Ji's case. Lin Ji lacked consideration for the masses, while Wei Zhongda possessed consideration for the masses. Although Wei had many, many bad deeds recorded, each of these bad deeds were small and light; perhaps most were just thoughts related to minor matters, and few were actions that resulted in great harm to many people. However, his intention of goodness for the masses was very big and heavy, and the strength of that good karma was able to outweigh all his bad karma.

From the two stories so far, we see that it's very important to consider the impact of our actions on the broader group, whether that be our family, employer, community, society, country, or world. The greater our breadth of mind and size of heart, the greater our fortune (good karma).

Story 3: A Sincere Donation

Once, there was a poor lady who went to visit a temple and wished to make a donation. However, she was so poor that he only had two cents, which she donated. To her surprise, the temple's abbot himself came forth to help her perform repentance rites and dedicate her merits.

Later, the same lady was chosen to enter the imperial palace and become a concubine to the emperor. Clad in her riches, the lady once again went to the temple to donate, this time bringing thousands of gold pieces to give. To her dismay, the abbot only sent his disciple to help her dedicate her merits.

She then asked, "In the past, I only gave two cents, and the abbot personally performed repentance for me. Today, I have donated thousands of gold pieces, yet the abbot does not personally help me dedicate the merits. Why is this so?"

The abbot replied, "Although your previous offering was small, your intention was extremely sincere. If I had not personally performed repentance for you, it would not have been enough to repay your kindness and sincerity. Today, although your offering is large, your intention is not as sincere as before. Thus, having my disciple perform the rites is sufficient."

Image Source: GPT

(Story Source: Liao Fan's Four Lessons)

Commentary 3

The previous stories emphasized the breadth of our mind and the size of our heart. This story emphasizes the sincerity of our intentions. One way sincerity can be measured is by the percentage of our ability that we are willing to spend.

At the beginning, the lady only had two cents, and she gave it all to the temple. That could be considered 100% sincerity. This is rather simplified though, as we should add in other factors like the fact that she was very respectful, she did not seek for anything in return, nor did she regret her decision. It was a donation out of pure sincerity and respect.

We can deduce that this act not only planted a great seed of fortune for the future, it also served as an assisting condition for her past seeds of fortune to fruit faster. Thus, she was able to become a concubine to the emperor. The thing is, if she was destined for that in this life, she would obtain it eventually. But doing good deeds now helps past good karmic seeds fruit faster.

The second time, she brought thousands of gold pieces, and the abbot said she was not as sincere. We can speculate that as a concubine in the imperial palace, she has access to a lot more wealth than just a thousand gold pieces, so her sincerity is less than 100%. Moreover, she probably had some ego and arrogance, with thoughts like, "I am doing a great good deed. The temple should be grateful to me. The abbot should personally perform my repentance and help me more in the future." That's why she was surprised when the abbot didn't do her repentance rites. All of these factors reduced the sincerity of her intentions, which reduced the size of her good karma.

For us, when we do good deeds, it's important for us to cultivate the sincerity of our intentions. Are we giving it our best? Are we seeking anything in return? Are we respectful and humble in helping others?

Story 4: Old Lin's Accumulation of Goodness

In Putian county of Fujian province, there was a family surnamed Lin. In earlier generations, there was an old grandma who loved helping others. She often made rice balls and gave them to the poor and needy. No matter who asked or how many they asked for, she always gave to them without the slightest weariness.

There was a Daoist transcendent who came every morning to ask for six or seven rice balls (quite a lot!). The old grandma always granted his request and never expressed any displeasure. It went on like this for three years.

The Daoist transcendent realized the deep sincerity of this old woman's kindness and said, "I have eaten your rice balls for three years with nothing to show my gratitude in return. Perhaps I can help you in this way: On the land behind your house is a good place where you can build the ancestral grave. If you are placed there in the future, the number of your descendants who will have imperial positions will be equivalent to the number of sesame seeds in a pound of sesame seeds."

When the old lady passed away, the Lin family followed the Daoist transcendent's suggestion. In the first generation following, nine people passed the imperial exams. Generation after generation, many people from the Lin family continued to pass the imperial exams. Eventually, there was a saying in Fujian, "If there is no one from the Lin family, the exam scores will not be announced." 

Image Source: GPT

(Story Source: Liao Fan's Four Lessons)

Commentary 4

The first two stories focused on the impact of our actions as well as the breadth of our intentions as two key factors to the magnitude of our karma. The third story showed the importance of sincerity to the size of our karma. This final story shows that we can accumulate small karma into big karma. Old Lin simply donated rice balls to the poor and needy. Donating food is something any of us can do.

However, she persisted in this small and simple good deed for many years, and it eventually became big karma. To give an analogy, if we just put a few coins into a jar every day, it seems like very little each day. However, as the days accumulate into months and years, eventually we will have a mountain of coins.

Moreover, as the Daoist transcendent mentioned, the sincerity of our good intention is key to the size and heaviness of our karma. The reason the lady was able to persist for so many years without any sign of weariness, impatience, or displeasure is because she was totally sincere. She didn't want any reward in return for her good deeds. She wasn't seeking a good reputation or expecting the people she helped to return the favor. She did it purely out of kindness and sincerity. Wei Zhongda was the same when he submitted that proposal. Thus, a sincere good intention is also big and heavy karma.

The story didn't talk much about the fortune she received in her life, but we can speculate that she was a kind person who was happy every day. After all, helping others is joyful, and being happy every day is itself a great fortune. Think of how many people out there who have wealth and prestige, but aren't happy like this old lady. Moreover, I imagine she had good health and a harmonious family, all of which are fortune. Her next life would definitely be much better than this one too.

The Book of Changes says,

"Families who accumulate goodness will have an excess of fortune (to pass onto future generations)."

This is also related to the concept of shared karma versus individual karma. Because that old lady accumulated so much good karma, she would attract people who have also accumulated a lot of good karma into her family as descendants.

Moreover, her descendants attaining imperial positions (wealth and prestige) is considered her "excess fortune" that she "passed onto future generations". Just imagine the size of her individual fortune that she will enjoy herself in her next life!

Conclusion

The size of our karma is dependent on the size of our heart and breadth of mind, as well as the number of people we influence. The larger our intention, the greater the good karma cultivated. The more people our actions benefit, the greater the good karma cultivated.

The size of our karma is also dependent on the sincerity of our intentions. If we give our full ability and effort, without wanting anything in return, without arrogance, and without regret, then such an intention is extremely sincere. If we instead only give partial effort, or we want something in return, or we are arrogant in the process, or we regret it later, then our sincerity will lose points. Moreover, big karma can be accumulated from small daily acts. Being able to persevere is also a sign of sincerity.

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Weekly Wisdom #386