Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?
Once upon a time, there was a panel discussion about the question that had been asked more frequently than any other.
"Why do bad things happen to good people, people who are kind, responsible, virtuous, and even saintly?"
The panel consisted of a Christian minister, a Roman Catholic nun, a rabbi, and a Hindu monk.
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| The Panel |
The audience consisted of cancer patients and their families, all of whom found themselves confronting a life-threatening illness.
The Christian minister said, "We are all sinful by nature, no matter how pious we might be, and therefore, we're all subject to being punished for our sins."
The rabbi said, "God introduces trials and tribulations into our lives to test our faith and strengthen our devotion."
The nun said, "The suffering God gives us is a mystery that we can never fully understand."
When it was the Hindu monk's turn to speak, he faced a dilemma. The explanations offered by the other panelists were all based on the Bible and therefore familiar to the attendees, who were mostly of Christian and Jewish backgrounds. But the only explanation he could offer was based on the doctrine of karma, a Hindu teaching that would most likely be foreign to most of the audience. With this in mind, he tried to explain the doctrine of karma as simply and clearly as he could.
He said, "Hindus believe that the universe is cyclic; it has undergone countless cycles of creation and destruction prior to the birth of our current universe. And, in each cycle of creation, we've all been born again and again. In those prior lives, we've all committed many good deeds and many deeds that were harmful or morally wrong in one way or another.
According to the doctrine of karma, we receive the fruits or results of deeds we committed - not only in this life but in our past lives as well. We receive desirable results for our good deeds and undesirable results for our wrong deeds. Most of those results take place soon after each deed is committed, but some results might not have arisen before we die. In that case, those so-called unfructified results are carried over into our next life. And that's what's known as karma.
So, all of us are born with both good and bad karma from our prior lives. The good karma we're born with guarantees that we'll enjoy wonderful things in this life, things that we don't deserve based on our deeds in this lifetime. It's certainly true that we've all been blessed with many wonderful experiences that we haven't worked for and don't really deserve. Those are the results of good karma. On the other hand, the bad karma we're born with guarantees that we'll undergo suffering in this life, suffering that we really don't deserve based on our deeds in this lifetime. And HERE is the answer we're looking for. Every good person is born with some bad karma and that bad karma results in undeserved suffering. Similarly, every bad person was born with some good karma, and that good karma results in good things they don't deserve."
A woman in the audience, wearing a scarf over her hairless head, said that it didn't seem fair to be punished in this life for wrong deeds she committed in past lives, deeds that she didn't even remember. The Hindu monk agreed that it would indeed be unfair if she alone was punished for wrong deeds committed in past lives. But karma affects us all. "Being legally required to pay income tax each year would be unfair if you alone were taxed. But we're all subject to taxation, and that universality makes taxes fair. In the same way, we are all subject to suffering the consequences of wrongdoing committed in prior lives, even if paying for it isn't a punishment; it's simply the consequence of your actions.
Similarly, the suffering we undergo isn't a punishment from God; it's simply the result of our own past actions.
This is the explanation I offered to the audience, and many of them found it helpful.
Of course, not everyone will find the explanation of karma satisfying or convincing. But, in my experience, it provides a helpful framework for understanding the relationship between our past and present experiences, and it helps us to move beyond the question of why bad things happen to good people.
By recognizing that we are all subject to the consequences of our past actions, we can begin to take responsibility for our own lives and actions and work towards creating a better future for ourselves and those around us.
As the panel discussion came to a close, a young girl raised her hand and asked, "What can we do to create good karma?"
Hindu Monk smiled and told her that by doing good deeds, showing kindness and compassion to others, and working to alleviate the suffering of those around us, we can create positive karma that will help us in this life and in the lives to come.
And with that, the panel discussion came to an end, leaving Hindu Monk with a sense of gratitude for the opportunity to share his beliefs and insights with such a receptive and engaged audience.
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