[picinaRefadia]

Their kamma is institutionalized morality based on what was considered right and wrong in pan-Indian civilization -- a law indeed, but an artificial one, meaning humans created it, not nature.

karma in buddhism is based in natural law. the five precepts are based in natural law, i.e., human neurological psychology

similarly, the Ten Commandments are based in natural law (even though they use the word 'God' for 'natural law')

I remember reading an essay by Thich Nhat Hanh where he said that individual and collective kamma was responsible for the deaths in the 2004 tsunami.

i did not gain the impression Thich Nhat Hanh said this (here)

however, Thich Nhat Hanh's manner of speech was certainly not overt & clear and thus easily subject to misinterpretation

after reading it a few times, Thich Nhat Hanh seemed to be saying it is "collective karma" that creates the mental suffering & the sense of "disaster" in those who do not die & are left behind to mourn & ponder

it seems Thich Nhat Hanh was teaching his 'interbeing' as 'no self'

Thich Nhat Hanh was expressing the Mahayana notion of 'emptiness' as 'interbeing'

When an aircraft explodes and crashes and nearly all the passengers die but one or two survive, we ask: "Why? Why did they not all die? Why did one or two live?" This shows us that karma has both an individual and collective aspect. When we discover the principle of individual and collective, we have begun to resolve a significant part of the matter already. If we continue in the direction of the insight of no-self, we shall gradually discover answers closer to the truth.

It is very clear that when someone we love dies, the person who dies suffers less than those who outlive him. Therefore suffering is a collective and not an individual matter.

Victor Hugo also found that human destiny is a collective destiny, and he caught a glimpse of the no-self nature of all that is. If any accident happens to one member of our family, the whole family suffers. When an accident happens to a part of our nation, it happens to the whole nation. When an accident happens to a part of the planet Earth it happens to the whole planet, and together we bear it.

When we see that their suffering is our own suffering, and their death is our death, we have begun to see the no-self nature. When I light incense and pray for those who died in the tsunami disaster, I see clearly that I am not only praying for those who have died; I am also praying for myself because I, too, am a victim of that earthquake.

All of us, to some extent, have contributed to the collective karma. A disaster that happens to any part of our planet earth or the human species is something for which we all have to bear responsibility to some extent. When others die, we die; when others suffer, we suffer. When others are in despair, we are in despair. That is the insight of no-self.

instead of saying: "we all have to bear responsibility to some extent", Thich Nhat Hanh probably should have said: "we all have to bear the impact to some extent"

we are not responsible for natural disasters as they (for the most part) do not follow the law of karma

kind regards


The laws of nature, although uniformly based on the principle of causal dependence, can nevertheless be sorted into different modes of relationship. The Buddhist commentaries describe five categories of natural law, or niyama. They are:

1. Utuniyama: the natural law pertaining to physical objects and changes in the natural environment, such as the weather; the way flowers bloom in the day and fold up at night; the way soil, water and nutrients help a tree to grow; and the way things disintegrate and decompose. This perspective emphasizes the changes brought about by heat or temperature.

2. Bijaniyama: the natural law pertaining to heredity, which is best described in the adage, "as the seed, so the fruit."

3. Cittaniyama: the natural law pertaining to the workings of the mind, the process of cognition of sense objects and the mental reactions to them.

4. Kammaniyama: the natural law pertaining to human behavior, the process of the generation of action and its results. In essence, this is summarized in the words, "good deeds bring good results, bad deeds bring bad results."

5. Dhammaniyama: the natural law governing the relationship and interdependence of all things: the way all things arise, exist and then cease. All conditions are subject to change, are in a state of affliction and are not self: this is the Norm.

Good, Evil and Beyond: Kamma in the Buddha's Teaching: P. A. Payutto