Exploring the Dharma Bookshelf – 'All Beings Follow Their Karma'
A new Buddhist text explores karma as a fundamental doctrine, explaining three types—unwholesome, wholesome, and karma-ending—that most practitioners misunderstand despite the Buddha's emphasis on liberation through the Noble Eightfold Path
The book 'All Beings Follow Their Karma,' authored by the Liang Chiang Publishing House team and published by Liang Chiang Publishing for Buddhism at 16 baht, presents karma as a fundamental Buddhist doctrine of major importance, earning Buddhism the designation as a 'karma religion.' Though the concept of karma existed before Buddhism, the Buddha uniquely understood and clarified the true law of karma, distinguishing it from three previous interpretations, and taught all beings how to correctly resolve problems stemming from karma.
While Buddhists believe in and value the law of karma more than other teachings, few truly understand it completely and correctly as the Buddha intended. Buddhist karma divides into three categories: unwholesome karma (akusala) rooted in greed, hatred, and delusion; wholesome karma (kusala) rooted in non-greed, non-hatred, and non-delusion; and karma that ends karma, which eliminates both wholesome and unwholesome karma and prevents rebirth—represented by the Noble Eightfold Path beginning with right view.
Most people understand only two types of karma: good and bad, remaining ignorant of the third type despite the Buddha's emphasis on it as the path to liberation and freedom from suffering and the cycle of death and rebirth. This teaching is unique to Buddhism and worthy of serious study.
'All Beings Follow Their Karma' reflects the purity and justice of natural law, granting all beings freedom to author their own lives—whatever karma one creates, one alone experiences its fruit.
Karma is a teaching the Buddha stressed throughout the Tripitaka and remains a primary subject of Buddhist study. This book divides into three main sections: knowledge about karma from various perspectives in the Tripitaka; designing a beautiful life through the ten paths of karma; and fourteen types of karma results experienced by the Buddha. The content helps readers gain deeper understanding of the law of karma.
Additionally featured this week: a book recommendation from Chulalongkorn University Press presenting 'Decoding Buddhist Thought for Life' by Rattana Pannyapah. Amid a society where many live with distorted thinking patterns, this book decodes correct Buddhist perspectives across seven dimensions relating to human existence—from viewing life holistically to addressing love, faith, mindfulness, and sufficiency.
