Local Buddhist Temple teaches true meaning ofkarma; promotes positive living

A POPULAR misconception about the Buddhist idea of karma is that it’s about punishment — a kind of cosmic “what goes around comes around.”

While Buddhists believe actions have consequences, karma is a much deeper idea than that, said Kyle Rathgaber, a board member of the Manitoba Buddhist Temple.

“Karma is not about retribution,” he said. “It’s not about being punished for something you did wrong.”

While there are elements of negative consequences in the idea of karma — if you are angry at others all the time, you may feel stress and anxiety in your own life — for Rathgaber, 34, it’s more about how people can peacefully and helpfully engage the world around them.

“The teachings of the Buddha are about how we can have right speech, thoughts and actions for ourselves and those around us,” he said. “It’s not just something bad that happens to us.”

Winnipeggers interested in learning more about karma are invited to a free public workshop at the temple from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday. The speaker is Tatsuya Aoki, bishop of the Jodo Shinshu Buddhist Temples of Canada and currently serving as the resident minister at the Vancouver Buddhist Temple. His topic is “Karma and Buddhist Freedom.”

Rathgaber has found Buddhist teachings about karma helpful in his own life.

“If someone yells at me, I think of peaceful ways to respond,” he said about his job as a constituency assistant for an NDP MLA.

If someone is angry about something, the idea of karma helps him not respond the same way. “A bad reaction is just going to make things worse,” he said, adding he tries to promote positive karma that will calm things down — to produce a good consequence for the other person and for himself.

“It’s about finding ways not to pass the harm along, but to stop it,” he says of how Buddhist teachings help him in his daily life.

Living a life that promotes positive karma is more important than ever today, with all the craziness in the world, Rathgaber added.

“The news makes us all feel anxious,” he said of what is happening in the U.S., especially, but also in other countries. “The goal is to avoid internalizing it and causing stress for ourselves, and for others.”

What he especially likes about Buddhism is how it can be practised anywhere — at home, at work, or in the car.

“It’s a way to feel better every day,” he said.

Tanis Moore is the sensei, or teacher, at the temple. By following the teachings of the Buddha, “we can find freedom as we help others,” she said, adding that Buddhism recognizes physical, verbal and volitional karma.

“The first two are tangible actions that can be controlled to some extent, but volitional actions such as thoughts and feelings are more challenging to control,” she said.

Through the workshop, people can learn more about dealing with thoughts and feelings that cause them to feel anxious and stressed. “Karma is a way to live into this present life as imperfect beings,” she said.

The Manitoba Buddhist Temple is at 39 Tecumseh St. For more information, visit wfp.to/mbbuddhist.

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