Most westerners misunderstood the law of karma. They mistake it for fatalism, where one is doomed to suffer for some unknown crime in a forgotten past life. This is not quite so, as this story will show.
Two women were each baking a cake.
The first women had miserable ingredients. The old white flour had to have the green mouldy bits removed first. The cholesterol-enriched butter was almost going rancid. She had to pick the brown lumps out of the white sugar (because someone had put in a spoon wet with coffee), and the only fruit she had were ancient raisins, as hard as depleted uranium. And her kitchen was of the style called "pre-World-War" - which World War was a matter of debate.
The second woman had the very best of ingredients. The organically grown whole-wheat flour was guaranteed GM-free. She had trans-fat-free canola-oil spread, raw sugar, and succulent fruit grown in her own garden. And her kitchen was "state-of-the-art," with every modern gadget.
Which woman baked the more delicious cake?
It is often not the person with the best ingredients who bakes the better cake - there is more to baking a cake than just the ingredients. Sometimes the person with miserable ingredients puts so much effort, care and love into their baking that their cake comes out the most delicious of all. It is what we do with the ingredients that counts.
I have some friends who have had miserable ingredients to work with in this life: they were born into poverty, possibly abused as children, not clever at school, maybe disabled and unable to play sports. But the few qualities they did have they put together so well that they baked a mightily impressive cake. I admire them greatly. Do you recognize such people?
I have other friends who have had wonderful ingredients to work with in this life. Their families were wealthy and loving, they were successful at school, talented athletes, good-looking, and popular, and yet they wasted their young lives with drugs and alcohol. Do you recognize such a one?
Half of karma is the ingredients we have got to work with. The other half, the most crucial part, is what we make of them in this life.
Excerpt from: Who Ordered This Truckload of Dung by Ajahn Brahm
