Karma

Karma – The law of cause and effect
«If you want to know what you were in previous lives, look at what you are now; if you want to know what you will become in future lives, look at what you are doing now.»

Every action is the result of a previous cause and will have a consequence in the future. What we are today is the result of past actions, and what we do now will determine the future. This law of karma is what conditions our entire existence. However, these conditions are not definitive, as we have a certain amount of freedom and, whatever the circumstances, there is always a possibility of choice. In short, there are two choices: either to progress towards the light of enlightenment or to regress towards the darkness of ignorance. This is why we have free will. Although we are predisposed from birth, these predispositions do not completely determine us. It is therefore within our power to liberate ourselves or to alienate ourselves.
Every act, whether good or bad, of body, speech, or mind, will have a good or bad consequence in this life, in the next, or later on. Unless the appropriate antidote is applied, it is impossible for karma to be destroyed or lost, even after countless cosmic eons.
There are a great many harmful acts, but they can be reduced to ten. Three are physical: murder (and suicide), theft, and sexual misconduct; four are verbal: lying, slander, abusive speech, and idle talk; and three are mental: covetousness, malice, and wrong views about the essential nature of reality. The ten positive acts consist of abandoning the ten negative acts. They involve protecting the lives of living beings, practising generosity and ethical conduct, speaking the truth, creating harmony between people, speaking peacefully and sensibly, having few desires while being content with what one has, developing kindness within oneself, and adhering to what is authentic (the law of karma, reincarnation, etc.).
In short, it is said in the Dharma:
«Negative are the actions born of desire, hatred, and ignorance; they are the source of all suffering and lower states of existence. Positive are the actions born of the absence of desire, hatred, and ignorance; they bring about happy worlds and happiness in all lives.»
Obviously, a person will inevitably reap the fruits of their actions and cannot transfer them to someone else; positive actions will bring happiness, while negative actions will bring suffering. While we can understand this concept of karma on an individual level, it is sometimes difficult to accept that we have to suffer the consequences of certain actions on a collective level, such as: wars, plagues, calamities, etc. In fact, collective karma is the sum of multiple individual karmas. We can see this in human groups that come together for social, religious, political and other reasons; the more people involved, the greater the impact.
From a Buddhist perspective, there is no ultimate judgement other than the law of karmic retribution. Destiny is not fatalism, but the natural law of cause and effect.
Thus, at every moment of our lives, we can transform our negative karma into positive karma and further improve our beneficial karma.