Buddhist-Meditation-Systematic-and-Practical

obvious to most people. If karma were merely a
mechanical matter—do good, get good; do bad, get
bad—then no Buddha or god could give grace or merits
to us. But we do recognize that this is possible.
Similarly, we speak about the beings in the hells as
judged by the ten great and fearful yamas (hell judges),
so that it seems that they, and not karma, are bringing
about the states of suffering. But really beings would
not see the great yamas if they had not committed those
crimes. Karma not only influences this mind and body
but seems to have its effect on our surroundings, or we
may say that it conditions us to see things in a certain
way. Besides karma individually experienced, there
appears to be another kind. This is where beings have
committed similar actions and thus come to reap similar
fruit—it is often called a "common" karma. This sense
of common karma brings about the experience of the
judges of the hells. From these examples, it is evident
that we must think of wider principles and should not be
too narrow in our ideas on karma.
Why does this question doubt the power of God?
Buddhists also hold that such beings exist (though not
as stable absolute entities). All the gods, who are
nevertheless impermanent whatever their followers hold,
have many merits. One cannot doubt that Jesus, whose
power of self-sacrifice was like that of a bodhisattva's,
also acquired great merits and, with them, the power to
help others within the domain of the three worlds.
Certainly he may extend his mercy and save those who
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