Our Collective Karma

As a Buddhist teacher, I have long recognized the significance of collective karma (共業). In original Buddhism, karma is seen as personal and individual-based. But there is a notion of collective karma in Chinese Buddhism. Master Sheng Yen, for example, once talked about this. Collective karma is a well-accepted concept in Chinese Mahayana Buddhism.

Yesterday, a reader responded to my article on how the Coronavirus can be seen as the karmic result of humans’ destruction of nature and the environment. She said she never took part in the destruction of nature or the pollution of the environment, so why is she suffering the consequences together with everybody?

This is a great question. The notion of collective karma is consistent with the notion of collective punishment in many theist religions. In the Old Testament, for example, we often see how an entire people was punished as a group. Some may complain that it is not fair.

The rise of individualism is a relatively new development in the long history of humankind. In ancient cultures, there is no clear concept of the individual. To the best of my knowledge, the Buddha never talked about collective karma. But he did not need to. We should note that Buddha taught a doctrine of no self (anatta). In this teaching, the self is an illusion. We have no independent existence from the rest of the world. Where do we…