The idea of karma teaches us clearly that one will reap the fruits of what he has sown. Suppose that we are unhappy at present; we are apt to lose our temper and express discontent if we attribute our unhappiness to others. But if we consider our present unhappiness to be the effect of our own deeds in the past, we can accept it and take responsibility for it.

Besides such acceptance, hope for the future wells up strongly in our hearts: “The more good karma I accumulate, the happier I will become and the better recompense I will receive. All right, I will accumulate much more good karma in the future.” We should not limit this idea only to the problems of human life in this world. We can also feel hope concerning the traces of our lives after death. For those who do not know the teachings of the Buddha, nothing is so terrible as death. Everyone fears it. But if we truly realize the meaning of karma-result, we can keep our composure in the face of death because we can have hope for our next life.

When we do not think only of ourselves but realize that the karma produced by our own deeds exerts an influence upon our descendants, we will naturally come to feel responsible for our deeds. We will also realize that we, as parents, must maintain a good attitude in our daily lives in order to have a favorable influence (recompense) upon our children. We will feel strongly that we must always speak to our children correctly and bring them up properly and with affection.

The word “karma-result” has often been interpreted as something negative, but this is due to a mistaken way of teaching this idea. We should consider the idea of karma-result in a positive and forward-looking way.