Karma

There are many Buddhist temples in South Korea. When I traveled the country with my family, we visited a lot of famous (and not so famous) Buddhist temples in various mountains. I am not a Buddhist but I really liked the peaceful atmosphere of the temples. I used to go to a Buddhist temple near my office when I was working at Seoul. I couldn’t attend the lecture meetings too often but I enjoyed the food, paintings, architecture, culture and ideas.?

Karma is one of the core concepts in the Buddhist and Hindu religions. It’s not easy to explain briefly but in Buddhism, it’s the things that we do, we say and we think, good or bad, in current or previous life that would eventually influence our current or future life. To put it even more simply, if we do, say or think good things, we get reward, if we do, say or think bad things, we get punished, in current or future life.

Karma is translated as "?" (業 or “业) in Korean and Chinese as it came from Sanskrit language meaning “to do.” Again, in Buddhism, this word means a lot more than that but the word itself in Sanskrit means activity along with steps and effort in action. Guess what else that same Korean/Chinese character is used for? "?"(業 or “业) is the most popular translation of the English words of business, industry, job or occupation.

I am hearing that the job market in the US is really hot, stronger than it has been for many decades. Considering all the factors, this is pretty unusual. It’s very counter intuitive as we keep seeing layoffs in the industry and experts keep warning about the mounting risks of recession. But then again, nobody can see the future. It’s all prediction, not fact, so we will see how it unfolds from here.

I see many friends and colleagues going through career changes, voluntarily or involuntarily, to bigger companies or to smaller businesses, doing similar things or pursuing something different. For most of us, what we do is who we are. A job is a lot more than a title or a salary. It defines a very significant portion of our identity.?

Leaving what we’ve been doing for years to do something else is a risk but at the same time it’s an opportunity. To reflect on life, job and daily deeds, to see if we’ve been building the right Karma for our current or next life and to see if we can be better ourselves. I wish all my friends and colleagues going through the changes all the best of luck in their next chapter of life. As Chris Grosser said it really well, “Opportunities don’t happen, you create them!”?