On Bearing Others' Karma

Question: An elderly family member had leg pain, and I gave him massage therapy every day. After more than three months, his legs recovered, but I found that the same symptoms as on his legs had appeared on my arm. Sometimes when I treat a colleague, once the colleague recovers, similar symptoms appear in my own body. Why is this so?

Answer: You have taken on someone else's karmic obstructions. Karmic obstructions do not disappear without cause; one must undergo the retribution before they can disappear. If he does not undergo it, then you must undergo it in his place. If a Buddhist keeps bearing others' karmic obstructions, he will be unable to cultivate, and in the end no one will attain any accomplishment—all will remain in the cycle of birth and death.

Doctors, of course, also bear a certain amount of karma when treating illness, but that is their profession; they are not deliberately trying to dissolve others' karma or bear their karmic obstructions—doctors must do what they do. But deliberately dissolving karma for others will naturally cause their karmic creditors to be unable to collect their debts, and they will feel resentment and displeasure. For example, if a family member of yours owes a debt and the creditor comes to collect it, and you shield your family member so the creditor cannot collect—what will happen then?

According to the law of cause and effect, karmic seeds must ripen before retribution can be received. Some karmic creditors are present in the body and will retaliate immediately. Others retaliate at the time of death. If the karmic obstructions one bears are great, then even if there are no karmic creditors in the body, cause and effect will arrive quickly. There are many different scenarios here; it is very complicated and cannot be explained clearly. Some patients' illnesses are not due to karmic obstructions—there are no karmic seeds; the illness is caused by the environment, or by carelessness. If you treat such a patient, you will not suffer retaliation: there are no karmic obstructions, no evil retribution, but rather good retribution.