On Bearing Karma

Question: An elderly person in my family had leg pain, and I massaged and treated him every day. After more than three months, his legs got better, but I found that the same symptoms as in his legs appeared on my own arm. Sometimes when I treat a colleague, once the colleague recovers, similar symptoms appear in my own body. Why does this happen?

Answer: You have taken on someone else's karmic obstructions. Karmic obstructions do not simply vanish 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 taking on others' karmic obstructions, he will be unable to cultivate, and in the end no one will attain any accomplishment—everyone will remain in the cycle of birth and death.

Doctors, of course, also take on a certain amount of karma when treating illness, but that is their profession; they are not deliberately trying to eliminate others' karma or carry their karmic obstructions—doctors must act that way. But deliberately eliminating karma for someone will naturally cause the vengeful 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, and you protect your family member so the creditor cannot collect, what will happen then?

The law of cause and effect requires karmic seeds to mature before retribution can be received. Some vengeful creditors and debtors, when present in the body, will retaliate immediately. Others retaliate at the time of death. If the karmic obstruction one carries is great, then even if there are no vengeful creditors in the body, cause and effect will arrive quickly. There are many different situations 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. Treating such a person will not invite retaliation: there is no karmic obstruction, no evil retribution, but rather good retribution.