Karma and its link with all phenomena

In the earlier section on appearance, we noted that karma from a previous life leaves very clear marks on each person's appearance. A person who has made much merit has a radiant, beautiful appearance. A person who has done much wrong has a dark, ugly appearance. A person with strong intuition will see how each small feature of a figure speaks of a karmic result. A fierce look in the eyes speaks of a cruel karmic cause in the past and also foretells a tragic karmic result in the future. A swaggering gait with shoulders swinging speaks of a habit of haughtiness in the past and foretells coming baseness.

Then, over a long time of accumulated intuition and experience, the art of physiognomy and fortune-telling took shape as a whole system, complex, detailed and specialised. A physiognomist can analyse each line of the eyebrows, the thickness of the earlobe, the size of the iris, the brightness or darkness of the skin... to read each person's karmic result, and can see the general outlines of a person's life.

We already know that the law of karma is hidden deep in the Essence, and the Essence contains the whole of all things in the universe. Therefore the traces of karma are always recorded on every phenomenon and every aspect of life. People with strong intuition and fine powers of observation will see something of the meaning of karma by relying on the phenomena displayed among all things. In terms of seeking liberation, Buddhism does not stress discovering the traces of karma that appear on these phenomena, for fear of wasting time that should go to practising meditation. That is why the scriptures always condemn occupations such as divination, astronomy, geomancy, physiognomy, choosing auspicious and inauspicious days and hours, horoscopes...

Geomancers read the form of a house and a kitchen and the surrounding landscape of an ancestor's tomb in order to predict the fortunes of a family or a lineage. Astronomers, by observing the stars, can predict the rise and fall of dynasties and of important figures. Horoscope readers take a person's time of birth to draw up a chart made of a system of stars arranged around 12 palaces, and from it infer that person's life.

These arts are a distinctive trace of Eastern civilisation which science today still does not accept because it has not been able to prove them. But their persistence over several thousand years also speaks of a part of their practical value. If we stand on the position of liberation, we are not concerned with these arts. However, in a treatise investigating karma, we must also touch on the relation between karma and the signs of karma. The methods of reading those signs are called the arts mentioned above.

According to Einstein, when speaking of any object, we must speak of a "space-time" coordinate. For example, to meet Mr A, we must know where he is and at what time, and not only know the address (space) without knowing when he is present (time). Thus this universe is a space-time universe, and space and time cannot be separated. When speaking of an event, an object, a matter, a person... we must speak of its place and its time and cannot omit either factor. Things that are present are bound tightly by space and time.

Likewise, karma leaves its mark on space and time. By reading those signs one can know a person's karmic result.

If karma has left its mark on a person's appearance, karma also leaves its mark on the time of that person's birth. The art of horoscopes arose from this argument. At the beginning of the Song dynasty, Hy Di Trần Đoàn (Chen Tuan) discovered a method of drawing up a horoscope from a person's day and hour of birth. More than 100 stars are arranged around 12 palaces. These stars combine with one another to express certain qualities. They are called stars, but in fact we should treat them only as a symbol, a code, and it is the combination of these codes that makes a sentence, a complete meaning. For example, the art of horoscopes says "if Liêm trinh and Tham lang sit in the palaces of Tỵ and Hợi, it is hard to escape prison", or "if the stars Ân quang and Thiên quý sit in the palaces of Sửu and Mùi, one will be famous throughout the land"...

Horoscope readers only stress the karmic result and pay no attention to the karmic cause, whereas in fact, when the result is present, the karmic cause is already present. If a horoscope says that a person will be rich, it means this person gave a great deal in the past. If a horoscope says that a person will meet failure, it also has stars (symbols) to show that this person has bad traits: little patience and narrow-mindedness.

Another art that also draws attention is geomancy, feng shui. By looking at the landscape around a house or a tomb, a geomancer can know the rise and decline of that family and lineage. What do the mounds around it foretell, what does a stream flowing across say, what does a main road passing nearby foretell... Geomancers analyse the meaning of these signs to predict the fortunes of those related by blood.

However, later the geomancers, instead of investigating objectively, looked for ways to intervene in the hope of achieving the results they wanted. They sought good positions in which to bury the dead, hoping that descendants would later flourish brilliantly. Many wealthy families hired geomancers at great expense to find a good burial site.

We are not in a hurry to deny the effectiveness of this practice; we only say that if burying a grave in a good position truly makes children prosper, it too is not outside the law of karma. Only a person with merit is born into a family with such a grave. Those who work hard to find a grave but lack merit will be born into another lineage, leaving the good grave for others to enjoy. It is also because they understood this that geomancers advised "first accumulate blessings, then look for the dragon vein", that is, one must first accumulate merit and only afterwards look for the dragon vein.

Karma also leaves its mark on the surroundings of each person's dwelling. The art of reading these signs is called omen-reading. On arriving at a person's dwelling, the omen-reader looks at the paths, tree stumps, water jars, doors, pillars, wells, colours... around that person's dwelling and can predict how that person's fortune and misfortune, sorrow and joy will go. For example, seeing a path run straight at the main door, they hold that this house will often have trouble. Or a well in the wrong place may show that the sons will be thieves and robbers and the daughters will sell themselves.

And like the geomancers, they too look for ways to intervene by changing the path, moving the kitchen, changing the pillars,... But if that family's karma is not yet exhausted, the bad omen still appears. Fix this spot and another is offended. As for people with merit, the surroundings naturally appear in a harmonious and reasonable way with no need for any further change.

In omen-reading, they also note other signs, such as the cry of a strange bird coming from somewhere, plants wilting by themselves, cups suddenly breaking, or gifts brought by guests, a well changing colour... Through such signs, they predict what is about to happen.

The Chinese also have the art of reading a person's tone of speech. At important moments such as festivals... on hearing a person say one sentence, they can predict that person's general destiny. This art spread to Vietnam too. For example, when Zen Master Vạn Hạnh heard Lý Công Uẩn lament:

"Deep in the night I dare not stretch out my legs to sleep

For fear the mountains, rivers and the realm may tilt"

he was astonished at the tone of a future king.

Or when he heard Mạc Đĩnh Chi exclaim the line:

"At dusk, shoot down the Golden Crow"

the Chinese predicted that later Mạc Đĩnh Chi's descendants would seize the throne. And indeed, later Mạc Đăng Dung seized the throne from the Lê.

Or hearing the student Nguyễn Đặng answer the line:

"Vũ vô kiềm tỏa năng lưu khách"

(Rain does not bind, yet it can keep a guest).

with the line:

"Sắc bất ba đào dị mịch nhân"

(Beauty is not a stormy wave, yet it drowns people).

the teacher said that Nguyễn Đặng would pass as top scholar but would be disgraced by women. That came to pass.

Here, it is the unconscious itself that foretold the event through such tones of speech, and a perceptive person can see it.

In historical tradition, people also often record omens of heaven and earth foretelling the rise and fall of a country, such as a strange rainbow appearing, river water changing colour, strange stars appearing or going out, the collapse of traditional mountains, the change of a river's course...

Thus the karma of each person and of society is related to all phenomena and truly shows itself through certain signs. Many people have given their minds to studying these signs and have formed specialised arts. India and China are the places with the most of this kind of art.

However, once we understand karma, we only calmly cultivate morality and make merit. Everything will become good. That is why Buddhism does not stress the arts above, although they are not entirely unreasonable as some people have denied.