The Concept of Fate in Buddhism
Fate
Fate is often said to prevail in everyone’s life in many different religions in the world. Also known as God’s Will or Heaven Will, it is believed to be predestined by an omnipotent creator universal force and is out of an individual’s control. Buddhists believe that our life and its events are not controlled by an external force but is the result of our previous karma. The word Destiny can also be used to explain why some things that will happen to an individual will eventually happen. In other words, Destiny is the direct result of an individual karma from his or her previous life and may be accumulated. In Buddhism, apart from karma, the primary cause of rebirth is the three poisons- Ignorance, Greed, and Anger.
Universal Creation
Buddhism has no creator god to explain the origin of the universe. Instead, it teaches that everything depends on everything else: present events are caused by past events and become the cause of future events. In the eyes of the Buddha, the world is nothing but Samsara -- the cycle of repeated births and deaths. To Him, the beginning of the world and the end of the world is within this Samsara. Since elements and energies are relative and inter-dependent, it is meaningless to single out anything as the beginning. Whatever speculation we make regarding the origin of the world, there is no absolute truth in our notion.
Parable of the Poisoned Arrow
It's just as if a man were wounded with an arrow thickly smeared with poison. His friends & companions, kinsmen & relatives would provide him with a surgeon, and the man would say, 'I won't have this arrow removed until I know whether the man who wounded me was a noble warrior, a priest, a merchant, or a worker.' He would say, 'I won't have this arrow removed until I know the given name & clan name of the man who wounded me... until I know whether he was tall, medium, or short... until I know whether he was dark, ruddy-brown, or golden-colored... until I know his home village, town,
Fate is often said to prevail in everyone’s life in many different religions in the world. Also known as God’s Will or Heaven Will, it is believed to be predestined by an omnipotent creator universal force and is out of an individual’s control. Buddhists believe that our life and its events are not controlled by an external force but is the result of our previous karma. The word Destiny can also be used to explain why some things that will happen to an individual will eventually happen. In other words, Destiny is the direct result of an individual karma from his or her previous life and may be accumulated. In Buddhism, apart from karma, the primary cause of rebirth is the three poisons- Ignorance, Greed, and Anger.
Universal Creation
Buddhism has no creator god to explain the origin of the universe. Instead, it teaches that everything depends on everything else: present events are caused by past events and become the cause of future events. In the eyes of the Buddha, the world is nothing but Samsara -- the cycle of repeated births and deaths. To Him, the beginning of the world and the end of the world is within this Samsara. Since elements and energies are relative and inter-dependent, it is meaningless to single out anything as the beginning. Whatever speculation we make regarding the origin of the world, there is no absolute truth in our notion.
Parable of the Poisoned Arrow
It's just as if a man were wounded with an arrow thickly smeared with poison. His friends & companions, kinsmen & relatives would provide him with a surgeon, and the man would say, 'I won't have this arrow removed until I know whether the man who wounded me was a noble warrior, a priest, a merchant, or a worker.' He would say, 'I won't have this arrow removed until I know the given name & clan name of the man who wounded me... until I know whether he was tall, medium, or short... until I know whether he was dark, ruddy-brown, or golden-colored... until I know his home village, town,