Collective Karma in Lived Himalayan Buddhism: Weaving together the fate of sentient beings for flourishing futures

In the lived experience of Bhutanese Vajrayana Buddhism, karma is understood as the inescapable law of cause and consequence through which each intentional act leaves a moral residue that affects the prospects for a positive rebirth. As all sentient beings cycle through the six realms of existence depicted on the Wheel of Life, often depicted in the entryways of temples, people have a vested interest in caring for other living beings, any one of which could have been one’s mother. Based on ethnographic work conducted in Bhutan over the past two decades and engaging with concepts from the field of religion and ecology, this paper explores the ecological implications of the Bhutanese doctrine of karma for generating flourishing human and more-than-human futures.