Karma remains a large problematic in the literature on Chinese Buddhism, exacerbated by the broad range of topics falling under the umbrella of karma, including rebirth, merit, crime and punishment, and social connections. Whether in the sense of moral cause and effect or of unfathomable entanglements, karma holds a central place in the everyday lived experiences of Buddhist practitioners (Swenson 2020), but remains undertreated by scholars. The existing literature has tended to focus on doctrinal questions of how karma works, often taking a markedly economic approach, for instance, examining exchanges of wealth for karmic merit (Walsh 2010; Robson 2017). A different approach is to instead examine the ways in which practitioners work with karma. Chinese Buddhist practitioners have long been concerned with accounting for their own karmic balance, including through the use of ledgers designed for this purpose (Brokaw 2014). A classic example of this, Zhuhong’s Record of Self-knowledge, assigns numerical value to the merit or demerit acquired through various actions, allowing one to actually calculate their own generation of karma (Yü 2020). Another tool for investigating one’s own karma was divination—the unpredictable results becoming a form of “karmic diagnostic” (McGuire 2014).
With the recent “affective turn” in Buddhist ethnographies, a new avenue has opened for approaching karma in the lived experience of practitioners. (Schwenkel and Keith 2020) Affect can be a particularly personal and immediate “diagnostic” for assessing the nature of a karmic connection. The feeling one senses upon meeting someone new, whether familiar or uncomfortable, bringing one to tears or revulsion, becomes an indicator for the existence of a previously established karmic connection, and possibly whether that connection was a beneficial or harmful one. Furthermore, the concept of karma provides a framework for both working with these feelings and working with the relationship itself. The feelings of joy upon meeting a fellow practitioner or repeated frustration with a family member become understandable, mappable within the realm of karmic connections. At the same time, this karmic worldview provides practitioners with a sense of agency, a knowledge that these relationships can be transformed, with negative bonds eliminated and positive affinities strengthened.
This paper explores how Tzu Chi volunteers manage karmic affinities in their interpersonal relationships, based on fieldwork conducted with volunteers of the Guandu Jing Si Hall in June and July of 2024. The Tzu Chi Foundation, established by Dharma Master Cheng Yen (證嚴 zhengyan) in 1966, is the world’s largest Buddhist charity. From its headquarters in Taiwan, it oversees volunteer operations around the globe, providing disaster and poverty relief, medical assistance, educational resources and more. A new, clearer picture of the organization is emerging in light of Tzu Chi’s claim to be its own school or denomination (宗門zongmen). In Tzu Chi’s case, the claim to be a zongmen expresses a sense of sectarian identity that is indicated by the assertion of an inherited lineage, a narrow canonical focus, key doctrinal positions and a distinct method of practice. Taken together, these elements reveal the Buddhist self-understanding and worldview underlying the social engagement of the Tzu Chi volunteers.
For volunteers of the foundation, a doctrinal emphasis on karmic connections provides an orientation to their everyday practice. Variations upon the phrase “Before attaining Buddhahood, first form karmic connections” (未成佛果，先結人緣wei cheng fo guo, xian jie ren yuan) attributed to Jixing Chewu (1741-1810) emphasize the need to establish positive relationships in the human realm. This provides a clarification to the “human” emphasis in Humanistic Buddhism—in addition to the temporal and spatial（時間 shijian 空間 kongjian）focuses of this life and the human realm, the importance of interpersonal relationships (人與人之間 renyurenzhijian)is brought to the fore. Thus, volunteers can draw on their affective experiences of karmic entanglements to help them form new affinities or transform negative relationships. The interlocutors in this study provide examples from their own life experiences of how they interpret and make use of these karmic understandings.
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McGuire, Beverley Foulks. 2014. Living Karma: The Religious Practices of Ouyi Zhixu. Sheng Yen Series in Chinese Buddhist Studies. New York: Columbia University Press.
Robson, James. 2017. “Searching for a Better Return: Pre-Mortem Death Rituals in East Asian Buddhism and Society.” In Buddhist Transformations and Interactions : Essays in Honor of Antonino Forte, edited by Victor H. 1943- Mair. Cambria Sinophone World Series. Amherst, New York: Cambria Press.
Schwenkel, Christina, and Charles Keith. 2020. “The Affective Turn in Ethnographies of Buddhism.” Journal of Vietnamese Studies 15 (4): 1–3.
Swenson, Sara Ann. 2020. “Feeling for Fate: Karma and the Senses in Buddhist Nuns’ Ordination Narratives” 21.
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The Tzu Chi Foundation, established by Dharma Master Cheng Yen證嚴 in 1966, is the world’s largest Buddhist charity. From its headquarters in Taiwan, Tzu Chi oversees a vast global volunteer network that provides disaster and poverty relief, medical assistance, educational resources and more. For volunteers of the foundation, a doctrinal emphasis on karmic connections serves to orient their everyday practice toward the need to establish positive relationships in the human realm. Volunteers draw on their affective experiences of karmic entanglements to help them form new affinities or transform negative relationships. This paper analyzes narratives volunteers have offered from their own life experiences of how they interpret their actions through a karmic worldview.