Unwholesome Karmic Results as Fate
Original source: satipanya.org.uk
This teaching examines the Buddha's concept of anusāya (latent tendencies) through the lens of psychological insight, showing how unconscious mental patterns manifest as seemingly external 'fate' or repeated unfortunate circumstances. Bhante Bodhidhamma draws connections between modern psychological understanding and Buddhist teachings on the kilesas (defilements), demonstrating how our unacknowledged motivations and contradictions create cycles of suffering in relationships and life situations.
Using practical examples—the controlling 'do-gooder,' the person who repeatedly faces relationship failures, or those whose sarcasm alienates friends—the essay illustrates how we unconsciously act out inner conflicts when we lack self-awareness. These patterns appear as external misfortune but actually arise from our own unexamined attitudes and intentions.
The teaching emphasizes the power of vipassanā meditation, particularly the noting technique, to develop the sharp awareness needed to catch these latent tendencies as they surface in our mental formations. By bringing conscious attention to our subliminal attitudes, we can break free from the karmic cycles that seem like fate but are actually the result of our own unconscious mental habits. This represents a practical integration of psychological insight with traditional Buddhist understanding of how mental formations create our experienced reality.
Yung :The psychological rule says that when an inner situation is not made conscious, it happens outside as fate. That is to say, when the individual remains divided and does not become conscious of his inner contradictions, the world must perforce act out the conflict and be torn into two opposite halves.How true!The Buddha talks of anusāya, latent tendencies. These are lying underneath the obvious kilesa, defilements. We are not often aware of these subliminal attitudes and intentions.One tell-tale that something is being acted out by us of which we are not totally aware or not aware of at all is when we fall repeatedly into a similar unfortunate or painful situation.Consider the do-gooder who consciously wishes in her heart to do only good for you, yet is not aware that she is controlling the situation. That she actually only wants to do the good she wants to do for you because that is what makes her feel worthy and so happy. She is shocked at the ingratitude of the person she is helping who only feels constrained, not-heard and even bullied. She doesn’t understand why the person gets so angry when all she is they are trying to do is help.A man came on a retreat of mine while at Gaia. He came with a whole set of garden tools! It was difficult for the co-ordinators at the time to stop him doing whathewanted to do to the garden.Consider the person who is always falling in love and a few months down the line finds himself dumped! What’s really happening is that, after the honeymoon period, he starts to criticise and be cruel, unaware that when the relationship becomes too close he finds it smothering. Yet he is madly in love. Not being fully conscious he blames the other for oppressing him.Not acknowledging that we feel insecure or angry or inferior we become sarcastic. Our sarcasm is actually funny to everyone else but the victim. Making people laugh gives us back our self-worth, but mysteriously friends begin to avoid us.If we look into our lives and see negative patterns, it may be time to have a hard look at our attitudes instead of blaming others or the situation.In meditation, using the noting technique, if we remain sharp and perceptive we may catch surfacing into our day-dreamings these very latent tendencies.In this way we can bring the fate of inner contradictions, so clearly expressed by Yung, to an end.