The Law of Karma in Action, A True Story
by Roshi Hogen Berman

The last time I was in Sri Lanka, I stayed for well over two months. When I was ready to leave I found that I still had about $600 worth of Sri Lankan Rupees in my pocket. Actually, I had $300 and the friend I was traveling with had about the same amount. It is against the law to take Sri Lanka Rupees out of the country, so you must either exchange them back to dollars, spend them, or leave them with a friend for safe keeping. Having misplaced or lost the bank receipts from when we exchanged dollars for Rupees, we chose to do the latter. I left them with a Mr. L who was the assistant manager for a company owned by my friend Dr. K's cousin. (Dr. K at that time was the Buddhist representative to the United Nations and a dear friend). I asked Mr. L to safeguard the money and I would either return to claim it or arrange some other disposition through the mail. I gave him $600, three hundred from each of us. I then gave my friend $300 in American dollars because he could not afford the loss.

Feeling that the money was in good hands we left and returned to Japan where we were living at the time. About a year later, Dr. K, whose cousin owned the company where Mr. L worked, decided to make a trip to Sri Lanka. I had told him of the $600 I had left with Mr. L. (I now considered it my money since I had given my original traveling friend $300 out of my pocket to replace his loss). Dr. K offered to claim the $600 from Mr. L and reimburse me in dollars when he returned from Sri Lanka. I agreed since this then solved the whole problem and saved me from making another trip to Sri Lanka. I wrote a letter to Mr. L instructing him to give the $600 dollars to Dr. K upon his arrival in Sri Lanka.

For several months I did not receive a reply from Mr. L. About a week after Dr. K arrived in Sri Lanka, he wrote to tell me that Mr. L had invested my $600 and lost it when the Tamil company he invested it with went broke. Mr. L claimed my $600 dollars no longer existed. Dr. K did not believe Mr. L because he had no documentation supporting the investment, no receipt - nothing. Dr. K believed Mr. L had simply stolen the money.

I wrote to Dr. K and told him to forget about it, I would simply write off the loss. If Mr. L was a thief, sooner or later, under the law of Karma it would catch up with him. Mr. L then wrote to me apologizing for the loss of my money. I wrote and told him I was disappointed, but to forget about it, and not to worry - I harbored no ill feelings.

Prior to leaving Sri Lanka to return to his United Nations post, Dr. K told the story to his cousin who owned the business where Mr. L worked. The cousin began an investigation and learned that Mr. L had done similar things with other foreign customers of the company - actually putting their money in his pocket. Mr. L was subsequently fired from his job.

I later learned he not only lost his job, but because of the conditions under which he was fired, no one else would hire him. Soon he lost his home because he could not make the mortgage payments. He had two sons, one in a private high school and the other in the University. The son in the private high school had to be moved to a public school and the boy in the University had to drop out due to a lack of funds.

Three years later I heard from another friend that Mr. L was still unemployed and living off the charity of his sister and pan handling among the foreign tourists. This all seemed like a great price to pay for $600, but it certainly is an example of the law of Karma in action.

Please send comments, corrections, add links, information, etc. to ... khumatsarla@hotmail.com



Thank you for participating on the Buddhist Forum. Many will learn from the experiences and teachings you so graciously share.

Thank you for visiting.