Making a difference -big or small

Dec 29 2007 By Vajragupta

AS ANOTHER year draws to a close and a new year beckons, many people naturally find themselves reflecting on how they live their lives and how they might make a positive difference in the world.

If I had to give a very simple explanation of the Buddhist notion of karma, I'd say it means this: actions have consequences.

The kind of person we are is the product of all our past choices. Everything we do, or say, or think, affects the kind of person we become. It also has an effect on the world around us.

One difficulty we might encounter when reflecting like this is a sense of futility.

Modern communications technology gives us a previously undreamed of access to information and news from all over the world.

The downside of this is that we may be over-whelmed by a sense of powerlessness. We see so much suffering on our TV screens and wonder what on earth we can do about it.

If we are not careful, this can subtly erode our sense that our actions do have consequences.

Do you ever feel: what difference can I make to problems on such a vast scale? What difference can I make if everyone else is just carrying on oblivious to the issues?.

So it is especially important to reflect that all actions have consequences and to renew in us a sense of the significance of our moral lives.

There's a story of a man walking along a beach upon which thousands of starfish had been washed up by a storm. He was throwing starfish back into the water, one by one. Someone came along and asked him why he was bothering - what was the point when there were so many thousands of starfish stranded on the shore?

"Well," said the man, throwing another starfish back into the ocean, "it makes a difference to this one and to this one and to this one . . . . . . ."

Everything we do has an effect, however small, on the world.

n Vajragupta teaches Buddhism and meditation at the Birmingham Buddhist Centre in Moseley (www.birminghambuddhistcentre.org.uk) and is the author of Buddhism: Tools for Living Your Life, published by Windhorse Publications.