A Wonderful Book on Zen, Part 1

     I found a wonderful book on Zen Buddhism entitled Zen Master Class.  It is a historical overview of the concepts and developments in this rich spiritual tradition.  I was intrigued by the author's definition of karma.  We usually think of karma as something that someone brings on themselves because of bad actions (the old adage goes:  "What goes around, comes around").  But he lifts the bar much, much higher:

Because our actions are charged with emotional energy, the Buddha taught that the effects of our actions go beyond the immediate results of which we are aware.  In fact, every thought, word, and deed imprints some of its energy on our mindstream.  Positive actions leave positive imprints; negative actions leave negative imprints.  The energy of these imprints will be released at some time in the future when circumstances trigger experiences that reflect the energy pattern of the original motivation.

Oh, my.  We have karma from our thoughts.  Ouch.