Table of Contents
A concise narrative was told.
Karma
Bullied dog becomes police dog
Indian co-apprentices’ animosity
Lee Fung Yee is the protagonist
Freedom of Choice
Be present: cultivate good actions
In conclusion,
Running on karma is an original production in Hong Kong by Johnnie To. Wai’s productions are known for their Buddhist themes. This film is named after a prominent Buddhist concept, karma. The poster emphasizes this by translating the Chinese line that says that only karma can be removed. This paper will analyze and discuss this concept.
Story SummaryBig was a Buddhist and he could see his past Karma after accidentally killing a parrot out of resentment at Sun Ko, the person who killed his friend Jade. He cannot read fortunes, but by observing the phala (result), he can tell what caused the death of his friend Jade. After seeing karma he gave up on being a Monk. In a police clearing action, he encounters Lee Fung Yee while working at a bar. He is touched by the kindness of the girl and her past negative karma as a Japanese who killed many people in a previous life. The final fate of Lee also changes Big. Lee’s demise, which was caused by SunKo’s killer, has enlightened Big’s understanding about karma.
KarmaKarma is simply deed and action. It is also equated to our intention of volition or Cetana. It may be performed through body, mind or speech (Nibbedhika Sutta, AN 6.63). The phala is often compared to the seed which grows and produces a fruit. Vipaka is the term used to describe this process. The fruit’s taste is determined by its doer. It can be sour, sweet or bland depending on their volition.
You can reduce the negative effects of karmic fruits by, for instance, sincerely regretting an action in the past and resolving to not do it again. It would be the same as if the water from the Ganges river was less salinized than the water that is in a small glass of water. It is possible that this karma will not come to fruition if it’s too definite.
In the future, phala may come to you in a later life. This could be the next or after-next life. The karmic law is dynamic and flexible, because regretting and changing the karmic energy can both change it. The law of karma governs the rebirths, and this kind of summation has shown that they are not random.
Bullied dog becomes police dogAn officer dog died after a stray gunshot was fired by Lee, during a chase. Big is able to see that the dog had a past as a child chasing and slapping a canine. It is not the karmic punishment that the dog deserved but rather, the natural outcome from its past behavior. Since it has served the public, there is a good chance that karmic energy will be accumulated and positive karmic force reduced.
Indians who are fellow apprentices have animosity towards each other. In a violent fight, an Indian killed the owner of a Indian restaurant. Big understands that both were fellow-apprentices in their current life as well as the previous few lives. It shows their animosity has not been limited to just this life. The Indian man was betrayed by the restauranteur in his previous life. He is killed now as a consequence of the karma he has accrued in this lifetime. The arrest also results from the Indian man’s past karma of killing the CID Agent and restauranteur.
The Indian saved the beetle that was trapped in the puddle in his previous life. He will be rewarded by the beetle as a lady in this lifetime. The woman would lose her left arm as well, just like the beetle. The woman finds it strange that, even though she has lost her arm, for some reason undefined, she still helps the Indian man. She smiles and doesn’t seem to regret it at all. She seems to feel that she will not regret this even if it means she dies. This story embodies the subtle operation of karma.
The protagonist is Lee Fung Yee. Lee Fung Yee, a brave and kind policewoman, cares for Big’s injury at first. Big realizes that her past was as a brutal Japanese Soldier who had killed many people. Because every deliberate act has its own result, Big predicts she will die very young. His goodness makes him want to help her two times to save her. In spite of this, he learns that Lee is still being followed by an image of a Japanese Soldier. This frustrates him when confronting the Law Of Karma. Lee finds it unfair that he confesses to her what he’s found. She isn’t desperate to leave herself, but she doesn’t want to. Instead, SunKo decides to sacrifice herself to get SunKo to leave.
Lee is finally killed violently. Her head is shaved off and hung on a tree. Big is enraged when he finds out and nearly kills SunKo. The mirror image of his own heart is visible when he becomes blinded in anger. He causes Big’s anger and then fights Big the same. It is implied that the result of an unwholesome act must also be unwholesome. Let go of the unwholesome thought of revenge to stop this entanglement. Big, in one thought-heaven, decides to let his hatred go and wear his robes. SunKo is the result of his five-year stay on the mountain. He is calmer after he understands karma.
The story raises another important question: Is it fair that someone who is kind in this lifetime carries on the bad karma from the person they seem to be unrelated? Their relationship can be shown by the analogy that was inserted into Big and Lee’s walking tour, where an old woman picked up two bottles of water on the street. The karmic force is never going to disappear, and karma’s result will always ripen. Big tells Lee, “The Japanese soldier isn’t Lee. Lee isn’t the Japanese solider either.” Lee is responsible for the Japanese soldier’s karma, as she picks up his bottles.
Freedom of ChoiceAlthough Lee had been a brutal Japanese soldiers who “carried to much sin” as per Big’s master Master Wer; She is now a human, and she becomes Lee. That implies her past Karma was good enough to accumulate deeds that qualified her for being human in this life instead of animals, Hell-beings or other like things.
Humanity means being able and willing to do what is right. It also means being able and willing to do it intentionally. That means humans can accumulate more good works than other animals. We are responsible for our actions, whether they be virtuous and good or not. The film implies this through the words of Lee, who says that “for every event which occurs, another will be the result” Fatalism is not the answer to our lives. Our actions determine them, but not fate. Only people who know the law or karma can be accountable for the lives they lead or their actions.
It is important to remember that the choice-moment thought has a great impact on whether you accumulate good or bad actions. A Chinese proverb states, ‘One thought Heaven, One thought Hell’. In this moment of choice and thought, the Indian chose to save a beetle. He accumulated good deeds for the insect to help him in his current life. Sergeant Chung, in this thought-moment choice, chooses not the shoot the Indian simply because he has resentment. Big makes a choice in this moment of thought to not revenge SunKo on Jade and Lee.
Big asks a crucial question, which is who is the one to save Lee. Master Wen first says it’s the Big. But Big knows it’s Lee. The Big helps Lee because Lee has chosen to be kind and good. She has done more good works and finding SunKo as a result is what led Big to grasp the concept of karma. Master Wen claims that Big was able to’see,’ but not ‘understand,’ the karma because he gave up on being a Buddhist monk. He mistook this law as a fatalism in which the consequences are inevitable and unchangeable corresponding with the cause. Lee’s work enlightens Lee that cause-and-effect exertion is a conditional process.
Lee does not abandon herself when she realizes that she is carrying so much negative karmic energy. She decides to do more work now. Buddha said that you can see your past by looking at where you are right now. Today’s actions will also have consequences tomorrow. We can see that we need to focus on the now and not the past or future. To increase our karmic power, we need to perform more wholesome deeds. You can use the 10 wholesome actions as an example to cultivate good and stop evil. Lee’s incarnation at the end says she wishes no one would ever murder anyone again, bringing out the sermon that the only way to stop vipaka is by stopping the cause.
ConclusionThis film conveys a message that the body is empty, and that it does not exist. Only karma exists. Through our religious practice, we can still end suffering. This is not a case of fatalism. The ten good actions are to be followed in all our thoughts, words, and actions. By focusing on the present karma, we can eliminate the negative karmic force.
