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Zen: Karma
Karma suggests that all human activity is fundamentally intentional--that whether or not we're aware of it, all of our actions are motivated by a desire to accomplish something--and that this intentional activity has profound causal effects on ourselves, our peers, all of humanity, the Earth, and the entire Universe. Karma isn't some supernatural force which pervades the cosmos, it's simply a way of describing the observation that all phenomena are causally interdependent, including psycho-physical interactions between sentient beings and their environment. Hence this is not some dogma you're asked to believe in, but rather a hypothesis regarding the causal relationship between the mind and the the Universe which anyone may try to confirm for themselves.
Buddha often spoke of karma as the determining factor of the "realm" of one's subsequent "rebirth." Actions that arise from ill-will (that is, the intention to harm; malice) lead one to be reborn into "lower" realms of suffering. Whereas actions that arise from good-will (that is, the intention help; compassion) lead one to be reborn
The human organism has evolved a remarkably complex nervous system compared to all other creatures in the animal kingdom. As a result of this bio-neural-network of refined semantic capabilities--an unmatched ability to discern, differentiate, and conceptualize--it follows that the human organism has an equally unmatched influence over its environment. This is not to say that the human organism is somehow independent from its environment, far from it in fact. All phenomena are causally interdependent. It just so happens that Nature, in promoting biological fitness, has allotted humans this ability.