Like any physical law, the law of karma operates everywhere and at every moment. It is totally impersonal, requiring no agency other than ourselves. The Buddha taught that for an action to produce karma, it has to be accompanied by a conscious will, which presupposes the capacity of free choice. If a small child hits another child, there is probably no karmic residue, because he is still innocent and does not fully acquiesce in the action as an adult would have to; he may be playing happily with the same child minutes later. But when an adult says angry words to someone, the will is an
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