Karma

I’ll admit: I approached *Karma* skeptical of yet another book trying to ‘explain’ a concept that’s been watered down to Instagram memes. But Kyabgon’s treatment is a gut punch in the best way. He doesn’t just define karma—he forces you to confront how deeply you resist its implications. The chapter on ‘collective karma’ (how societies inherit the consequences of past actions) hit me like a ton of bricks, especially in our current political climate. Kyabgon’s examples—like the way a fleeting thought of anger can ripple into years of relational damage—are so concrete they’re almost uncomfortable. Wickham’s narration is pitch-perfect for the material. His voice has a quiet authority, like a professor who’s seen too much to sugarcoat anything, but there’s warmth there too. My only critique? The production occasionally suffers from slight audio inconsistencies—some chapters sound like they were recorded in a different room, with a tinny edge that pulls you out of the moment. And while Kyabgon’s refusal to dumb things down is refreshing, there are stretches (particularly on the *abhidharma* classifications of mental states) where even I, as someone familiar with Buddhist terms, had to rewind. But these are minor quibbles. The real test of a book like this is whether it changes how you move through the world. Three days after finishing, I caught myself pausing before a snide remark—not out of guilt, but because I *saw* the chain reaction it might set off. That’s the power of this audiobook: it doesn’t just inform, it rewires.