Buddhist karmic justice — cause and effect

Buddhist karmic justice is sometimes misread as a theology that justifies suffering — if you are poor or sick, it is because of past-life actions — which has historically been used to rationalize existing inequality. The more careful reading is different: karma describes the causal consequences of action, not a cosmic ledger of punishment, and the Buddha's own teachings were notably egalitarian, rejecting the caste system in ways that were socially radical in his context. The justice dimension of Buddhism lies in its insistence that suffering is neither random nor deserved but caused — and that causes can, with awareness and effort, be changed.