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I told him that first of all, I personally would wish to consider each situation individually on its own merits, rather than according to an ironclad rulebook interpretation of karmic cause and effect. The question of motivation is always relevant in Buddhism. Why was the decision to have an abortion made? Was it made carelessly and without much consideration, or were there substantial reasons, perhaps? Was the health and safety of the mother—either physically or emotionally—a realistic issue? When weighty life decisions are made with utmost care and conscientious deliberation, cherishing life in all its forms and considering the broader implications of the act, with genuine intention to accomplish the most compassionate, skillful, right and appropriate action—rather than just taking the easy way out—the karma is not so heavy to bear. Talk of hell need not enter the picture.

Buddhist tradition tells us that everything is impermanent; that no everlasting hell exists for anyone, although we can experience hellish states of mind and experiences. These are created through intensely violent, hateful, negative deeds, words, and thoughts—which are karmic actions.

Just about everyone has done something that he or she regrets. The Dalai Lama himself has written about how as an adolescent he aimed his slingshot at a bird that was flying by. Fortunately, he recounts, he didn’t hit it, but he still remembers the impulse. Buddhist teachings reveal that negative karma does have one positive facet or aspect: It can be repaired. This makes everything workable. We can, in fact, expiate our negative actions through acknowledging and confessing to our conscience our misdeeds, with sincere repentence and regret. By vowing not to do such evil again, by saving lives, protecting creatures, and so forth, Buddhist practitioners learn to purify and transform bad karma, and actually exhaust its impact, eventually becoming free of it and liberated from such consequences.

As in Christianity, there are many Dharma stories about people whose lives and karma were purified and transformed. One of the most memorable is the story of Anguli Mala, an enraged jungle dwelling giant. His horrific, aggressive evokes his history of evil deeds, and his name, Anguli Mala, tells his story. Anguli means finger bone; mala means necklace or rosary. Around his neck Anguli Mala wore a necklace of 999 human finger bones—one from each of the people he had killed. So lacking pity or mercy was he that he was even planning to murder his own mother, whose finger bone could then also be strung around his neck.

Everybody has aspirations of some sort; Anguli Mala’s was to add the thousandth bone to his prized collection. This was his single-minded desire. With that in mind, one day as he was walking down a jungle path, he spied a yellow-robed mendicant walking slowly alone. Another finger bone! Anguli Mala hurried forward, murder in his twisted mind and violence on his face. But when he reached his intended victim and gazed into the Buddha’s peaceful shining countenance, he was unable to complete his plan of action.

“Who are you?” Anguli Mala asked. “Why do you shine like that, and what is it about you that immediately calms and pacifies my blazing inner fires?”

The Buddha replied, “I have calmed my own inner fires.”

Anguli Mala was so awed that he knelt down and confessed, “I was coming to kill you, a saint, but now the bonfire raging inside has gone out. Why?”

“This,” the Buddha told Anguli Mala, “is the effect of inner peace, enlightenment, nirvana.”

When Anguli Mala confessed to all of his sinful, cruel, and evil deeds and stated his heartfelt intention to repent, the Buddha took pity on him. Buddha told Anguli Mala that his actions had created enormous bad karma which could result in rebirth in the lowest realms. But the Buddha also assured him that in the Dharma there is no eternal hell. Nothing is eternal; everything changes. When karma is expiated, it is exhausted,