Note: The below post is based on ancient Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Taoist, and other Eastern philosophies which discuss the concept of rebirth and karma.
One of the timeless questions in philosophy and spirituality is: Are we bound by destiny, or do we truly have free will?
According to Eastern wisdom traditions, the answer is both simple and profound: In this very moment, you have absolute free will. You can choose what to think, how to act, and what path to walk. However, if you look deeper, you will notice that the very range of your choices is influenced by conditions you did not consciously select.
The Conditioning of Thought
Your brain and mind are not blank slates. They are conditioned by:
- The karma of your past lives.
- The place, time, and environment in which you are born.
For example:
- If you are born in a tribal community that survives by hunting animals, your mind cannot easily consider animal rights or compassion for every creature—your survival depends on the hunt.
- If you are born in a war-torn region, your natural instinct may be to develop caution, aggression, or fear, rather than an open scientific temperament.
- If you are born in a family of musicians, your natural rhythm and sensitivity to sound will flourish; while a child born in a family of warriors may develop discipline, courage, and physical resilience instead.
This does not mean that one cannot break out of these conditionings—but it does mean that your starting point in life is not a matter of choice. It is shaped by previous karmas and the cosmic design in which you re-enter existence.
Where Free Will Truly Exists
At this very moment, If you are provided with an option of some decision and to say please choose. what will you call it of your choice? Destiny or Free ?Well you can choose among the options that life has placed before you. You can choose kindness over cruelty, patience over anger, meditation over distraction. This is your absolute free will.
But notice something subtle: you cannot choose who your parents are, what body you were born into, or the environment you grew up in. These unchosen aspects feel like “destiny.” Yet, Eastern traditions say that even these so-called accidents are the fruits of your past karmas.
So, in truth:
- Destiny is the stage you are born onto.
- Free will is how you play your role on that stage.
- Where Free Will Truly Exists
At this very moment, you can choose among the options that life has placed before you. You can choose kindness over cruelty, patience over anger, meditation over distraction. This is your absolute free will..
Is Marriage Destiny Or Free Will?
Take the example of marriage:
Suppose you have two proposals before you. You sit, evaluate, and finally decide to marry one of them. At this moment, you are exercising complete free will.
But in another case, due to family pressure, social conditions, or unavoidable circumstances, you may be forced into marrying someone without a real choice. That situation feels like destiny.
Yet, from the lens of karma, even such “forced situations” are not random—they are the results of past actions unfolding in the present
Buddha on Free Will?
Majjhima Nikaya 135 – The Shorter Exposition of Action (Cūḷakammavibhaṅga Sutta)
A young man named Subha asked the Buddha:
“Master Gotama, what is the reason, what is the cause, why human beings are seen to be inferior and superior? For people are seen to be short-lived and long-lived, sickly and healthy, ugly and beautiful, uninfluential and influential, poor and wealthy, low-born and high-born, stupid and wise.”
The Buddha replied:
“Beings are the owners of their actions, heirs of their actions, born of their actions, related through their actions, and have their actions as their arbitrator. Action (karma) is what distinguishes beings as inferior and superior.”
This harmony between destiny and free will is beautifully expressed in the scriptures:
The Bottom Line
Destiny and free will are not opposites. They are two dimensions of the same reality:
- Destiny gives you the framework (birth, circumstances, body, mind).
- Free will gives you the power to act within that framework.
And every action you take today becomes the seed of tomorrow’s destiny. This is the eternal cycle of karma and rebirth described by Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Taoism.
So, the wisest approach is neither to blame destiny nor to overestimate free will—but to act consciously, compassionately, and wisely in this very moment. That is how we transcend conditioning and move toward true freedom.
