The Windup Girl

Buddhism permeates the novel, and its pervasive presence appears in the ranks of praying monks, disembodied spirits, shrines, temples, and characters’ contemplation of their respective fates.

During his own short stint as a kind of unofficial monk, Jaidee realizes the central truth of Buddhism: the only thing that really exists is change. The events of one’s life come and go and can change instantly. For this, it’s almost as if one steps into a brand-new incarnation at a moment’s notice. These conditions fluctuate: sometimes one enjoys pleasant karma, at other times not so pleasant. Karma (or kamma as it appears in the text) can be altered by every action a person takes. One’s actions determine karma—good brings reward, evil results in punishment—but this is not a moralistic world. As in the case of Kanya (whose name comes very close to karma) violence and killing are sometimes necessary in order to fulfill one’s duty, or damma, as the text terms it. In the Bhagavad-Gita for example, if one’s duty is to kill as a warrior, then that’s what one does. It’s not about guilt or punishment, necessarily, but it is inextricably bound up with karma.

Karma has determined past lives and one’s present life, and future lives will be based upon one’s present actions.