a tibetan lama was meditating in a cave near a river at one time, and it happened that an old man drowned near the place of his meditation. the lama's disciples had been unable to rescue him, but they quickly retrieved the corpse, brought it to him, and asked him whether he could do something for the old man whom it was too late to save. would he do a transference of consciousness ceremony for him?
he was willing, but when they started to do the ceremony, he broke out laughing. his disciples were a bit taken aback. they asked why he was laughing all of a sudden, and he said, "here i was, thinking to help the old man and alleviate his karma. but this poor old man has just been reborn as a god in tusita, and in fact, he is there now." the erstwhile old man, now a god, was laughing too, because things had turned out so well for him, whereas the lama's disciples were still feeling sorry for him.
an arhat walked on the beach on day and saw a fisherman sitting on a doorstep holding his baby son and feeding him some fish. a hungry dog tried to snatch away the fish, but the man threw a rock and drove the dog away. the arhat just laughed sadly because he saw, with clear vision, the karma of these beings. the last time around the cycle of rebirth, the fish had been the fisherman's father, the dog, his mother, and the child, his worst enemy.