Running on Karma (2003) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Big discovers he can glimpse people's past lives and foresee how karma will shape their futures. This extraordinary ability makes him realize he cannot remain in the quiet, isolated life of a monk. He believes his gift can help reshape the forces of karma for others, so he chooses to enter the worldly life, eventually becoming a bodybuilder who performs at a strip bar where he encounters Lee Fung-yee.

• big
• monastery
• awakening
• past lives
• karma
• bodybuilder

When Big focuses on a person, he can see glimpses of their previous lifetimes and how their past actions create karmic consequences in the present. His first clear vision occurs during a police dog pursuit, where he sees the dog's past life as a child who harmed other dogs. The ability seems to activate automatically when he encounters people connected to significant events, allowing him to trace the karmic链条 between past sins and present-day outcomes.

• big
• past life vision
• karma
• ability
• clairvoyance

Big sees that Lee Fung-yee was a Japanese soldier in a past life who harmed civilians. This revelation carries heavy moral weight, as it connects to the historical brutality of Japanese soldiers during wartime. Despite this dark history, Big senses that Lee has a kind heart in her current life, which is why he chooses to help her despite knowing her past.

• lee fung-yee
• japanese soldier
• past life
• karmic debt

While investigating, Big witnesses the murderer's past-life act of severing the left arm of a one-horned beetle. This vision connects to the present-day killer, who is revealed to be missing his left arm. The symbolic link between the past cruelty to the beetle and the physical evidence in the current life helps Big identify and track down the perpetrator, closing in on the killer.

• beetle
• left arm
• murder case
• past life clue
• investigation

Lee decides to track the killer into the mountains because she feels responsible for her past-life sins as a Japanese soldier who harmed civilians. She believes she must personally confront the killer who harmed Big's childhood friend as part of her own karmic atonement. This solo pursuit is driven by her desire to make amends rather than wait for police backup.

• lee
• mountains
• pursuit
• atonement
• killer
• karmic debt

Big tracks the killer into an underground temple where he encounters a shocking vision: his own future self, a bloodthirsty version consumed by revenge. Rather than continuing the cycle of violence, both versions engage in meditation and understanding. This confrontation leads Big to choose reconciliation over revenge, breaking the karmic pattern of retribution.

• underground temple
• future self
• confrontation
• meditation
• revenge
• forgiveness

The bloodthirsty figure Big encounters is revealed to be his own future self, a manifestation of what he would become if he continued pursuing vengeance instead of forgiveness. This encounter represents the karmic crossroads: continuing down a path of revenge would transform him into the very thing he hunts. The meditation between the two versions symbolizes Big choosing a different path.

• future self
• bloodthirsty
• revenge
• transformation
• karmic choice

When a furious sergeant challenges him, Big responds with this quote to illustrate how karma operates: a single thought, whether rooted in compassion or anger, can determine whether one's actions lead to redemption or damnation. The line encapsulates the film's central theme that choices in the present moment shape whether one creates heaven or hell for themselves and others through karmic consequence.

• one thought heaven one thought hell
• quote
• karma
• choice
• sergeant

After experiencing the confrontation with his future self and witnessing Lee's death, Big realizes that the path of violence and vengeance only leads to more suffering. He chooses to renounce violence completely and return to the monk's path, this time understanding that true strength lies in compassion and forgiveness rather than fighting. The mountain monastery becomes his place of contemplation and spiritual growth.

• big
• monk
• renunciation
• forgiveness
• enlightenment
• ending

The entire narrative operates on karmic logic: past-life actions create debts that must be repaid in current lives. The murdered man was betrayed by someone in a past life, and the killer is now exacting that ancient debt. Lee carries the burden of her past-life sins as a soldier, seeking atonement. Big's ability to see these connections allows him to understand and potentially break karmic cycles, though ultimately forgiveness proves more powerful than revenge.

• karma
• past life
• cycle
• revenge
• atonement
• redemption

Lee is killed while confronting the killer in the mountains during her solo pursuit for atonement. The killer strikes her and beheads her in a brutal attack, which is captured on her video camera. Her death serves as the tragic climax that drives Big to track the killer to the underground temple. Her sacrifice and the positive karma from her efforts ultimately help save Big from his darker path.

• lee
• death
• beheading
• mountains
• killer
• tragic ending

Five years after becoming a monk, Big encounters the same killer who took his childhood friend. Rather than seeking vengeance, Big chooses mercy and guides the killer toward the proper path before handing him to the police. This act represents the culmination of his karmic understanding: forgiveness breaks the cycle of violence, and compassion radiates outward to transform even those consumed by revenge.

• killer
• forgiveness
• childhood friend
• mercy
• police
• resolution