Running on Karma 2003

Big Andy Lau was once a Buddhist monk, but a strange awakening shifted the course of his life. He discovers that he can glimpse a person’s past lives, and through those visions he believes he can glimpse how karma will steer their futures. This extraordinary gift nudges him away from the quiet path of a monk and into a far more worldly scene: he becomes a bodybuilder who performs at a strip bar. It’s here that fate collides with Lee Fung-yee, Cecilia Cheung, an undercover CID officer whose duty is to uncover criminal plots and reveal hidden truths. Lee’s world brushes against Big’s in a moment that sets off a chain of revelations neither of them anticipated.

As Big evades capture and tries to escape Lee’s pursuit, a new vision blooms before him: a police dog on the trail of danger, and within the dog’s own past life a child who once inflicted harm on other dogs. That moment marks the first clear demonstration of Big’s abilities, a window into lives lived long before their present hour. The visions grow sharper when he sees Lee’s past life—an imprint of a Japanese soldier who harmed civilians. Despite the moral weight of that history, Big senses Lee’s kind heart and makes a choice to aid in a homicide investigation, even as he vows to walk away once justice is served.

The case itself unfolds through a series of past-life echoes. Big scrutinizes the corpse and uncovers how the deceased once betrayed a man in a previous life, a betrayal that this lifetime’s killer seeks to repay with blood. He also witnesses the murderer’s earlier act of severing the left arm of a one-horn beetle in a past life, a clue that hints at a present-day figure who bears a missing left arm and who will become key to solving the current crime. With this insight, Big helps the police close in on the killer and, in the process, saves Lee’s life. The arc of karma twists and turns as Lee’s own past sins and salvation collide with Big’s mission, and at one tense moment a furious sergeant is silenced by Big’s measured wisdom when he proclaims, “> One thought Heaven, One thought Hell.”

Lee’s journey deepens as she confronts the consequences of her past-life actions. She resolves to make amends by seeking out the killer who harmed Big’s childhood friend, a pursuit that leads her into the mountains. On the sixth day of her trek, she confronts the killer in a remote corner of the peak. The struggle ends with a brutal murder: Lee is struck and beheaded in a scene captured on her video camera. The evidence is found by a search party and shown to Big, who is outraged by the loss. He ventures to the mountains, guided by the ticking of Lee’s watch, and discovers her buried body and the killer’s trail. What follows is a confrontation that transcends revenge: Big tracks the killer into an underground temple and there encounters a version of himself—his future, bloodthirsty self. The two face off, but their clash resolves not in further bloodshed, but in a moment of reconciliation through meditation and understanding.

After these revelations, Big—embracing the path he had once abandoned—renounces violence and chooses to live as a monk again, this time atop the mountains. The years roll by, and five years later he again encounters the killer who took Big’s childhood friend. This time, in a spirit of forgiveness, he guides him toward the proper path and hands him over to the police rather than seeking vengeance. The story circles back to a pivotal place—the place where Big believed he could never leap over—where the positive karma cultivated by Lee’s life and her efforts radiates outward to save him. The tale closes on a note of quiet redemption: the enduring power of compassion and karmic balance to shift even the darkest fates toward mercy and peace.