You do have freedom in the present moment to make choices. Now, that freedom may be restricted by the range of skills you have, and also by things you’ve done in the past. But you always have the option to choose to do the skillful thing.

"The Buddha’s teachings on karma are often presented as a form of determinism — fatalism even: What was done in the past is going to determine what you’re going to experience in the present, and if you do something in the present moment, you have some hope that it will have an effect on the future. But there’s that question: Well, do you really have choice in the present? If the present moment is shaped by the past, what can you do?

That would be a problem if the teaching were deterministic, but it’s not. The Buddha makes it very clear that if you believe everything that you experience is shaped by past karma, you have no way of practicing. There’s nothing you can do. You just have to accept what’s coming.

There’s even the question of whether you could legitimately say you had the choice of accepting or not. If everything were already shaped, then there could no directions as to what you should or shouldn’t do, what’s skillful and what’s unskillful in the present moment. This, the Buddha said, leaves you bewildered. And that’s precisely the same attitude that he says suffering leads you to: You’re left bewildered. You don’t know why it’s happening. You don’t know what to do.

So obviously, the Buddha’s not teaching a deterministic or fatalistic explanation of karma. He makes it very clear. You do have freedom in the present moment to make choices. Now, that freedom may be restricted. It’s a conditioned freedom. It may be restricted by the range of skills you have, and also by things you’ve done in the past, so that only certain options open to you right now. But one of the options open to you always is that you can choose to do the skillful thing.

Whether it’s in terms of your thoughts, your words, or your deeds, there’s always a skillful option. It may not be easiest option, it may require a lot of sacrifice, but the skillful option is always there. And as you choose the skillful option more and more, you’re creating the conditions for greater and greater freedom."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "The Riddle of Freedom"

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