Karma Is Not Equals To Fate

ajani_mgo

One of the things I have encountered very very often in my path a a Buddhist is the big question on karma.

"Is karma not equals to Fate?"

My answer is always a "NO".

Fate means you are born, you work as a clerk, you marry, you give birth to 4 kids, you get bankrupted, you die.

Karma means you are born as a human because you had a good past life, you work as a clerk, not as a dream lawyer because you didn't study so hard, you marry well because you and your spouse are continuing a past-life unfulfiled romance, you give birth to 4 kids because you simply wanted 4 kids and stopped at that, you get bankrupt because you can't afford to raise 4 kids, you die because you are brn.

Any thoughts about this?

DharmaKitten

Personally, I don't believe in "past lives" in the sense that I as an individual used to be another individual and directly reaps the benefits (or not) of that past life.

If I work as a clerk, it's because I made choices in this life that led me there (maybe it's my ideal job, who knows). I married well because I didn't settle for less, and while married I have worked hard on the relationship including going to marital counseling. If good things happen it's part good choices, part luck (in the sense of things out of my control that work out for the better without my intervening). If bad things happens, part of it's my choices, part of it's the environment I was born into, bad luck, etc.

I'm human because if I wasn't, I wouldn't be me.

Jason

"'Kamma should be known. The cause by which kamma comes into play should be known. The diversity in kamma should be known. The result of kamma should be known. The cessation of kamma should be known. The path of practice for the cessation of kamma should be known.' Thus it has been said. In reference to what was it said?

"Intention, I tell you, is kamma. Intending, one does kamma by way of body, speech, & intellect.

"And what is the cause by which kamma comes into play? Contact is the cause by which kamma comes into play.

"And what is the diversity in kamma? There is kamma to be experienced in hell, kamma to be experienced in the realm of common animals, kamma to be experienced in the realm of the hungry shades, kamma to be experienced in the human world, kamma to be experienced in the world of the devas. This is called the diversity in kamma.

"And what is the result of kamma? The result of kamma is of three sorts, I tell you: that which arises right here & now, that which arises later [in this lifetime], and that which arises following that. This is called the result of kamma.

"And what is the cessation of kamma? From the cessation of contact is the cessation of kamma; and just this noble eightfold path -- right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration -- is the path of practice leading to the cessation of kamma.

"Now when a disciple of the noble ones discerns kamma in this way, the cause by which kamma comes into play in this way, the diversity of kamma in this way, the result of kamma in this way, the cessation of kamma in this way, & the path of practice leading to the cessation of kamma in this way, then he discerns this penetrative holy life as the cessation of kamma.

"'Kamma should be known. The cause by which kamma comes into play... The diversity in kamma... The result of kamma... The cessation of kamma... The path of practice for the cessation of kamma should be known.' Thus it has been said, and in reference to this was it said.

~ From the Nibbedhika Sutta

Also the Cula-kammavibhanga Sutta http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/sutta/majjhima/mn-135-tb0.html

And the Maha-kammavibhanga Sutta http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/sutta/majjhima/mn136.html

Karma by Thanissaro Bhikkhu http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/karma.html

Kamma means 'action'. Kamma is cause and effect, intention and action.

Past kamma can produce effects in the present which influence our lives, yet that is only a part of how it works. In each present moment there is a choice of action which we can choose to act upon or abstain from. We have past influences yes, but we also have an element of control in the present. Our lives are not set in stone, or pre-destined in the way fate is portrayed.

Kamma is not fate.

Jason

federica

"Life is like a shopping Trolley; You go partly where you want to, and partly where the f***ing thing takes you...."

Modern Technology's a funny thing.... we know how to open someone's skull up and perform microsurgery on their brain, or to perform surgery on the foetus in the womb, but we still can't create a shopping trolley that steers perfectly.

Maybe this is the fate of shopping Trolley manufacturers. To keep us struggling.....! :crazy:

Palzang

Fate is something that comes from outside; karma is something that we produce. That's the difference. Karma is empowering because it puts you in the driver's seat with total control over whether you experience happiness or suffering in your life. Fate is disempowering because it makes you a puppet totally at the whim of fate. That's the important difference.

Palzang