A Question on Karma

SkyLotus

Okay so, I don't really know how to phrase this, and I don't want to come across as ungrateful or something. I have a disability, so, what I'm wondering is in regards to a karmic perspective, why do some people have disabilities while others don't? I know this sounds like an easily answerable question, but there is something deeply perplexing about this for me. I also want to remember reading somewhere recently in some text that I was reading on Buddhism that I wouldn't recall this life anyway, so what is the point of this karma in this life?

I'm really confused.

Jason_PDK

Hi,

There is a big conversation on this topic here:
http://community.livejournal.com/buddhists/2379398.html

I thought this comment was well said:

Thank you for posting your perspective! I think that disabilities, like any other experience that brings into sharp focus our true lack of control of our world, are opportunities to learn and grow.

My son has a communication disorder. I have thought at times that perhaps it's possible that MY karma led to this -- not as a punishment for misdeeds, but as a vehicle for me to learn some important lessons I had not yet learned. I can't say that karma had anything to do with it, because karma seems to be one of those things you either accept or reject on belief alone, but no matter what the cause, my life is richer, and my experience as a parent much deeper, specifically because my son is who he is, with all his abilities and disabilities.

One lesson I've learned is that EVERYONE has abilities and disabilities. Some just aren't as obvious as others, and sometimes it is a blessing in disguise to be made so clearly aware of one's disabilities so that the lessons become conscious and obvious. When we go around believing that, for example, we have a "perfectly normal child", we miss a lot of subtleties and chances to help guide that child in their unique and samsara-rich experience.

I personally don't know but I hope this helps.

Jason

SherabDorje

There are a bazillion threads on this very site about this very type of question about karma. They all seem to arrive at the conclusion that karma with regard to a specific event or phenomenon is an "imponderable", that is, something that we can never know and that the Buddha remained silent on by way of refusing to speculate about it.

I suggest you do a search for the other threads to see what I mean. There is no specific karmic explanation for being born with a disability. Christians ascribe this to "the will of God" or sometimes wisely refrain from speculating as well, saying only "God works in mysterious ways.".

There's no karmic explanation that we can understand that explains this, or anything else for that matter.

Dazzle

People have physical disabilities for all kinds of reasons - because of genetics, difficult births, accidents etc etc

As far as karma is concerned, the Buddha said trying to work it out was one of the four unconjecturables (see sutta AN 4.77 'Unconjecturable' at the link)

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an04/an04.077.than.html

federica

Okay so, I don't really know how to phrase this, and I don't want to come across as ungrateful or something. I have a disability, .....

Did you realise that even people who wear glasses, have a 'disability'?

A part of their body doesn't function normally, and requires some form of intervention to correct it.You either need corrective surgery, or artificial appliances to redress the defect. And even with intervention, there is no permanent cure. The defect either deteriorates in time, or further loss of the ability, returns, even after surgery.

So it's a disability a gadgillion people, world-wide have - but it's still a disability no less.

I say this, because, well.... shall we set to wondering what all these people must have done in their lives to merit this kind of kamma?

It turns into a ludicrous pondering, doesn't it....?

The point of kamma in this life is for us lucky people to realise what we think say and do, affects responses.
Kamma is action, VOLITIONAL deliberate, pre-meditated, planned action.
Mental, verbal or physical.
It's everything you actually decide to carry through in thought, word and deed.

Look to Now, not the Past.
Even the best glasses in the world, will never help you see there.

DhammaDhatu

The Buddha called the physical body "rupa", which means "that which will be broken"

The physical body & its nervous system is something fragile, therefore disability can happen

Damage to a body occurs in a mother's womb, during childbirth, due to accidents or merely due to random inconsistencies in growth

The Buddha taught human beings have different mental & physical faculties due to how the "elements" combine

Our lives are made of the six natural elements, namely, earth, wind, fire, water, space & consciousness (mind)

For some life forms, the elements combine in a less than ordinary way, for others in an ordinary way, for others in an extraordinary way (example: elite athletes)

Disability comes from how the elements (the building blocks of life) combine

Kind regards

Accept disgrace willingly.
Accept misfortune as the human
condition.

What do you mean by "Accept disgrace
willingly"?
Accept being unimportant.
Do not be concerned with loss or gain.
This is called "accepting disgrace
willingly."

What do you mean by "Accept
misfortune as the human condition"?
Misfortune comes from having a body.
Without a body, how could there be
misfortune?

Surrender yourself humbly; then you
can be trusted to care for all things.
Love the world as your own self; then
you can truly care for all things.

http://www.thebigview.com/download/tao-te-ching-illustrated.pdf

So it is, householder. So it is. The body is afflicted, weak & encumbered. For who, looking after this body, would claim even a moment of true health, except through sheer foolishness? So you should train yourself: 'Even though I may be afflicted in body, my mind will be unafflicted.' That is how you should train yourself.

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn22/sn22.001.than.html

andyrobyn

This short quote, which was on the fridge of a dear friend when we first met, says something to me about the working of karma - It is our response to the events which determines the quality of our lives.

hermitwin

I was born 'normal'. In fact, I was considered very intelligent
in school. I attribute this to my good karma.
However, My childhood & family was far from happy.
I attribute this to my bad karma.
Because all these were beyond my control.

DhammaDhatu

the buddha taught to believe our happiness & suffering is caused by past karma will result in an attitude of inaction

things of a karmic nature can be changed

things resulting from the physical elements often cannot be changed

kind regards

Having approached the priests & contemplatives who hold that... 'Whatever a person experiences... is all caused by what was done in the past,' I said to them:

'Is it true that you hold that... "Whatever a person experiences... is all caused by what was done in the past?"'

Thus asked by me, they admitted, 'Yes.'

Then I said to them, 'Then in that case, a person is a killer of living beings because of what was done in the past. A person is a thief... unchaste... a liar... a divisive speaker... a harsh speaker... an idle chatterer... greedy... malicious... a holder of wrong views because of what was done in the past.'

When one falls back on what was done in the past as being essential, monks, there is no desire, no effort [at the thought], 'This should be done. This shouldn't be done.'

When one can't pin down as a truth or reality what should & shouldn't be done, one dwells bewildered & unprotected.

One cannot righteously refer to oneself as a contemplative.

This was my first righteous refutation of those priests & contemplatives who hold to such teachings, such views.

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an03/an03.061.than.html

DhammaDhatu

it can be useful to differentiate between the results of karma (intentional action) and the results of physical biology

Kamma as a law of nature

Buddhism teaches that all things, both material and immaterial, are entirely subject to the direction of causes and are interdependent. This natural course of things is called in common terms "the law of nature," and in the Pali language niyama, literally meaning "certainty" or "fixed way," referring to the fact that specific determinants inevitably lead to corresponding results.

The laws of nature, although uniformly based on the principle of causal dependence, can nevertheless be sorted into different modes of relationship. The Buddhist commentaries describe five categories of natural law, or niyama. They are:

1. Utuniyama: the natural law pertaining to physical objects and changes in the natural environment, such as the weather; the way flowers bloom in the day and fold up at night; the way soil, water and nutrients help a tree to grow; and the way things disintegrate and decompose. This perspective emphasizes the changes brought about by heat or temperature.

2. Bijaniyama: the natural law pertaining to heredity, which is best described in the adage, "as the seed, so the fruit."

3. Cittaniyama: the natural law pertaining to the workings of the mind, the process of cognition of sense objects and the mental reactions to them.

4. Kammaniyama: the natural law pertaining to human behavior, the process of the generation of action and its results. In essence, this is summarized in the words, "good deeds bring good results, bad deeds bring bad results."

5. Dhammaniyama: the natural law governing the relationship and interdependence of all things: the way all things arise, exist and then cease. All conditions are subject to change, are in a state of affliction and are not self: this is the Norm.

The first four niyama are contained within, or based on, the fifth one, Dhammaniyama, the Law of Dhamma, or the Law of Nature. It may be questioned why Dhammaniyama, being as it were the totality, is also included within the subdivisions. This is because this fourfold categorization does not cover the entire extent of Dhammaniyama.

http://www.buddhanet.net/cmdsg/kamma1.htm#law