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Giving=good karma?

betaboybetaboy Veteran
edited June 2012 in Buddhism Basics
Is it, even with the motive of earning good karma/merit?

Comments

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    with motive there is ego.
    Good kamma, but less so than without motive.

    However, removing motive easier said than done.

    Confucius he say. :D
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    Yes because the motivation to create merit means that you are setting up your mind condition to receive the dharma. Automatically that resembles the wish to become enlightened for the sake of all beings = bodhicitta
  • howhow Veteran Veteran
    Changing ones self oriented motivations towards selflessness is Buddhism in a nutshell.
    Caring about earning good Karma is a legitimate ways of enticing our self protective conditioning towards selflessness but eventually even such concerns for self gain need to be let go of to continue down the path.
    So Yes, giving, even with the motive of earning good karma, results in walking somewhere on the path towards sufferings extinguishment, and if that isn't good karma, what is?
  • CloudCloud Veteran
    edited June 2012
    Generosity is always positive. Our initial motivations may be a mixed bag, but there will come a time when we do what's right simply because it's right (as natural as breathing). We of course have to supplement our generosity with investigation of reality as it truly is; with walking the Noble Eightfold Path. It's all connected.

    The true benefit of generosity is when you act with empathy, when you see the suffering of others as your own (or the same as your own) and are not "losing" anything but putting it where it does some good. This not only fosters detachment from possessiveness, but also weakens the line between self and other.
  • ozenozen

    Good kamma, but less so than without .
    Kamma is not associated with good or bad. I heard that somewhere. :)
  • CloudCloud Veteran
    edited June 2012
    @ozen, What meaning would you give karma, if it were not associated/related with good or bad? As far as I know, that is its meaning... it's not a thing or even a force, but a description of how causes and effects are linked (in regards to suffering and liberation). All of the Buddha's teachings are toward liberation and away from suffering, which is what the terms skillful/good and unskillful/bad are in relation to. A skillful cause leads to skillful effects and so on.

    I may be wrong, but this is my understanding at the moment.
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    Ah, lovely words... skilful, and unskilful....
  • ozenozen
    Is destroying a city for fun skillful or unskillful? Wait, I already know the answer to that. ;D
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