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Do rare illnesses have anything to do with karma?
jll
Veteran
This woman is 28 yrs old.
She became old after giving birth to her child.
Doctors have no idea why.
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She became old after giving birth to her child.
Doctors have no idea why.
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Comments
here is the video where she was interviewed.
too bad its not in english.
I don't know.
What do YOU think?
It's impossible to think anything about the video or your question when I can't understand the language. She could be 28 or 58.
she was interviewed on a tv program in china.
the program is called 'Date with Lu Yu"
its china's version of the oprah show.
she, the host, made an appearance on oprah once.
she did not become old overnight.
the process took 1 year.
But it is inappropriate to tell others that there illness or rape or whatever was karma. That's related to Buddhas teaching of right speach. It might be true but it is not benevolent or beneficial (to a non-Buddhist). It is also harsh speach because it is upsetting.
I think if we get into thinking that everything is due to Karma of one sort of another, there is the tendency to then 'blame' the victim.
Do people get cancer because of bad karma from past lives? Do children get born with horrible disfigurements or mental deficiencies because they accumulated bad karma?
If we are to blame "karma" for diseases, any diseases, then we are saying in essence that the person 'deserves it'... that they are paying the price for something awful in another life, etc.
I prefer not to believe that. I would file that kind of belief under "superstition".
Good things happen to both 'good' and 'bad' people. Bad things also happen to good and bad people. I don't think Karma is a means of micro-managing every aspect of everyone's life on a day to day basis....
Frankly, who cares?
I feel for the woman, but I refuse to resort to conjecture.
Are all your hardships completely attributable to Past Karma?
Yes or no?
How do you know?
Forget 'past karma'.
Focus on 'NOW'.
That's challenge enough.
is karma has nothing to do with her condition
bcos it would be too awful too blame her for
her plight?
Do you speak Chinese? Please interpret the video for me.
What has she done? Did she take drugs or drink while pregnant?
No one with any sense would try to draw conclusions about her circumstances based on a video that they can't understand
If everything bad that happens has nothing
to do with karma, then what is karma?
Surely, there must be bad consequences for
people who has accumulated bad karma.
So what good can come from speculating about her evil actions?
How can you tell that what has happened to her is bad, unless you can see the future?
maybe it was added in several hundred years
after he died.
if that were true, everyone would be much happier.
.........
It cannot be known. If you give me a few days if I have time ill go into the archives and provide a good summary and analyisis of how the buddha responds to direct questions such as you ask here.
Like I kind of suggested before, its not a good idea to try to identify the mechanics of the karmic process..for one, anything that you ascertain with limited information will be an incomplete picture. Just like anything else, a vast multitude of factors contribute to karmic process...vast but meaningful.
some ideas of 'karma' in Kabbalah and Sufism contend that cause and effect sometimes transcend linear time - wow talk about 'spooky stuff at a distance' - Einstein style . . .
- in other words a cause can come after the event . . .
Why are some women ugly-looking but rich?
Why are some women beautiful but poor?
Why are some people poor but with good health and long life?
Why are some rich yet ill and short-lived?
The Buddha's answers were:
The woman who is ugly-looking but rich was.
short-tempered in her past lives--easily irritated and angered but was
also very generous and gave offerings to the Buddha, Dharma, and
Sangha and offered things to many sentient beings.
The woman who is beautiful but poor was, in her past lives, very
kind, always smiling and softspoken, but was stingy and reluctant to
make offerings or help other people.
The person who is poor but in good health and enjoying a long
life was in his or her past lives, very stingy or reluctant to make
donations, but was kind to all sentient beings, did not harm or kill
others, and also saved many other sentient beings' lives .
The person who is rich but often ill, or who is short-lived, was,
in his or her past lives,' very generous in helping others but loved
hunting and killing and caused sentient beings to feel worried,
insecure, and frightened.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.135.nymo.html
To not fall into the trap of trying to figure it out at all.
Remember the four Unconjecturables?
The workings of Karma is one of them.
We can sit here until we're blue in the face deciding whether her current life is a product of her Past Karma.
We will never arrive at a sensible, definitive and exact conclusion.
Possibly yes, perhaps, no, is the best anyone can offer.
What happens does not matter.
What we DO with what happens - matters.
Vipaka is the consequence. That's your sense of justice speaking, not your rational knowledge.
When I was studying sociology, the tutor lectured on the causes and nature of inequalities in society for almost two hours. It was clear that a situation arose for real reasons that were discernible and determined the life chances, health and other factors of existence. She asked for comments about the causes of poverty.
Someone said without any sense of irony, 'I think it is an act of God!' The class and tutor laughed hysterically for several minutes, much to the chagrin of the student.
Quoting ignorant bible tracts or sutra indoctrination from a simpler, more naive and ignorant time does not work for me. I am not glad it does for you. You are capable of a more developed understanding of karma. Being born or adopting fundamentalism is no substitute for finding a more realistic comprehension . . . though our 'karma' may decide differently . . .
What our WE doing in our present life?
The effects of the environment as well as the actions of a expecting mother, can effect the development of a growing baby in the womb, by triggering genes.
So whether the Mother smokes, or drinks whilst she is pregnant, will effect the babies development, and so could likely lead to future ailments and disorders.
The environment can also have an effect on the development of a baby in the womb, whether the mother can afford to eat a good diet, and whether she is not suffering domestic abuse and is given support when carrying a child.
All these things can be considered actions and choices and therefore could be considered in essence as ones Karma, good or bad.
I do not believe that people are born disabled due to any previous bad Karma in a previous life.
If rebirth does indeed happen, the only karma trace we pass over to the next life, is our weakness for desires universally shared with all beings, and the potential for insight and enlightenment (awareness) and that is all.
So all the Karma you are responsible for are the actions in the "here and now".
The Law of Karma is similar actions will lead to similar results. If we plant an orange seed, we will get the orange tree.
Now, not all orange seeds can be grown into an orange tree. We need to give it the right environment, sun light, fertilizer and water... Same with Karma, we can change our fortunes or misfortunes.
Karma is not just our past actions but is the combination of our own past actions and our own present doings. We ourselves are responsible for our own happiness and misery. We create our own Heaven. We create our own Hell. We are the architects of our own fate.
We cause our good or bad karma by our action, speech and thought.
That wasn't the issue.
This is a rare syndrome which causes a layer of fatty tissue beneath the surface of the skin to disintegrate while the skin itself continues to grow at a startling pace
It has no cure and leaves victims with loose folds of skin on their bodies as well as wrinkled faces and features of people much hold.
Only 2,000 people are thought to have the condition.
Or it might be.... Cushing’s Syndrome
This can be triggered if a person has very high levels of a hormone called cortisol in their blood.
Common symptoms include weight gain, rounding of the face due to deposits of fat developing there and thinning of the skin.
It often occurs as a side effect of treatment with corticosteroids.
Women are five times more likely to develop endogenous Cushing’s syndrome than men, with most cases affecting people who are 25 to 40 years old.
Or it might even be.... a hoax.
people have done stranger things for money.....
Yup. That's true. But I recall a person who asked "why" for quite a few years of his life. Let's see...what was his name? Oh yes -- Siddhartha.
Chinese Woman, 28, Who Looks Like 80-Year-Old, Has Plastic Surgery (PICTURES)
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/01/23/chinese-woman-28-looks-old-plastic-surgery_n_2532346.html
No.
His first question was "What the.....?!"
His next question was
"HOW?"
(..."To come to terms with this peaceably?")