Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.
Past lives
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
All actions have consequences for sure. I guess you could say that when a predator kills prey the consequences are that it gets to live another day or week or survive the winter. And the result for the herd of prey animals might be the removal of a weak or diseased animal. Or a young animal. Either way, the herds health is maintained.
I'm not seeing the negative in any of this.
My own experience as a fisherman is that we fishermen suffer no harsher consequences than other people, from our work. Except perhaps increased injury or death that goes along with working on the water.
My point is that talking about karmic results from actions means little without some evidence. I am unwilling to accept that harmful consequences will only occur in some later birth. Too much blind faith involved.
Past lives are just that "past"....Knowing who I was meant to have been in a past live may serve my curiosity but serves no real beneficial purpose to what is happening in this present moment in time....What matters is what I do 'now' with my life...
Just practice the Dharma, by showing kindness and compassion to all sentient beings "now", and if karma & rebirth are true, then in one's next life, one will reap what they have sown....
And if they are not true, one will reap what they are sowing in this life, so in a sense, practising the Dharma diligently is a win win situation, knowing that on one's death bed one has done the "Right" thing to the best of ones ability in one life... "Peace of Mind"
The past may shape the "present" but it's the all encompassing 'present" that shapes the future .....which will soon be the past
Fair enough, that is a legitimate way of viewing it. I think what I was trying to lay out was the way Buddhism puts forth the idea of karma which usually does involve some sort of longer range causality.
I've always thought about this as an interesting topic. I know some people that are dead serious about remembering their past lives. I personally don't believe in it, how do you know it's not your subconscious going to town? Regardless, interesting topic and no disrespect to the ones that have claimed this experience.
Karma is intention I hear.
We don’t really know what goes on inside the head of a predator but instincts are automatic and there’s no choice. So what does intention mean for an animal?
Does an animal have a concept of life and death? Does it know what “killing” really is? I doubt that very much.
Okay, elephants can mourn or at least that’s what it looks like. But we don’t have a clue what they really are “thinking”.
And the karmic repercussion-thing is a matter of faith, not fact.
I figure if I'm going to come back as anything, I may as well come back every thing eventually.
If I got to choose, I'd come back as what is known as "AI".
Do we really have a concept of life and death?
I can't help but wonder if that really counts as "life", don't worry I'm not taking it cereally.
a tiger and a deer is a rough example
arising and falling of consciousness is very fast and very subtle
think a bit more
tigers born as an effect (resultant kamma) of a previous cause (kamma)
same goes with the deers, fish, fishermen, you, me, us, all senitint beings
that doesn't give us the right to kill another being
I'd imagine it depends on who you ask.
No further comment from OP. I'm closing it until such a time as a request is received, from the OP, to re-open, if necessary.
Thanks to all who contributed.