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.
All You Will Ever Need To Know About KARMA....
Shoshin
No one in particularNowhere Special Veteran
..........It's complicated 
Do you think about the karmic consequences of your thoughts words and deeds, on a daily bases ?
In other words...does karma factor much into your everyday activities ?
Kinda like a built-in "Thought" Police Force..... 
0
Comments
It doesn't factor in much. I make decisions based on a lot of things but it's pretty rare that "what will the future be if I sow these seeds?" thoughts are part of that process. One could drive themselves crazy trying to determine such things. Even the kindest of gestures could have horrible consequences down the line if you let your thoughts take you that far. I generally don't. The times when it does come up, it's usually as a way to point out the general idea of "you reap what you sow" to my kids.
I do think about it sometimes. We recently extinguished a blackjack hornet nest in our backyard after it became very large (as big as a basketball) and they attacked several neighborhood kids in our yard. We did look to see if any local-ish beekeeper types could relocate it or remove it safely but no one got back to us after days. I felt bad in doing so and wondered if I would know one day what karmic consequences there might be. But it was fleeting, I don't dwell on it too much. We did the best we could and simply could not allow it to stay within such close proximity to our home. So it does come up on occasion, but it is not a major player at all in decision making.
@karasti I see where you're coming from and that's an healthy approach to have... however....
I was also thinking more along the lines of when crap happens to the individual..for example one finds oneself in an unpleasant situation...However I don't mean thinking about the possible karmic sequence of events that brought one to this point, but how willing one is to accept the karmic pattern as it unfolds and work with/through it... Ie. taking full responsibility and not looking for a scapegoat....
It's not what happens that matters.
It's what you do with it that matters.
If we were to sit wondering about every nuance and instant that MIGHT have brought us to this moment, we'd never put one foot in front of the other.
I would advise anyone in dire situations to forget about how this may have come about.
Just deal with the Now, and walk on.
>
I would say both 'do' matter...For example....
When so-called 'instant' karma happens (when the sequence of events is quite obvious) one has been given the opportunity to learn from ones mistake, however if one just focuses on deals with the issue at hand and does not take into account the sequence of events that lead to it...it's quite possible one will fall into the same karma pattern/cycle again and again...
Some of the clients that we see at our office, are in this type of karmic pattern/cycle, (all the office staff have dealt with them on numerous occasions) I see them as my teachers of compassion and patience all part of Dharma practice... They come in wanting to be free of the situation they have got themselves into "again" ...and have a tendency to ignore the S of E that had lead them there, even if it has been pointed out to them on numerous occasions...
Ie, Continuing to do the same thing over and over again each time hoping for a different outcome
For me, I guess that is all part of investigating my choices and decisions and my daily life. I guess I don't think of it as karma so much as just part of my practice, but of course any cause and effect is. There are times I make decisions knowing that the consequences might be unpleasant, but I accept them. There are times I get stuck in patterns/habits and every time it happens, I tell myself I won't let it happen again, yet I do. I hate going to the dentist. I hate having toothaches more. Yet every time I put off little things until I need an emergency appointment. You'd think I'd learn, yet I don't, because of my perceived dislike of the dentist even though I logically know every time I go, everything is fine in the end. Definitely cause and effect, lol. I kick myself over it every time but it does little to change that pattern so far. There are other similar things in my life. It's not a tendency to ignore how I got to that point. I understand fully that I make a conscious choice not to take care of something before it became a bigger problem. I don't understand why I do it, but I know I do and I accept the consequences even if I don't like them, lol.
I would say yes because intentional activity, is itself, karma, even if one is unaware of it at the time. It's being factored in regardless if I want it to or not!
I'm certainly more aware of the likely consequences of things I do and say. It doesn't always stop me from being a bit naughty though, sometimes the temptation is just too great, like with ice-cream.
i have to give up my self-control so i contribute to this thread
our eye is our kamma (the results of our past kamma)
the form comes to it is our kamma (the results of our past kamma)
whatever present to us is our own past kamma doing
that is why the same incident brings different emotions to different people
but we can change the future results (kamma vipaka) if we are mindful and instead of react, take a step back and thoughtfully act
that is why we should practice mindfulness practice and try to understand Buddha's Teaching
by doing so
we can improve our own life (for our own satisfaction)
and
we can improve others life (for their satusfactiion)
Karma factor always plays in my everyday thoughts and deeds. I don't understand why it cannot. I mean, I think of how what I do will affect other people and the environment. If I put my finger in the river, which way will the wave go? Yes, I can say "I don't care or it's not important which way the ripples run" but that's not the point-to figure out the patterns of karmic direction. It's more if you are contributing to or creating negative karma that doesn't need to be. So, I do have it in my day to day activities.
I am also learning about it from an studying level as that is how I find my true self is not just from "sitting still" but in action and knowledge. I find karma has an effect with that. I mean, things I plan a month ahead of time always goes wrong. I mean, always. If I plan a day ahead of time, it doesn't flop (probably a 80 perent change). Maybe because during that month, I or we put karma into action and it may or may not affect us down the line.
Anyway, I like to talk. Karma plays so much a part in my life that a Bodhisattva can't live without the knowledge and practice of what he or she does will affect other individuals and himself. It's, well, second nature.
Anything can be considered karma because everything involves action. The conditions of karma is like a fierce gravity or magnet since everything is moving towards the future. Time is real but also an illusion. The more we fabricate the more illusions there are. When there is nothing to propel or push foward another aggregate, then the conditions of karma will lighten, and we can move around freely. Eventually we can be free of these conditions by following the eightfold path.
Yes. However no need to overindulge or try to unravel too much ... just be kind ...
I think your question is about responsibility perhaps?
Doesn't everyone to some extent think about the consequences of thoughts, words and deeds? Unless they are Conold 'trust me' Tripe, in which case anything they do, say or think is wonderful ...
[This post sponsored by 'vote for the delusional El Presedente' aka 'Mr Fruity Orange' campaign]
When the energy in motion that leads to anger, hatred, ill will, resentment, jealousy etc etc begins to arise, most of us who have studied Buddhism (even if one has not quite put what they have learnt into practice yet) are aware that these types of energies are 'unwholesome' feelings and will eventually lead to an unpleasant outcome no only for the so called 'feeler' but quite often the target...hence the karmic consequences of ones actions, both mental and physical...
The term karma may not instantly pop into ones mind when an incident happens, but it always pays to keep in mind (being mindful) that the person whom one thinks had 'caused' these feelings to arise in one 'self' is suffering too ...why else would they 'intentionally' set out to provoke an unwholesome response in another person...
You're right ... "Just be kind" is the right way to go @lobster
Indeed, ^^.
Being wrathful without underlying kindness (like a parent protecting their child) or an inoculation against bad/selfish/delusional people misleading good, can be done kindly. The completely wrathful (tough love) is a hard and direct call. It may cause temporary discomfort but we do not expect every immunisation needle to leave the cry free baby ...
The danger is when we mistake the mirror in the external for the potential unravelling of our conflicted arisings. In other words genuine wrathful behavour/tough love is not suitable behavour without a high degree of understanding and integrity. It is why humility and directing ourselves to personal bad behaviour is often the kinder 'Buddha road kill'.
To put it into the context of the suppressive or more ideally sublimated 'dharma policing' of our thoughts ... ideally we make use of claws and dark Sith naughtiness with great care and restraint, until we are irritatingly perfect and saintly Jedhi ... Pah!