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.
Does anybody share my view of Karma?
After studying the buddha's teachings for a while now, I'm not really sure I believe in karma in the sense that is most popular today (perhapse always). What I usually hear in regards to karma is that your actions in life will be punished or rewarded in the next life, what goes around comes around, those who suffer or encounter hardship of some sort is the result of negative actions in their past life.
Personally, I just can't see karma as being this universal judge that's out to get wrong-doers and reward the good people, that seems more like a theistic concept to give people closure. after all, if somebody has been evil in a past life, wouldnt' punishing them in the next simply encourage their negative path by giving them a jaded view on life?
What I have come to believe rather, is that your actions influence your own consciousness and that by developing ones consciousness in a good or evil ways, that is way a person will set their path in karma. but rather than being punished or rewarded, I think it's more that when you are reborn, the type of mind you have created for yourself will influence, possibly join, with the next person born who is most compatible. so if you die with an evil, ignorant, or undeveloped mind, your next life will be as a person who has a similar mind. likewise, a person who lives virtuously, pure of thought, good in intention and mind, is reborn as a likeminded person.
hence, a negative or possitive person (in a simplistic nutshell) that is reborn in that similar state of being, will suffer under his/her own ignorance or be more successfull (in life, spirituality, and thought), depending on how one left the last life. This is the only type of "punishment" or "reward" that I personally believe karma inflicts.
has anybody else come to believe in a similar concept? or am I alone in this?
Personally, I just can't see karma as being this universal judge that's out to get wrong-doers and reward the good people, that seems more like a theistic concept to give people closure. after all, if somebody has been evil in a past life, wouldnt' punishing them in the next simply encourage their negative path by giving them a jaded view on life?
What I have come to believe rather, is that your actions influence your own consciousness and that by developing ones consciousness in a good or evil ways, that is way a person will set their path in karma. but rather than being punished or rewarded, I think it's more that when you are reborn, the type of mind you have created for yourself will influence, possibly join, with the next person born who is most compatible. so if you die with an evil, ignorant, or undeveloped mind, your next life will be as a person who has a similar mind. likewise, a person who lives virtuously, pure of thought, good in intention and mind, is reborn as a likeminded person.
hence, a negative or possitive person (in a simplistic nutshell) that is reborn in that similar state of being, will suffer under his/her own ignorance or be more successfull (in life, spirituality, and thought), depending on how one left the last life. This is the only type of "punishment" or "reward" that I personally believe karma inflicts.
has anybody else come to believe in a similar concept? or am I alone in this?
0
Comments
I'm not sure where you read this definition of karma, but it's not the Buddhist view at all. I'd strongly suggest you look up Geshe Michael Roach's teachings on karma as he explains it very well. In fact, here's a link for you: http://www.world-view.org/aci/index.html!
Palzang
are you referring to my view of karma or what I thought is the buddhist view of karma?
A quick study of the Buddha's teachings on kamma - Intentional action: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/dhamma/sacca/sacca4/samma-ditthi/kamma.html
A more indepth study of the Buddha's teachings on kamma - Kamma, A Study Guide: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/study/kamma.html
Now I doubt that fits into the buddhist definition of karma, but it is my own perception of our actions.
Mindfulness.....
Interesting Links Elohim.... thank you....
i,m not sure about reincarnation, so i see karma as being a continuation of the flow of life. So if i'm a really bad dad, and let my kids get into violent crimes they're gonna suffer from my bad karma. So in Palastine (and such places) you have this cycle of remorse and anger passing from generation to generation in a viscious circle.
Is that what you mean Simonthepilgrim?
No matter what happens in this world, whether it is Internationally significant (The Gulf War) or inconsequential (Tommy falling out of the tree and breaking his wrist) has a a far more far-reaching effect that we immediately perceive.
The Gulf war does not only affect those living there or fighting there. it has a global effect on peoples' livelihoods and emotions....
Similarly, Tommy breaks his wrist. Which means he can't play in the band, on saturday in the parade, which means his mum has to take time off work to take him to hospital, which mean her boss doesn't get his report on time, and that the bandmaster has to find someone else to fill in, which means that Mikey who wanted to play football with his cousin gets his day's plans changed, and his cousin misses out on a ball game..... get my drift....?
Kamma is not a mystical force, but it is as inviolable as the law of gravity: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/sutta/samyutta/sn42-006.html
It is also more than just common sense because there are more factors to kamma than just the observable cause and effect (you cannot "see" thoughts or conciousness, and yet they too produce effects):
"'Kamma should be known. The cause by which kamma comes into play should be known. The diversity in kamma should be known. The result of kamma should be known. The cessation of kamma should be known. The path of practice for the cessation of kamma should be known.' Thus it has been said. In reference to what was it said?
"Intention, I tell you, is kamma. Intending, one does kamma by way of body, speech, & intellect.
"And what is the cause by which kamma comes into play? Contact is the cause by which kamma comes into play.
"And what is the diversity in kamma? There is kamma to be experienced in hell, kamma to be experienced in the realm of common animals, kamma to be experienced in the realm of the hungry shades, kamma to be experienced in the human world, kamma to be experienced in the world of the devas. This is called the diversity in kamma.
"And what is the result of kamma? The result of kamma is of three sorts, I tell you: that which arises right here & now, that which arises later [in this lifetime], and that which arises following that. This is called the result of kamma.
"And what is the cessation of kamma? From the cessation of contact is the cessation of kamma; and just this noble eightfold path -- right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration -- is the path of practice leading to the cessation of kamma.
"Now when a disciple of the noble ones discerns kamma in this way, the cause by which kamma comes into play in this way, the diversity of kamma in this way, the result of kamma in this way, the cessation of kamma in this way, & the path of practice leading to the cessation of kamma in this way, then he discerns this penetrative holy life as the cessation of kamma.
"'Kamma should be known. The cause by which kamma comes into play... The diversity in kamma... The result of kamma... The cessation of kamma... The path of practice for the cessation of kamma should be known.' Thus it has been said, and in reference to this was it said."
As difficult as the ideas of kamma and rebirth can be they are quite important to what the Buddha taught. It's not so important to "believe" in these things as it is to understand what they truly mean. Whether you buy into them or not, it is still good to know what you're agreeing or disagreeing with.
whew!, for a second i thought she was going to go into the whole Space/Time Continuum thing - Flux Capacitor and all!
-bf
B/F. No.
back to your original question.. i do think the same as you
as i understood i thought buddhism felt the same way.. maybe
some things i have read have explained it alil different..but i
always felt exactly like you..
to me it agrees more with a science view ..
and i feel comfortable with that.