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.
Question on understanding of Karma :)
<style type="text/css">p { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; }</style> Hello there fellow human beings 
. I have recently been learning much about Buddhism since graduating from University and have spent the last 4-5months learning specifically from the Dalai Lama by reading many of his books and teaching/talks in video form. I have to say that after reading much from the vast field of self help that Buddhism in particular has changed the way I look at the world and has truly adjusted my view on reality for the better. The concepts of inherent existence and dependant arisings have changed the way I look at things and people, that in turn has stopped much of the suffering that I used to fall victim too. As learning is lifelong and understanding of a particular text and book can change from successive readings, I am completely open to misinterpretations that I maybe seeing and look forward to learning more about the area of my question. The subject I am having difficult with the most at the moment is karma which I am sure has been the source of many previous and forthcoming questions from newcomers to the study of Buddhism.
Upon reading a paragraph recently in a book by the Dalai lama, he speaks about how when an action is done against you that you should realise compassion for the other person as his/her actions are inspired by karma and will incur more possibly damaging karma in the future and you yourself are simply having past karma that you have incurred played out in your life. This I find very difficult to believe and understand as to me if a person punches me in the face or starts a fight randomly and I am in the wrong place at the wrong time then the logically way of looking at this is simply that I was unfortunate to be there at that precise moment, the guy in question thought that I looked at him funny and after he had just had a fight with his girlfriend wanted to take some aggression out against something or in this case someone, unfortunately which was me.
The reason for being hit was exactly as I had just said, a simple misunderstanding of how I looked at a person. I like to understand karma as meaning certain attitudes and styles of living/acting accumulated habitually by successive life streams as individual people and certain angry tendencies may be picked up or more compassionate tendencies which could aid in the person being more aggressive but an equal reason is that the guy was abused in this lifetime and was brought up in loveless environment which made him more angry, the situation cannot merely be put down to his karma and the important part for me that I was a victim to this due to my own karma bearing fruit. To me this makes it seem like something is controlling everything and I have heard many times how the Dalai lama has said this is not the case and karma can be stopped in my opinion if I cease to act the same habitual way as my other life streams. If I have an illness for example or get cancer, to me this cannot possibly be due to karma, it is due to lifestyle and being unfortunate, and this lifestyle is conditioned from birth more so than from a previous life in my opinion. If my company goes bankrupt then this to me is explained by many reasons and not karma. This is the main point of my confusion and I would love any clarification or help in understanding this.
. I have recently been learning much about Buddhism since graduating from University and have spent the last 4-5months learning specifically from the Dalai Lama by reading many of his books and teaching/talks in video form. I have to say that after reading much from the vast field of self help that Buddhism in particular has changed the way I look at the world and has truly adjusted my view on reality for the better. The concepts of inherent existence and dependant arisings have changed the way I look at things and people, that in turn has stopped much of the suffering that I used to fall victim too. As learning is lifelong and understanding of a particular text and book can change from successive readings, I am completely open to misinterpretations that I maybe seeing and look forward to learning more about the area of my question. The subject I am having difficult with the most at the moment is karma which I am sure has been the source of many previous and forthcoming questions from newcomers to the study of Buddhism.Upon reading a paragraph recently in a book by the Dalai lama, he speaks about how when an action is done against you that you should realise compassion for the other person as his/her actions are inspired by karma and will incur more possibly damaging karma in the future and you yourself are simply having past karma that you have incurred played out in your life. This I find very difficult to believe and understand as to me if a person punches me in the face or starts a fight randomly and I am in the wrong place at the wrong time then the logically way of looking at this is simply that I was unfortunate to be there at that precise moment, the guy in question thought that I looked at him funny and after he had just had a fight with his girlfriend wanted to take some aggression out against something or in this case someone, unfortunately which was me.
The reason for being hit was exactly as I had just said, a simple misunderstanding of how I looked at a person. I like to understand karma as meaning certain attitudes and styles of living/acting accumulated habitually by successive life streams as individual people and certain angry tendencies may be picked up or more compassionate tendencies which could aid in the person being more aggressive but an equal reason is that the guy was abused in this lifetime and was brought up in loveless environment which made him more angry, the situation cannot merely be put down to his karma and the important part for me that I was a victim to this due to my own karma bearing fruit. To me this makes it seem like something is controlling everything and I have heard many times how the Dalai lama has said this is not the case and karma can be stopped in my opinion if I cease to act the same habitual way as my other life streams. If I have an illness for example or get cancer, to me this cannot possibly be due to karma, it is due to lifestyle and being unfortunate, and this lifestyle is conditioned from birth more so than from a previous life in my opinion. If my company goes bankrupt then this to me is explained by many reasons and not karma. This is the main point of my confusion and I would love any clarification or help in understanding this.
0
Comments
Karma is intentional action, the results of that action are sometimes called karmic fruit.
Taking the example of you being punched in the face. The other guy was angry, the anger resulted from his ignorance, but his choice to punch you was an intended action that derived from his anger. Ultimately we can see that his bad karmic action resulted from ignorance, and that is why we should feel compassion for him, and everyone else, because they are trapped with us in the cycle of ignorance and endure the suffering that results.
There are other threads on karma in this forum: Try this or this.
The way I act however and how my emotions dictate my decisions and actions then have effects on me, for example if I am self centred or stubborn about something then this can lead to many bad situations and circumstance and that can in my mind be partly due to past karma and global conditioned tendencies.
Until recently I found it very hard to understand global karma (from life to life) but could understand local karma sometimes occurring. I could see that many peoples actions and attitudes has very negative results but I also thought that there are many people who don't suffer local karma as there must be people who commit crimes and never get held accountable. I did not see how you could be punished for your crimes in future lives as this just seemed like it was created to inspire fear to stop people doing things rather than being based on reasoning. Cause and effect in the mental stream as well as in the material world helped me see that this was possible and evidence showing that there was people remembering rebirths helped (Got a book coming on that soon
Lastly, I love the fact that you are allowed to test, prod and poke the ideas in Buddhism and that the Dalai lama himself said, 'if science without a shadow of a doubt proves there is no rebirth, we will have to accept that'. I feel Buddhism is based on truth and that can be fluid, and change with new incites and knowledge.
There is a logical side to it but that is not the whole story.
Positive causes are more likely to have positive effects.
Negative causes are more likely to have negative effects.
namaste
Yes, the precise workings of karma (Pali: kamma) is unconjecturable. But that dosen't mean we should ignore it altogether; it's something that reminds us to watch our deeds, speech and thoughts. I use the following verse from the Anguttara Nikaya for contemplation: