What is Karma?
Source: http://www.tricycle.com/new.php?p=articles&id=11What is Karma?
KARMA MEANS ACTION AND refers to intentional physical, verbal or mental actions. These actions leave imprints or seeds upon our mindstreams, and the imprints ripen into our experiences when the appropriate conditions come together. For example, with a kind heart we help someone. This action leaves an imprint on our mindstream, and when conditions are suitable, this imprint will ripen into our receiving help when we need it. The seeds of our actions continue with us from one lifetime to the next and do not get lost. However, if we don't create the cause or karma for something, then we won't experience that result: if a farmer doesn't plant seeds, nothing will grow. If an action brings about pain and misery in the long term, it is called negative, destructive, or nonvirtuous. If it brings about happiness, it is called positive, constructive, or virtuous. Actions aren't inherently good or bad, but are only designated so according to the results they bring.
All results come from causes that have the ability to create them. If we plant apple seeds, an apple tree will grow, not chili. If chili seeds are planted, chili will grow, not apples. In the same way, if we act constructively, happiness will ensue; if we act destructively, problems will result. Whatever happiness and fortune we experience in our lives comes from our own positive actions, while our problems result from our own destructive actions.
According to Buddhism, there is no one in charge of the universe who distributes rewards and punishments. We create the causes by our actions and we experience the results. We are responsible for own experience. The Buddha didn't create the system of actions and their effects, in the same way that Newton didn't invent gravity. Newton simply described what exists. Likewise, the Buddha described what he saw with his omniscient mind to be the natural process of cause and effect occurring within the mindstream of each being. By doing this, he showed us how best to work within the functioning of cause and effect in order to experience happiness and avoid pain.
When we see dishonest people who are wealthy, or cruel people who are powerful, or kind people who die young, we may doubt the law of actions and their effects. This is because we are looking at only a short period of this one life. Many of the results we experience in this life are the results of actions done in previous lives, and many of the actions we do in this life will ripen only in future lives. The wealth of dishonest people is the result of their generosity in previous lives. Their current dishonesty is leaving the karmic seed for them to be cheated and to experience poverty in future lives. Likewise, the respect and authority given to cruel people is due to positive actions they did in the past. In the present, they are misusing their power, thus creating the cause for future pain. Kind people who die young are experiencing the result of negative actions such as killing done in past lives. However, their present kindness is planting seeds or imprints on their mindstreams for them to experience happiness in the future.
Karma is both collective and individual. Collective karma is the actions we do together as a group: soldiers use weapons, a group of religious practitioners pray or meditate. The results of these actions are experienced as a group, often in future lives. Yet each member of a group thinks, speaks, and acts slightly differently, thus creating individual karma, the results of which each person will experience himself or herself.
Thubten Chodron has been a Buddhist nun in the Tibetan tradition since 1977. She currently lives and teaches at the Dharma Friendship Foundation in Seattle, Washington. "What is Karma?" is adapted from What Color is Your Mind?(Snow Lion Publications)
[ Last edited by lyhmsia on 27-6-2004 at 03:49 PM ] Source: http://www.zenguide.com/principles/karma.cfm
WHEN PEOPLE
are happy and contented, they tend to take life for granted. It is when they suffer, when they find life difficult, that they begin to search for a reason and a way out of their difficulty. They may ask why some are born in poverty and suffering, while others are born in fortunate circumstances. Some people believe that it is due to fate, chance, or an invisible power beyond their control. They feel that they are unable to live the life they desire so as to experience happiness always. Consequently, they become confused and desperate. However, the Buddha was able to explain why people differ in their circumstances and why some are more fortunate in life than others. The Buddha taught that one's present condition, whether of happiness or suffering, is the result of the accumulated force of all past actions or karma.
DEFINITION OF KARMA
Karma is intentional action, that is, a deed done deliberately through body, speech or mind. Karma means good and bad volition (kusala Akusala Centana). Every volitional action (except that of a Buddha or of an Arahant) is called Karma. The Buddhas and Arahants do not accumulate fresh Karma as they have destroyed all their passions.
In other words, Karma is the law of moral causation. It is action and reaction in the ethical realm. It is natural law that every action produces a certain effect. So if one performs wholesome actions such as donating money to charitable organizations, happiness will ensue. On the other hand, if one performs unwholesome actions, such as killing a living being, the result will be suffering. This is the law of cause and effect at work. In this way, the effect of past karma determines the nature of one's present situation in life.
The Buddha said,
"According to the seed that is sown,
So is the fruit you reap
The door of good of will gather good results
The door of evil reaps evil results.
If you plant a good seed well,
Then you will enjoy the good fruits."
Karma is a law itself. But it does not follow that there should be a lawgiver. The law of Karma, too, demands no lawgiver. It operates in its own field without the intervention of an external, independent agency.
[ Last edited by lyhmsia on 27-6-2004 at 03:48 PM ] Sources: http://www.purifymind.com/TruthConsequences.htm
Truth and Consequences
What Is Karma, Anyway?
Q: I keep hearing the word "karma" these days. Does it mean destiny?
Dalai Lama: Karma is an ancient Sanskrit word that means causation, cause and effect, conditioning, or action and reaction. In Tibetan, the word for karma is "leh," which literally means action. In ancient Pali, the language of the earliest Buddhist texts, the word for karma is kamma, which means deeds.
I define karma as reaction, or conditioning. The idea is that there are no accidents, that everything happens for a reason, even if that reason is not immediately perceptible. All major spiritual traditions rest on the understanding that the universe has a moral dimension, and some sense of virtue and evil. The law of karma teaches us that we create virtue or evil, and that we can and do direct our own lives and outcomes--consciously, unconsciously or, as is usually the case, semi-consciously.
Karma, in other words, is not mere luck. It is a mistake to imagine that one's karma is somehow fated, scripted, or predestined; that we have a fixed future, or that we should feel helpless in the face of karma, somehow imprisoned or victimized by it."Buddha's teaching is that you are your own master," the Dalai Lama has said. "Everything depends on yourself. This means that pleasure and pain arise from virtuous and nonvirtuous actions which come not from outside but from within yourself."
What Buddhists call the universal law of karmic causation reveals that the steering wheel of karma--or character or destiny--is in our own hands. And although we cannot control the karmic winds blowing from the past--"winds" such as psychological and biological conditioning--we can learn how to better adjust our sails and direct our course through life rather than being blown before the winds of past karma like a dead leaf in the wind. According to the Shambhala Dictionary of Buddhism and Zen, " Karma provides the situation, not the response to the situation."
Where does our karma come from? From past actions and intentions. Each of us is a composite of countless different experiences: a whirling, changing composite of interacting memories, energy and habits--what Buddhists call karmic imprints. These imprints on the mind produce further reactions and responses in kind, just as electrical impulses pass more easily across synapses in the brain where they have already passed. An example would be that we tend to do what our parents did before us, as well as continue behaving, talking and thinking in ways similar to what we have done before.
In the Buddhist teachings, karma is broken down into three types: good (positive) karma, bad (negative) karma, and neutral (indifferent) karma. In other words, virtuous acts bring positive results sooner or later, as well as positive feelings and beneficent states of mind. The more loving, kind, patient, generous, and unselfish we are, the more those qualities surround and come back to us. Likewise, negative acts and intentions similarly reproduce in kind. There are also different dimensions of karma, such as individual, group, and collective karma including national and species karma.
The fact that karma is fundamentally conditioning is the key to improving it. Since we are conditioned, we can recondition ourselves to act in more satisfying, fulfilling, and productive ways, eventually liberating ourselves completely. We can retool ourselves to live wisely and compassionately rather than selfishly sleepwalking through a life of delusion and confusion.
Indeed, karmic causation depends more on our intentions than on our mere actions. If you do a good deed by accident, you don't create as much good karma as if you do it intentionally, mainly because the action does not reflect a meritorious or wholesome process in your mind-stream. Similarly, if you harm someone by accident, you don't engender the same negative karma as if you do it on purpose.
Buddhist texts attribute this to the fact that karma has four parts: the intention or impulse; the actual action, thought/attitude or words; the accomplishing of the action, thought or deed; and rejoicing in the completion of that activity. If any of these parts are missing, the karma is considered incomplete and the results less profound and powerful. This means that if you genuinely repent, atone for, and renounce your negative actions--whether they were committed in the remote or recent past--you do not have to bear the whole karmic load. Moreover, if you vow not to do execrable deeds again, you have transformed bad karma into sterling karma, and have begun to fulfill the Buddha's deathbed injunction to his followers: Work out your own salvation with diligence.
Of course, we all know that life is not black and white, and that bad things happen to good people. This is because there are a myriad karmic causes conspiring to bring about any particular event, which then becomes cause for other effects to take place. The Buddha himself said that one would have to be omniscient to understand every karmic cause for why one single feather on a peacock's tail is a particular color. Grasping the ungraspable is not the point. We serve ourselves and others best by understanding the general principles of karmic causation and their ethical implications for all beings, and guiding ourselves accordingly.
Thus we must pay attention to our intention and deeds, and reflect on them. The first step is to contemplate whether something you do or say is going to cause harm to yourself or others. If not, go ahead and do it. If it does end up causing harm despite your intention, admit it to yourself and vow not to repeat such an action. In this way, we can learn from our experiences and reform our ways, becoming better people--more skillful and spiritually successful in all aspects of our lives.
[ Last edited by lyhmsia on 27-6-2004 at 03:47 PM ] very good job lymsia. I will give you credits when i return as ariyamusafir. Source: http://web.singnet.com.sg/~cswoon/buddha.html
Karma means action. It refers to the intentional deeds we do with our body, speech and mind through action, talking and thinking. Karma is the law that every willed deed, given the conditions, produces a certain effect. How does Karma Work?
All deeds leave imprints or seeds on our consciousness, which ripen into our experiences when the appropriate conditions come together. For example, if we help someone with a kind heart, this action leaves an imprint on our mindstream. When conditions are suitable, this imprint will ripen in our receiving of help when we need it.
Karmic seeds continue with us from lifetime to lifetime. However, if we do not create the cause or Karma for something, we won't experience that result. If one doesn't plant a certain seed, that plant will not grow.
According to the seed that is sown, So is the fruit you reap. The doer of good will gather good result, The doer of evil reaps evil result. If you plant a good seed well, Then you will enjoy the good fruits.
The Effects of Karma
Karma affects our future rebirths and influences what we experience during our lives: how others treat us, our wealth, social status etc. Karma also affects our personality and character: our talents, strong personality traits and habits. The kind of environment we are born into is also influenced by Karma.
We are according to what we have done. We will be according to what we do.
Different kinds of Karma
If an action brings pain and misery in the long term for oneself and others, it is unwholesome or negative Karma. And if it brings happiness, it is wholesome or positive Karma. Actions aren't inherently good or bad - they are only so according to the results they bring. Whatever happiness and fortune we experience in our lives comes from our own positive actions, while our problems result from our own negative actions.
You are responsible for everything. There is no one that decides the "rewards and punishments" for what we do. We create the causes of our actions, and we experience their results. We are responsible for our own experience. The Buddha discovered the law of Karma- He did not create it. By teaching us the law of Karma, the Buddha shows us how to work within the functioning of cause and effect in order to experience happiness and avoid pain.
Is Everything Subject to Karma?
The law of Karma does not apply to "mindless" actions such as walking, sitting or sleeping. Such actions do not produce effects apart from the actions themselves. However, Karma applies to the thoughts the person is thinking when he is doing them. Similarly, accidents are considered neutral action (Karma) because they are unintentional. However, we should always work towards increasing our mindfulness so that accidents will not occur.
When we see dishonest people who are wealthy, or cruel people who are powerful, or kind people who die young, we may doubt the law of Karma. But many of the results we experience in this life are the results of actions in previous lives, and many of the actions we do in this life will only ripen in future lives- this is called long-term Karma. (Short-term Karma is that which show results within a short term of time.)
The wealth of dishonest people is the result of their generosity in past lives. Their current dishonesty is however, leaving karmic seeds for them to be cheated and to experience poverty in future lives. Likewise, the respect and authority given to cruel people is due to positive actions they did in the past. In the present, they are abusing their power, thus creating the cause for future pain. Those who die young are experiencing the result of negative actions such as killing done in past lives. However, their present kindness is planting seeds or imprints on their mindstreams for them to experience happiness in the future.
Ways to purify Negative Karma
Purification is very important as it prevents future suffering and relieves guilt. By purifying our minds, we are able to be more peaceful and understand the Dharma better.
The four opponent powers used to purify negative imprints or seeds are:
1.Regret
2.Determination Not to Repeat the Action
3.Taking the Threefold Refuge and Generating Compassion towards Others
4.Actual Remedial Practice (Any Positive Action- including Meditation and Chanting)
The four opponent powers must be done repeatedly. As we have done many negative actions, we cannot, expect to counteract all of them at once. The stronger the four opponents powers are, the firmer our determination not to repeat the action and the more powerful the purification will be.
Does Karma Influence Whom We Meet?
Yes- but this does not mean that relationships are pre-determined. We may have certain karmic predispositions to feel close to or to have friction with certain people. But, this does not mean that our relationships with them must continue along the same lines. If we are kind to those who speak ill of us and try to communicate with them, the relationships will change - creating positive Karma that will bring happiness in the future.
We are not karmically bound to others- there are no special people who are the one and only one for us. Since we had many past lives, we have had contact with every being sometime before. Our relationship with any particular person also changes constantly. However, past karmic connections can influence our present relationships. For example, if someone has been our spiritual mentor in a past life, we may be drawn to that person in this lifetime, and when he or she teaches us the Dharma, it may have a very strong effect on us.
If Others Suffer Due out of Negative Karma, Can We Help Them?
We know what it is like to feel miserable, and that is exactly how others feel when they are experiencing the results of their own destructive actions. Out of empathy and compassion, we should definitely help! Though others created the causes to experience their difficulties, maybe they also created the cause to receive help from us! We are all alike in wanting happiness and trying to avoid pain. It does not matter whose pain or problem it is- we should try to relieve it. For example, to think, "The poor are poor because of their own past lives' miserliness. I would be interfering with their karma if I tried to help", is a cruel misconception. We should never rationalise our own laziness, apathy or smugness by misinterpreting cause and effect. Compassion and universal responsibility are important for our own spiritual development and for world peace.
Karma can be change from you
Karma is not inflexibly fixed- it does not mean fate or pre-determination. Intentional actions will at some time or other produce their effects under certain conditions. Though people in their present lives are experiencing the effects of their past actions (Karma), it is possible to change or reduce the effects of these past actions through present actions, which affect the immediate future and future lives. Understanding the law of Karma helps one realise that we are whatever we make ourselves to be. Our are entirely responsible for our destiny. Long cut and paste from a text will not teach a person about Karma.
Open your eyes and Look the World around you. THAT will teach you about Karma more.
[ Last edited by Sephiroth on 28-6-2004 at 03:54 PM ] Originally posted by Sephiroth at 28-6-2004 03:53 PM:
Long cut and paste from a text will not teach a person about Karma.
Open your eyes and Look the World around you. THAT will teach you about Karma more.
[ Last edited by Sephiroth on 28-6-20 ...
Sephiroth, he is just merely sharing information. After all, this board is meant for forumers to share information. How do you know he did not read and understand what he paste? Please, I have noticed that when forumers post something, you tend to condemn or criticise it without caring if it is right or wrong. Many forumers here might not know about this and he cut and paste here is for others to be able to gain some knowledege. The problem with you is that you might not know something or if you do know, you think you are very smart and others are not. You think that you are too clever in anything that others are not clever enough. That is what I can see about you.
Yes, your comment have truth in them from my own personal views but I can see that your this post is meant to criticise lymsia. Correct me if I am wrong.
ariyamusafir by bla
Sephiroth, he is just merely sharing information. After all, this board is meant for forumers to share information. How do you know he did not read and understand what he paste? Please, I have noticed that when forumers post something, you tend to condemn or criticise it without caring if it is right or wrong. Many forumers here might not know about this and he cut and paste here is for others to be able to gain some knowledege. The problem with you is that you might not know something or if you do know, you think you are very smart and others are not. You think that you are too clever in anything that others are not clever enough. That is what I can see about you.
Yes, your comment have truth in them from my own personal views but I can see that your this post is meant to criticise lymsia. Correct me if I am wrong.
No, you are not wrong. Just your opinion about the world and mine is different.
Buddhism is not about Follow the Manual method when come to living, like some religion; it is about Go and Get Injured type of endeavour.
Whether you willing to get hurt or not is the only question one must answer, not whether someone going to hurt you or not.
Don't let your expectation of the World hit you back to the ground when you just spread your wing, some people have no strenght to try again while others simply give up.
My sensei told me this once ... "It is better for me to hurt you here than someone with worse intentions than me to hurt you later in the streets" while throwing me onto the cement floor for the hundreth of times. Think about it. Originally posted by Sephiroth at 28-6-2004 06:00 PM:
by bla
Sephiroth, he is just merely sharing information. After all, this board is meant for forumers to share information. How do you know he did not read and understand what he paste? Pleas ...
Buddha don't teache anyone to hurt another. By the way, I am not against you, it is just that this is a place for sharing knowledge and lymsia was just giving knowledge to all other forumers who might not know. By the way, just a tip, soon, To Supermoderators thread will be locked. No, you are not wrong. Just your opinion about the world and mine is different.
Who is right or wrong?
Buddhism is not about Follow the Manual method when come to living, like some religion; it is about Go and Get Injured type of endeavour.
Without proper foundation how would we know the right path? Aren't we suppose to learn the Dharma and try to understand it through our own experience.
Anyway, I'm sorry if I did anything wrong by cut and paste:)
[ Last edited by lyhmsia on 28-6-2004 at 08:48 PM ] Ariyamusafir and lyhmsia,
You must understand that some people thrive in argument. They love to argue just for the sake of it. For them it is one way of gaining enjoyment. A bit like a smoker who need to see puffs of smoke to assure themselves that they are still alive.
It is important for us to understand why they behave like this so that it would not not be hurtful anymore.
I sure hope this post is still in the ok range. :) by bla
Buddha don't teache anyone to hurt another. By the way, I am not against you, it is just that this is a place for sharing knowledge and lymsia was just giving knowledge to all other forumers who might not know. By the way, just a tip, soon, To Supermoderators thread will be locked.
Don't go running to the moderator everytime someone shake your foundations where you lazy around in. ;) It makes it look so pathetic.
Buddha didn't teach anyone to reply on what is written either, did he? ;)
by lyhmsia
Who is right or wrong?
You are right and I'm right, you are wrong and I'm wrong. When you understand that, then you will know who is wrong and who is right.
Without proper foundation how would we know the right path? Aren't we suppose to learn the Dharma and try to understand it through our own experience.
Define what is Dharma first before you could choose a path.
Know where you wish to go before you can choose what path you wish to follow.
And Agul ... This IS a discussion of Buddhism. If you don't understand it, that ain't my problem.
Like I said before, it is better if I push you down here and now rather than someone else does it later when you need to hold on onto some belief and you couldn't. Not your problem. At least I see it as a healthy challenge. Thus far. A gem requires no defence of its genuineness. Only a fake one does. The truth do not falter when questioned & challenged. It still shines... Originally posted by Sephiroth at 29-6-2004 09:31 AM:
by bla
Buddha don't teache anyone to hurt another. By the way, I am not against you, it is just that this is a place for sharing knowledge and lymsia was just giving knowledge to all other f ...
I am the moderator. By the way, Sephiroth, it is not someone lazy. lymsia is only sharing his knowledge and copy an article from a site then paste for others even non-buddhist to see and you critisice him for that. maybe you are not but definitely you sound so. If you are, just think, WHO are you at the first place to critisice him when your knowldege is also far from near perfect???? This board was created for others to share knowledge, rather then fighting around. It doesn't matter if one is a buddhist here. What it matters is that people come in here is to gain knowledge, not fight around like World Politics. It seems to me that you are stiring trouble here, not me. by bla
I am the moderator. ...
Hmph ... First sign of problem in a place is when the person who is given the responsible for safe-guarding a place, like a Moderator, forget to do his/her own duties.
2nd sign is when he/she interrupt others by posting his/her own statements/opinion which will lead to argument which will lead to anger and abuse of power.
You in the right path toward fullfilling your bad karma, Moderator ... assuming you are Ariya. ;)
PS : Which bad karma, you ask? Remember the role you play when Debmey were selected? ;) Originally posted by Sephiroth at 30-6-2004 09:48 AM:
by bla
I am the moderator. ...
Hmph ... First sign of problem in a place is when the person who is given the responsible for safe-guarding a place, like a Moderator, forget to do his ...
As ariyamusafir, I tried my best to safeguard, and you see muslims in here but they do everything peacefully. When somebody post something to share knowledge, that is their rights to do so but instead, you critisice them for just posting an article related to buddhism for the sharing of all. Why??? So who is the one doing bad now. Tell me, which part I did bad?? Hmm?????? I am posting these because I am doing my job. You came in and instead of sharing knowledge, you think you are too smart and you critisice others for posting something which is not wrong and remain their rights. Originally posted by Sephiroth at 30-6-2004 09:48 AM:
by bla
I am the moderator. ...
Hmph ... First sign of problem in a place is when the person who is given the responsible for safe-guarding a place, like a Moderator, forget to do his ...
All my postings and others' postings did not lead to any anger or arguments. I post many buddhist articles and same for lymsia and also many others came and discuss without fighting. Tell me, who started the flamming first when you came in and instead of following your own sticky thread, you came in and criticise others when there is nothing to criticise about?????? by bla
All my postings and others' postings did not lead to any anger or arguments. I post many buddhist articles and same for lymsia and also many others came and discuss without fighting.
That's your rationalizement (mistake here, maybe).
Hmmm ... wasn't it you who said in an argument in Religion section once that the moderator NOT supposed to be active in discussion, when Debmey was doing it? :hmm:
Tell me, who started the flamming first when you came in and instead of following your own sticky thread, you came in and criticise others when there is nothing to criticise about??????
Buddhism IS about criticizing what is present to a person and make his/her own defination of things. That is why in monastery like in Tibet, Nepal and even in Thailand, monks are encouraged to discuss and argue as a routine.
I don't think I'm doing anything which is not Buddhist in nature. :stp: Originally posted by Sephiroth at 30-6-2004 10:07 AM:
by bla
All my postings and others' postings did not lead to any anger or arguments. I post many buddhist articles and same for lymsia and also many others came and discuss without fighting....
I'm hoping we can end this discussion because I don't really see anything that benefit us. Hence, I do hope that we'll respect each other and end this discussion. As a Buddhist, seeing this argument really make me think if there is anymore relevance to have this thread becuase it might end up .......If it's because of my cut and paste that causes all these problem I'll end my visit to this thread. I do not wish others to misunderstand Buddhism by reading our remarks. Thank You for understanding. :)
p/s: I hope this will not continue.
[ Last edited by lyhmsia on 30-6-2004 at 11:20 AM ]
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