Karma

[FunnyDigestion]

^ The way I understand karma... it's more of a "you get what you dish out" kinda thing. It can be good and it can be bad... ultimately it doesn't matter if what you did/got is good or bad, since it all depends on what you see as "good" and "bad" - that's totally up to your interpretation. Hmm... I don't think I've ever associated karma with types of energies. On a little side note, I think "bad" karma can also come in the form of guilt, anxiety etc.

Yeah... to me it's a shorthand concept representing the generally observable pattern that if you start trouble you'll get trouble back: if you orient your life around darkness, you'll receive darkness, but if you bring good to the world you'll get goodness back. It doesn't always happen, but could there be a general pattern? It takes faith to believe in, & sometimes I have it but sometimes not.

 

[Giggly]

I'm not sure if it exists either, but I would be scared to test it!

 

[Riva]

An offtopic post that some of you might find interesting -All what happens to one is not always a direct result of karma. There are 4 other Niyamas (don't ask for the English word - dammit I didn't study Buddhism in English) that affect one's life -(1) Consequences of one's actions / Karma(2) Seasonal / climate changes (3) Heredity (4) Perseverance (5) Had to google the last one -

Dhamma Niyama - order of the norm, e.g., the natural phenomena occurring at the advent of a Bodhisattva in his last birth. Gravitation and other similar laws of nature.

Point (5) - Perseverance could change certain bad karma affects / improve one's life - Important.

Personally, I think the concept of karma is a crock of shit. The basis for it relies on the assumption that there's some universally objective form of negative and positive(right or wrong), which again, I don't think to be true; Everything is relative and context dependent.

The basis of it doesn't rely on the assumption that there's some universally objective form of right and wrong.It is an action - reaction affect and not a universal judging system.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karma#Buddhismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pratitya-samutpada

I don't believe in Karma. Bad things happen to good people, good things to bad ones. There is no magical cause-and-effect relationship in the universe. Pol Pot lived to be a very old man. How to explain that?

Karma is not limited to what one does in this life. The concept/theory of Karma goes hand-in-hand with rebirth.

 

[WALMART]

I do believe in experiential influence.


For example, I once saw a group of old ladies have a blow out right in front of me. I put on my hazards and followed them to the side of the road, where I changed their tire for the spare. During the event, and I cannot recall what, I learned something that was directly applicable later in my day. Had I not stopped, I would have been mentally unprepared for that later challenge.


Doing 'good' things retains positive vibes in the psyche. The typical 'direct-influence' model of Karma is a flawed method of looking at it, likely inspired by vast exposure to Judeo-Christian themes.

 

[gromit]

Doing 'good' things retains positive vibes in the psyche.

Yeah! Same for bad.

 

[WALMART]

Yeah! Same for bad.

Particularly for bad. Have you seen the timescales of Naraka in Buddhism? Hell isn't permanent, but it sure is a long ass time o.0

 

[Thursday]

You get what you give, what you encourage, what you condone, what you ask for with your actions; no less no more.

 

[mooseantlers]

I believe in karma in a non spiritual sense. Example; I give my friend free cigarettes, chances are when I need to bum some, she'll return the favour.