i wish karma was a real thing

[REALiNSaNgAMingGODPrODIgY]

so many people do so many bad things and nothing ever happens with them. they live their life being bad and never have any problems. kind of speaks volumes in society tbh..........

[C4Warr10r]

It IS a real thing. You're living it now. You want karma to be immediate vengeance upon those you judge as being wrong, and it hurts you.

I'm no Buddhist, I'm Christian, and we have our own versions of those people. They insist that they have the immediate power of God's judgement, whenever it suits them, and they never last long. The principles upon which the Church is built endure, because they are based upon a higher consciousness, that of God, evaluating all your actions. You don't get to judge, God does, so even when you cannot help but judge, He is always there, staying your hand, reconciling you to more rational action.

True to form, how many criminal or atheistic societies have ever existed or endured? What becomes of their efforts? Need I detail their cacophonous failures as they resonate around you? They don't survive, they die, screaming the whole way about how their world has somehow become a world without purpose or truth. How could their excesses and sin possibly have resulted in such terrible lives?

Well, you have an idea now, in your own perceptions. I won't bore you with one of my overlong sermons about what God is, or how integral He is to human nature, or how that happened, but rest assured, people never produce anything greater than their motivations.

[Vinz Clortho]

Phirestar lähetti viestin:

This is assuming that you believe that karma exists, which I frankly don’t. I think that if anything, the philosophy behind good actions leading to positive outcomes is in total opposition to the ways of the natural world. When an animal hunts and kills another of its species and takes their territory, there is no force that punishes that animal for its actions. The fact that in that situation, the victor is more likely to go on to mate and produce offspring, is how ‘survival of the fittest’ came to be a scientific theory, and that concept couldn’t exist in a world that’s governed by karma. Selfishness drives evolution; you are encouraged to win by any means necessary.

From a Buddhist perspective, Karma/Kamma is generated by intent. Someone might commit a bad action believing it was for a good reason, or vice versa. If the action was motivated by sincere loving kindness but caused a negative outcome, it would not cause negative kamma.

The reason I say this is because animals are necessarily deprived of the same intent through self-awareness that humans have. When an animal kills another animal the intent is not malicious it is survival instinct and we can argue to what extent that is a conscious mechanism, but the point is that an animal does not have the same capacity to generate kamma as a human. That is why the Buddha said that a human rebirth is the most fortunate one because you have the best chance of creating good kamma and hearing dhamma teachings that will set you on the right path.

There is no ultimate balancing out when it comes to kamma. You might be reborn as an animal and be stuck there forever unless fortune puts you in a situation where you are exposed to dhamma teachings or you are able to perform some genuinely selfless acts. Perhaps if you were reborn as a more sentient animal like a dolphin.

People have a conception that kamma works like purgatory and everyone is heading for enlightenment/heaven (not the same thing) regardless of what they do, the only matter is how long it will take them to get there. That is not the case with kamma, you can go on making bad kamma and being stuck in one bad realm or another forever. That's why the wheel of suffering is so terrible and why it's good to renounce it.

[abcd]

Current implementation very problematic. Tends to reinforce bad behavior, rather than discourage it.

Many people are in bad situations for no other reason than karma, and the nature of the circumstances make it impossible for them to do anything else.

Plus, good karma brings trouble. It brings tests and checks to see if you earned it. These checks almost always involve bad karma, and the only way to generate good karma as a result is from bad karma.

Consequently, there is an overabundance of bad and no reward for being good.

[Voroff]

REALiNSaNgAMingGODPrODIgY lähetti viestin:

so many people do so many bad things and nothing ever happens with them. they live their life being bad and never have any problems. kind of speaks volumes in society tbh..........

remember kids, we are living in a society where CIA exists and is unempedeed in his crash course of bullying everyone on the globe, US citizens included with shipments of hard drugs to fund them plans and coups.

[Vinz Clortho]

The example of a school shooter is a good one. If a decision is made to lock them away for the rest of their life - because they are a danger to everyone else and the motivation is to protect other people who might get hurt, that would be generated by a desire for non-violence and peace and so would create positive kamma.

If a decision is made that the shooter needs to suffer in direct proportion to the people they hurt and they should be locked up in as horrible a place as possible in order to punish them, that would be generated by a desire for revenge and perpetuating more violence and so would create negative kamma.

The shooter has created enough negative kamma to guarantee problems for their self for the rest of their life and more, but there can still be a chance to start learning to change and attain spiritual progress or even enlightenment within their current lifetime.

When you see kamma as being generated by intent, it encourages you to look inside yourself and discover the true motivations for your actions, rather than justifying things as being good or bad based on how it makes you feel or by some external material outcome.

[mai72]

Xautos lähetti viestin:

I always believed Lewis Hamilton the Formula 1 race driver was blessed with unrealistic levels of great luck. almost nothing bad every happened to him when you hope it would as he lead race after race, then the race car regulations changed and it took 56 races and 900 odd days from his last win to his next win just the other day to get back on track. It was his most lean time in Formula 1, an unbelievable amount of bad luck followed him in that time.

The concept of Karma and Luck is like the concept of sentience, it's impossible to prove by the methods we have at our disposal and yet it's undeniably in front of us.

Hmm... And what about all the racers who lost their lives racing?

I agree luck plays a role. But so does preparation, and skill. Two people go into battle. One dies immediately. The other is deployed 3 more times. Bullets flying and doesn't take a hit. Comes back home safely. I think things happen that we can't explain. But it doesn't mean God, angels, leprechauns, angels, ghouls, and magic spells.

[abcd]

P. One lähetti viestin:

When you see kamma as being generated by intent, it encourages you to look inside yourself and discover the true motivations for your actions, rather than justifying things as being good or bad based on how it makes you feel or by some external material outcome.

that's a response to karma. it's irrelevant to the process at best, and imagining new rules that aren't real at worst.

in its most sinister light, it's a denial of something it's treating as real.

believing a real phenomenon is an illusion is a world-destroying delusion just as much as treating fake phenomenon as real.

[Vinz Clortho]

abcd lähetti viestin:

P. One lähetti viestin:

When you see kamma as being generated by intent, it encourages you to look inside yourself and discover the true motivations for your actions, rather than justifying things as being good or bad based on how it makes you feel or by some external material outcome.

that's a response to karma. it's irrelevant to the process at best, and imagining new rules that aren't real at worst.

in its most sinister light, it's a denial of something it's treating as real.

believing a real phenomenon is an illusion is a world-destroying delusion just as much as treating fake phenomenon as real.

How can it be irrelevant if it's a direct result of the process? You perceive that kamma is caused by your intentions, so you realise that you can consciously avoid harmful actions and engage in un-harmful actions as long as you are always mindful of why you are doing them.

Rather than imagining rules that aren't real, I would say it's more like choosing a moral philosophy for yourself. Buddhism is impartial so the Buddha would say that you can choose to believe it or not, it won't make any difference to the outcome. It's just good to be informed.

The three causes of all suffering are greed, hatred and delusion so it's good to try and avoid those wherever possible. It's easy to use words like "real" and "fake" in order to try and simplify complicated concepts into black and white thinking, but rarely helpful. What is more helpful is to look at why one holds a particular belief and evaluate whether or not it is helpful and in agreement with the moral philosophy one chooses to hold.

[Vinz Clortho]

abcd lähetti viestin:

Plus, good karma brings trouble. It brings tests and checks to see if you earned it. These checks almost always involve bad karma, and the only way to generate good karma as a result is from bad karma.

The misinformation is pointless because anyone who is interested enough will go and read about it from a reputable source and anyone who isn't interested will just ignore it, so who are you trying to influence?

[abcd]

P. One lähetti viestin:

abcd lähetti viestin:

Plus, good karma brings trouble. It brings tests and checks to see if you earned it. These checks almost always involve bad karma, and the only way to generate good karma as a result is from bad karma.

The misinformation is pointless because anyone who is interested enough will go and read about it from a reputable source and anyone who isn't interested will just ignore it, so who are you trying to influence?

Nobody in particular; why would I want to influence anyone?

P. One lähetti viestin:

abcd lähetti viestin:

that's a response to karma. it's irrelevant to the process at best, and imagining new rules that aren't real at worst.

in its most sinister light, it's a denial of something it's treating as real.

believing a real phenomenon is an illusion is a world-destroying delusion just as much as treating fake phenomenon as real.

How can it be irrelevant if it's a direct result of the process? You perceive that kamma is caused by your intentions, so you realise that you can consciously avoid harmful actions and engage in un-harmful actions as long as you are always mindful of why you are doing them.

Rather than imagining rules that aren't real, I would say it's more like choosing a moral philosophy for yourself. Buddhism is impartial so the Buddha would say that you can choose to believe it or not, it won't make any difference to the outcome. It's just good to be informed.

The three causes of all suffering are greed, hatred and delusion so it's good to try and avoid those wherever possible. It's easy to use words like "real" and "fake" in order to try and simplify complicated concepts into black and white thinking, but rarely helpful. What is more helpful is to look at why one holds a particular belief and evaluate whether or not it is helpful and in agreement with the moral philosophy one chooses to hold.

choosing a moral philosophy at odds with the process it's describing.

i believe this is listed as a great evil somewhere. a sign of profound self-obsession.

[Vinz Clortho]

abcd lähetti viestin:

i believe this is listed as a great evil somewhere.

Probably in your book of historical troll spells and potions.

[Zilkenian Davenport]

It is, it's just not visible to everyone.

[Vinz Clortho]

Two scoops of inflammatory language
One cup misinformation
Mix it together with a pinch of lack of explanation

That's the recipe for steam troll stew

[abcd]

Zef Davenport lähetti viestin:

It is, it's just not visible to everyone.

there's no access restriction. anyone who can look is free to.

[Zilkenian Davenport]

abcd lähetti viestin:

Zef Davenport lähetti viestin:

It is, it's just not visible to everyone.

there's no access restriction. anyone who can look is free to.

I mean it doesn't always happen when you're there to witness it.