Some Brief Remarks On Karma

The Law of Karma

by: Nikhil Gangoli

The topic of this article is the concept of Karma, which is common to most Eastern Philosophies be it Hinduism or Buddhism.

It is said that in the second watch of the night when the Buddha attained enlightenment he gained a different kind of knowledge, which complemented his knowledge of rebirth – The Law of Karma.

Karma is mistaken in the West as a doctrine of Fate or Predestination. It is not so. The word Karma literally means action – and the Law of Karma is the infallible law of cause and effect, which governs the Universe.

The doctrine of Karma has many implications as to how we may lead our lives. In the first place it means that all our actions will lead to its natural consequence. We may not know what the consequence will be and in fact it may be delayed for many lengths of time but the consequence will follow inevitably. In Tibetan Buddhism the inevitable retribution, which however is not obvious, is compared to the shadow of a kite or an eagle as it searches for its prey. When the eagle is high in the sky its shadow is not to be seen. However when the eagle swoops to the ground to catch hold of its prey the menacing shadow appears. Similarly we are not aware of the consequences of our actions for most part but they will appear just as the shadow of the eagle suddenly appears.

The law of Karma is not confined to individuals – there is family karma, national karma, International Karma, the Karma of a city. All these are mixed with the Karma of the Individual, and thus it happens that people lives are influenced by events completely beyond their control. All these Karma’s are inter-related and can be understood in its full complexity only by an enlightened being.

Buddha Shakyamuni (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The law of Karma gives us guidance as to how we may lead our lives. When misfortune strikes we know that it will not last forever but will pass in time. And we now know through the law of Karma that these are consequences, which have inevitably followed from our past actions. The attitude to have when difficulties befall us is this – That this, which is happening, is the coming to fruition of our past Karma. We do not see the suffering as a punishment- or do we blame ourselves and indulge in self-hatred. Tibetans say that suffering is the broom, which sweeps away our negative karma. We can even be grateful that one karma is coming to an end.

Eastern philosophy is full of stories of how bandits and murderers have overcome their bad karma and gone on to become – monks and even saints. Angulimala is an example. He had killed 999 people in his previous life as a bandit. But he was won over by the Buddha and went on to become a monk and a sage. Similarly in Tibetan Buddhism the story is told of Milarepa. He was a sorcerer who killed many people with his black magic for revenge or profit. Yet through his remorse and hardships and penances that he underwent he went on to become to become enlightened – a figure of inspiration to millions.

Source

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The Wisdom of Buddhism

Basic Beliefs of Buddhism

By Pablo Antuna

Which are the Basic Beliefs of Buddhism? Buddhism is a remarkable religious tradition, not only because it is the fourth-largest religion in the world, but also because it has concepts and beliefs that make it unique and distinct from all the other religions.

The Buddha inherited from his background some religious beliefs. These beliefs come from the Indian ancient tradition. They are:

• The Doctrine of Reincarnation : I think most of you know what I’m talking about here. Human beings don’t live just one life, but cycle around again and again, life after life, death after death, in a process of death and rebirth. Indian civilization view reincarnation not as a single life, or two or three lives strung together, but see it on a time scale that involves millions and millions of lifetimes. They see it as a burden, as a problem to be solved. This is known in India as Samsara.


• The Law of Karma: In India, the word Karma simply means “action”. The cycle of death and rebirth, the cycle of Samsara, is driven by an inexorable law: What you do now, will produce some result in a future life. You have to find some way to work with this law in order to permit some positive solution to the problem of Samsara.


• The Realms of Rebirth: Where Karma can lead you? Six realms are considered into which you can be born. You can be born as a god, as a demigod or a lesser category of gods sometimes referred as demons, as a human being, as a ghost, as an animal, or as a spirit in hell. Yes, hell. It is a place where you can really be punished for the bad actions you have done.

Buddhists believe in the teachings of the Buddha, the Awakened One. The traditional summary of the teaching is given in four categories, the so called Four Noble Truths:

1. The Truth of Suffering (Dukkha)


2. The Arising of Suffering (Samudaya)


3. The Cessation of Suffering (Nirodha)


4. The Truth of the Way (Marga) that leads to the cessation of suffering.

If you understand the first Truth of Suffering, you understand all of the Four Noble Truths by implication. The truth of suffering is expressed in the simple claim that All is Suffering. All the things in human experience cause suffering.

The second Truth of The Arising of Suffering says that suffering arises essentially from ignorance. From that ignorance comes desire or craving. And then, out of that craving or desire comes reincarnation. Ignorance leads to desire, desire leads to birth. If you want to stop rebirth, what you have to do then is to remove ignorance. Somehow chip away at that basic misconception that people have about the world, and as a result, diminish desire.

The third Truth of the Cessation of Suffering is the famous Nirvana. Nirvana means literally to blow out. You might say that Nirvana is the cessation, is the extinction of “self” that wanders constantly from one life to the next. What’s so great about this? You must remember that the process of reincarnation is a burden for Buddhists and Indian religious people in general. They see it as a really serious problem, and Nirvana is the final solution.

Buddhists also see Nirvana as freedom from ignorance and the perfection of a human being. When the Buddha achieved Nirvana, he didn’t just stayed there enjoying his enlightenment, he went on to tell the secret of how to reach it to other people. During his life, the Buddha showed how people should be with his own example.

How do you achieve Nirvana? The fourth Noble Truth of way tell us how. The Path of Nirvana is often divided in eight categories, The Noble Eightfold Path . It includes the concept of right understanding, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.

The Path becomes a little bit more clear if we take these eight categories and reduce them or group them together into three. Sila, or moral conduct. Samadhi, mental concentration. And Panna, or wisdom.

Well, but, what a Buddhist has to do to achieve Nirvana? First of all, you should abide basic rules of moral conduct. Why? Because otherwise you might end up coming back as a worm or a mosquito in a future life. It is very difficult to try to achieve Nirvana if you are a mosquito.

Which are the rules? No killing, no stealing, no lying, no abuse of sex and not drinking intoxicants. Pretty simple. This applies to lay people as well to monks. Monks observe other precepts and regulations, as you might expect. These rules form the Sila or moral conduct.

The next Buddhist practice is mental concentration. The term here is Samadhi, to concentrate the mind. Maybe you think that meditation is the most fundamental thing that Buddhists do, and that’s certainly true in many parts of the Buddhist tradition.

What you try to do is to situate yourself very stably, keep your back straight, and then just breath. Concentrate your attention as much as you can on that place where your breathing centers. With this you allow your thoughts in your head to simply drain out of your mind. It is a way to stop all of those distractions and all of that negative tendencies that tie you to the experience of death and rebirth.

Finally, and the most important thing you should do in Buddhism, is to cultivate wisdom. To try to know the nature of the world and to know where it is going, so you can become detached from it and begin the process that leads to Nirvana.

“Not to do any evil, to cultivate good, and to purify one’s mind. This is the teaching of the Buddha.”

To do good and to avoid evil. Every religion teaches you that. That last bit is what makes Buddhism unique: “To purify one’s mind.” That’s the Buddha speaking. You’ve got to find some way to purify the mind of ignorance and desire. Then you can really strike the root of the issues of evil and good. This is the teaching of the Buddha.

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The 4th Religion

What is Buddhism?

By Pablo Antuna

What is Buddhism? Many consider Buddhism a religion, though some deny that name, because Buddhism doesn’t teach worship of gods. They say that Buddhism is a philosophy or simply a way of life. This distinction between religion and philosophy is one that originated among Western commentators, as a distinction between the two isn’t clear in Asia, where it originated. The truth is that it has around 500 million followers according to some sources, making it the third (or 4th) largest religion (if we could call it like that) in the world.

The name Buddhism comes from the title given to Siddharta Gautama by his followers. They called him the Buddha, that means “the awakened one” or “the enlightened one”. Siddharta Gautama lived in Northern India around the year 500 BC. The exact date of his birth is not known. He was a prince of the Shakya tribe. He is known commonly throughout the Buddhist world as Shakyamuni, “the sage of the Shakya”. These are the only historical facts we have about the Buddha. To learn about his teachings and his life, we must now look at him through Buddhist eyes.

According to tradition, he lived as a prince in the palace until he reached the age of 29. His father overprotected him. He didn’t saw any kind of pain or suffering during his life in the palace. However, at that point in this life, he witnessed for the first time the misery of the human condition. He saw a sick person, an old man and a dead body. He asked his servant about that, and he said that we are all destined to suffer that.

I talk about all this because we need to understand which questions Buddhism tries to answer. The Buddha found the origin and the solution to human suffering. He said that all in life causes suffering in one way or another. Then he said that this suffering originates because we attach to things. This attachment originates because our ignorance and delusion.

Then he talked about the solution to this suffering. He said that Nirvana is the solution. Nirvana means to blow out. It’s simply the extinction of all our desires which causes our life to continue in a painful cycle. It is hard to think of Nirvana as a positive goal from a Western World point of view, but for Buddhists it is something very desirable.

So, the Buddha tried to end human suffering. He didn’t answer questions about the ultimate origin of reality or our connection with the gods, he just tried to solve a real problem he found in life. Viewing Buddhism from that perspective, it is hard to talk about it as a religion. It is more like a philosophy, or even it shares some aspects with modern psychology.

However, if we look at the way Buddhism is practiced around the world, we won’t have a doubt that we are seeing religious people making their rituals. Mahayana Buddhists changed completely the beliefs and practices of what could be considered traditional Buddhism. Some variants of the Mahayana worship celestial bodhisattvas and Buddhas. These are beings who achieved enlightenment or are advanced practitioners of the path. They have the ability to intervene in this world and save people as if they were gods.

So, Buddhism is a very complex tradition. It could be considered a religion or something else depending on the way we look at it.

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