Do you?

[user 188522]

Do you believe in Karma?

I would like to believe it is real.

 

[M_also_lonely]

Depends on its meaning.

 

[randomguy]

The karma, dharma and samsara of most Indian religion's? Yeah there may be something in it.

The culturally appropriated western world's version? Nah.

 

[Rohini]

Yes. In the branch of Theravada Buddhism sense.. not anyone's else "branch" of it..

"'I am the owner of my actions (kamma), heir to my actions, born of my actions, related through my actions, and have my actions as my arbitrator. Whatever I do, for good or for evil, to that will I fall heir'..."

 

[Claudia1794]

I believe that if something happens to me because of a choice I made then that something is what I get. I also believe that if something happens to me because of someone else's choice then that something is what I get but I will have a hand in giving back what I get. It may or may not be a good thing, vengeful, but it is how I am and I don't plan on changing. I also believe that there are way too many people running around spouting things they don't fully understand. Im mainly talking about some, not all, some "christians"

 

[Rohini]

Im mainly talking about some, not all, some "christians

Christian's - in name only... there's some of that for every religion..unfortunately..
There's a lot of Buddhist monks that are monks in name only. They follow no precepts ..and have turned to monastic life for the free ride it gives them

 

[NoxApex(N/A)]

Milarepa spent the majority of his life in karmic penance, which is something I find inspiring.
Rather Milarepa was historical or purely mythical for the sake of the testament to acceptance and repentance is still uncertain...but in either instance, it is more forgiving than the approach of the black and white, yes and no dichotomy of Western understandings of the exact same offenses of violence and murder.

What this means of Buddhist praxeology is that the mind is naturally wild, and will only ever continue to be as such until a person begins to explore the depths of themselves, both the lighter and darker aspects of their persona.

It is a more practical approach, as one cannot defend themselves from the evils within themselves until one knows what evils are within them that they are capable of. Of Karma, it is this wildness of the untamed mind that makes us feel guilt for our wrongdoings after we have done them, as well as the great confusion and bewilderment we experience in that difficult retrospect.

Buddhism, does not fault people for not knowing themselves, is the lesson and the point.
But it DOES however, fault them for the actions that they took and the damages that they caused during the time of their wildness whilst blind unto themselves. This is actually a central core of what makes Buddhist philosophy also a practice. You have to actually be actively engaged with exploring your own inner workings through introspection. A Guru is strongly suggested to help guide you for this, because if you are not used to intentionally navigating your innermost psyche you will certainly experience a great deal of many things about yourself that you will have trouble trying to understand. The other part of the reason why a Guru is suggested is that in this great confusion it becomes difficult to describe feeling and separate it from the understanding of a call to action. --A person might express feelings of anger and resentment against someone that they love, and express a strong desire for revenge, but they do not act upon it because the consequences for doing so are self-detrimental, rather than self-beneficial, even though it appears the other way around.

That's what makes Buddhist philosophy so interesting to study:
It's a bit like finding out the reason you're not getting anywhere while trying to dig is because you've been holding the shovel upside down for years, and then you have a good hearty laugh at the silliness of it.

 

[Rohini]

Milarepa spent the majority of his life in karmic penance, which is something I find inspiring.
Rather Milarepa was historical or purely mythical for the sake of the testament to acceptance and repentance is still uncertain...but in either instance, it is more forgiving than the approach of the black and white, yes and no dichotomy of Western understandings of the exact same offenses of violence and murder.

What this means of Buddhist praxeology is that the mind is naturally wild, and will only ever continue to be as such until a person begins to explore the depths of themselves, both the lighter and darker aspects of their persona.

It is a more practical approach, as one cannot defend themselves from the evils within themselves until one knows what evils are within them that they are capable of. Of Karma, it is this wildness of the untamed mind that makes us feel guilt for our wrongdoings after we have done them, as well as the great confusion and bewilderment we experience in that difficult retrospect.

Buddhism, does not fault people for not knowing themselves, is the lesson and the point.
But it DOES however, fault them for the actions that they took and the damages that they caused during the time of their wildness whilst blind unto themselves. This is actually a central core of what makes Buddhist philosophy also a practice. You have to actually be actively engaged with exploring your own inner workings through introspection. A Guru is strongly suggested to help guide you for this, because if you are not used to intentionally navigating your innermost psyche you will certainly experience a great deal of many things about yourself that you will have trouble trying to understand. The other part of the reason why a Guru is suggested is that in this great confusion it becomes difficult to describe feeling and separate it from the understanding of a call to action. --A person might express feelings of anger and resentment against someone that they love, and express a strong desire for revenge, but they do not act upon it because the consequences for doing so are self-detrimental, rather than self-beneficial, even though it appears the other way around.

That's what makes Buddhist philosophy so interesting to study:
It's a bit like finding out the reason you're not getting anywhere while trying to dig is because you've been holding the shovel upside down for years, and then you have a good hearty laugh at the silliness of it.

You may be the only one here who understood my username, lol.

 

[user 164061]

You may be the only one here who understood my username, lol.

I thought you owned 3 jewels and wanted to brag about it

 

[Finished]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Jewels_and_Three_Roots

 

[Sfgiantslover]

Do you believe in Karma?

I would like to believe it is real.

Maybe

 

[Finished]

Do you believe in Karma?

I would like to believe it is real.

It seems to be real. But, I think a lot of it is perceived wrong = self punishment. That's why I like to tell people that Karma is a ***** when they do bad stuff. I say, I bet such and such is going to happen to you because of what you did. It plants the idea in their brain. Then they make it happen.

 

[NoxApex(N/A)]

You may be the only one here who understood my username, lol.

There have been a couple people who've come and gone that study Buddhism here.
Anthropological studies is kind of a general hobby of mine.
Hinduism is something I got into quite a bit more recently, like within the last probably 6 or 7 years or so.
Largely because I found the immense size and complexity of it intimidating.
I spent roughly 12 years or so studying Assyriology, reached my comfort zone on the subject and moved on to Hinduism which lead to Buddhism and Agamic studies.

There's a certain practicality to Indian and Tibetan studies that I found that helped bring me a great deal of much needed peace and I kind of fell in love with the giant and mysterious world of it all. I used to talk to an engineering major from Mumbai, and a history buff from down in Kerala, and I asked them more or less "Well, okay, so, what do you guys study?" And they said: "Ancient China." So I started trying to do a little research with that and found that they were right, that's its own difficulty. So I just decided to keep sticking with the Tibetan plateau, Tamilnadu and Indian studies. I'm by no means an expert on it, Hell I feel like I'm still just getting started.

 

[Rohini]

I fell into Buddhism a long time ago..
read a lot on Tibetan Buddhism, still have many, many books on Mahayana... then there was Zen - where I found Thich Nhat Hanh - still one of the greatest souls I've ever heard talk (RIP) It was through him that I plunged deeper into Buddhism. There was a calming maternal, nurturing demeanor to him - The kind of teacher I'd be proud to have, if I had got to meet him or become one of his students.

...to then falling into Theravada - the oldest branch most "traditional" to the words of the words Lord Buddha spoke. the other monks from different branches rarely ever quote the Sutras. If anyone is interested in really learning what Buddha spoke, I'd recommend getting atleast one book from the Pali Canon. Bhikku Bodhi also is another one who has done a lot of the translations that we now read. He was ordained in the Mahayana order but then became a Theravada Bhikku. The discourses aren't that hard to find, I had to order them from a Indian site years ago..

Mahasi Sayadaw - burmese bhikku is another who I learned a lot from..

I read a lot on Hinduism before Buddhism so it sort of transpired this way.. one thing leading another.. I also picked up Vedic Astrology 7 or so years ago now. I started learning that when I really wanted answers. I've discovered a lot about myself and others through it. The dynamics between yourself and those closest to you can be easily interpreted by looking into your nakshatras in your chart. The 27 lunar mansions behind each sign. they really pin-point everything down. Anyway..

Like that saying.. "it was written in the stars above.."

 

[Azariah]

Karma...

What goes around comes around.

Sometimes it comes around longer than you expect... even testing your patience. You do good deeds expecting good to come back so soon, but it takes longer to the point you think it won't come at all... but it does come.

 

[TheRealCallie]

Not really. I think all your actions have consequences of some sort, but not in a "grand design" type of why.

 

[user 188685]

yes I absolutely do,if someone treats you wrong and does you wrong they get what they deserve to happen to them.

 

[KimP]

Not so far as I understand it (which is limited).

 

[Forgottendanfan]

As Callie said earlier, I believe in small-scale, everyday life "karma" of sorts, but not the type of Karma preached within Buddhist and Hindu laws.

 

[user 139760]

No, I don't. Not even remotely.
Be a lot more dead people on the planet if there was such a thing.
Only karma there is, is the one you make happen.