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**Bounce** · 01-06-2012, 04:33 PM

Hi Kaarine,

I have some questions in response to your post that I am curious about, if you don't mind...

I can understand that you would not believe in an omnipotent God as a Buddhist. However, I cannot help but wonder why you do not accept the concept of kammic fate.

Hi Yuan,

Kaarine is in a different time zone and has gone to bed.

Kamma isn't some kind of cosmic punishment system and it certainly doesn't mean that people are born disabled because they did something bad in a past life.

The Buddha said kamma is intention. Obviously if someone does something unskilful with a negative intention then they might have a lot of mental suffering later - and also other results may vary and be negative too. The Buddha, however, said that the results of kamma were unconjecturable and that speculation about them would bring "madness and vexation"(AN4.77: Acintita Sutta):

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipit....077.than.html

Ken McLeods articles on Karma may be of interest to Mayahana practitioners :

What Is Karma?

The Karma Series: What Is Karma? | Karma and Growth | Karma Doesn’t Explain Anything

"Karma is one of the most misunderstood concepts in Buddhism. The misunderstandings are unfortunate because the principle of karma is crucially important for our understanding of why we practice and what happens when we practice. In this series, I will try to correct a number of these misconceptions. The first misconception on my list is the notion that karma means cause and effect.

Karma isn’t cause and effect

The confusion of karma with the law of cause and effect has two sources, cultural differences and translation difficulties."

continued :

http://www.unfetteredmind.org/karma-genesis-conditions

Finally, from Ajahn Sumedho of the Theravada Forest tradition :

"So is kamma something you have to believe in to be a Buddhist ? I've heard Buddhists say that to be a Buddhist you have to believe in the law of kamma and rebirth. But I've never felt that that was ever an expectation.

The thing that attracted me to Buddhism was that you didn't have to believe in anything. You didn't need to take positions. But these are terms that are used.

So what is kamma now, rebirth now? Always bringing attention to the here and now rather than deciding whether you believe in the concepts or not. The concepts are just conditions, words."

(The Sound of Silence)

01-06-2012, 04:33 PM	#14
Bounce Join Date Oct 2005 Age 55 Posts 400 Senior Member	Hi Kaarine, I have some questions in response to your post that I am curious about, if you don't mind... I can understand that you would not believe in an omnipotent God as a Buddhist. However, I cannot help but wonder why you do not accept the concept of kammic fate. Hi Yuan, Kaarine is in a different time zone and has gone to bed. Kamma isn't some kind of cosmic punishment system and it certainly doesn't mean that people are born disabled because they did something bad in a past life. The Buddha said kamma is intention. Obviously if someone does something unskilful with a negative intention then they might have a lot of mental suffering later - and also other results may vary and be negative too. The Buddha, however, said that the results of kamma were unconjecturable and that speculation about them would bring "madness and vexation"(AN4.77: Acintita Sutta): http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipit....077.than.html Ken McLeods articles on Karma may be of interest to Mayahana practitioners : What Is Karma? The Karma Series: What Is Karma? \| Karma and Growth \| Karma Doesn’t Explain Anything "Karma is one of the most misunderstood concepts in Buddhism. The misunderstandings are unfortunate because the principle of karma is crucially important for our understanding of why we practice and what happens when we practice. In this series, I will try to correct a number of these misconceptions. The first misconception on my list is the notion that karma means cause and effect. Karma isn’t cause and effect The confusion of karma with the law of cause and effect has two sources, cultural differences and translation difficulties." continued : http://www.unfetteredmind.org/karma-genesis-conditions Finally, from Ajahn Sumedho of the Theravada Forest tradition : "So is kamma something you have to believe in to be a Buddhist ? I've heard Buddhists say that to be a Buddhist you have to believe in the law of kamma and rebirth. But I've never felt that that was ever an expectation. The thing that attracted me to Buddhism was that you didn't have to believe in anything. You didn't need to take positions. But these are terms that are used. So what is kamma now, rebirth now? Always bringing attention to the here and now rather than deciding whether you believe in the concepts or not. The concepts are just conditions, words." (The Sound of Silence)
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