DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post - Your views on the subject of kamma/karma?

**Drugsonl** · 11-04-2010, 04:09 PM

It would be good if there were some alternative translations on it.

Yes it would.

I was looking at Ajahn Sumedho's book "The Mind and the Way" some of which is available to read at Google Books - and thought I'd quote a little of what he said about kamma in Chapter 5 (page 49) "Kamma and Rebirth" :

"We can speculate about kamma and rebirth, but all we can know directly is whether we believe in these concepts,whether we don’t believe in them, or whether we just don’t know. Rather than speculating about kamma and rebirth, I suggest that we study them in practical situations, investigate them in the present moment.

The Results of Birth

Sometimes people ask me why things happen the way they do. For instance they might say “I know this person was good all her life. She never did anything wrong. She worked hard and was self-sacrificing. But she died in agony, of a terrible cancer. What did she do to deserve that terrible pain?”

They want me to say “Well maybe in a previous life she did something nasty and she’s paying for it in this life.” That’s a popular explanation of how kamma works, but its only speculation. What we can say about this woman’s experience is this : “ It happened because she was born. If she hadn’t been born, she wouldn’t have gotten sick, and she wouldn’t have died.“

Why do we have the problems we have? Why do we have sorrow, pain, despair, grief and anguish ? We have problems because we were born. Birth conditions them all, everything, until death. If we had not been born, we wouldn’t have any of these problems. This is what is meant by kamma, and when you recognise this, you’re no longer surprised by anything that happens to you.

Continued:

http://books.google.com/books?id=Ux8...o&source=bl&ot

11-04-2010, 04:09 PM	#33
Drugsonl Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 531 Senior Member	It would be good if there were some alternative translations on it. Yes it would. I was looking at Ajahn Sumedho's book "The Mind and the Way" some of which is available to read at Google Books - and thought I'd quote a little of what he said about kamma in Chapter 5 (page 49) "Kamma and Rebirth" : "We can speculate about kamma and rebirth, but all we can know directly is whether we believe in these concepts,whether we don’t believe in them, or whether we just don’t know. Rather than speculating about kamma and rebirth, I suggest that we study them in practical situations, investigate them in the present moment. The Results of Birth Sometimes people ask me why things happen the way they do. For instance they might say “I know this person was good all her life. She never did anything wrong. She worked hard and was self-sacrificing. But she died in agony, of a terrible cancer. What did she do to deserve that terrible pain?” They want me to say “Well maybe in a previous life she did something nasty and she’s paying for it in this life.” That’s a popular explanation of how kamma works, but its only speculation. What we can say about this woman’s experience is this : “ It happened because she was born. If she hadn’t been born, she wouldn’t have gotten sick, and she wouldn’t have died.“ Why do we have the problems we have? Why do we have sorrow, pain, despair, grief and anguish ? We have problems because we were born. Birth conditions them all, everything, until death. If we had not been born, we wouldn’t have any of these problems. This is what is meant by kamma, and when you recognise this, you’re no longer surprised by anything that happens to you. Continued: http://books.google.com/books?id=Ux8...o&source=bl&ot
	Quote