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Buddhism has a lifespan of 5000 years
- Thread starter hairylee
- Start date
Partly yes and partly no.
Yes, because memories and latent potential kamma are passed along from this wave to the next wave.
No, because this wave and the next wave are two different waves, just like you are so different now from what you were at 10 years old, both physically and mentally.
And there is only a limited time in our lives where past memories are recalled actively, usually childhood time up to 8-10 years old. As the child becomes more and more occupied with this present life, these past memories are gradually forgotten. This explains why young children sometimes have horrible nightmares. They may be recalling very unpleasant circumstances surrounding their death in a previous life.
Irony of life: If birth were to be celebrated, why do every baby come out of the womb crying?
Answer: Because birth is unpleasant = undesirable = suffering = certain and sure death, sorrow and lamentation in the future.
karma is not real. good things and bad things always happen. to say one causes the other is pointless.many people believe that karma is just an explainable action that is a production of your mind, making you feel guilt for what you have done karma can be very easily dismissed as coincidence. to summarise a long introduction to a short one, Karma isn't real, all chance, if Karma were real, the world wouldn't be in the state it is now. how do you know that its real, and not just coincidence? 
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Theres nobody in the world who has 'nothing' bad happen to them ..
THE LAW OF KARMA PROVIDES A GOOD DEAL OF COMFORT. IT ASSUMES THAT THE UNIVERSE IS A FAIR PLACE. IT TELLS US THAT EVIL PEOPLE AND GOOD PEOPLE WILL EVENTUALLY GET WHAT THEY DESERVE. HOWEVER I FIND TWO FLAWS.
1)THE GOAL OF LIFE ACCORDING TO THIS ANCIENT BELIEF IS TO ESCAPE SAMSARA WHICH MEANS REBIRTH. THIS MEANS THAT WE ARE HERE BECAUSE OF PAST EVIL DOINGS THEREFORE WE MUST SUFFER TO PAY FOR THOSE EVIL DOINGS. NO MATTER WHAT THIS STRIPS US OF FREE WILL AND WITHOUT FREE WILL HOW CAN WE CHOOSE TO DO GOOD OR EVIL.
2)I BELIEVE TO MAINTAIN THE BALANCE OF THE UNIVERSE IF WE MUST RETURN TO ENDURE PAST EVIL DOINGS WE MUST ALSO RETURN TO BE REWARDED FOR DOING GOOD. SO I ASK IF WE DO EVIL WE MUST RETURN AND IF WE DO GOOD WE MUST STILL RETURN, THEN HOW CAN WE POSSIBLY ESCAPE REBIRTH?
Karma cannot be real, based on the fact that you'd have to know what right and wrong are. animals are a good example to disprove karma because animals do not know what right or wrong is, only humans develop this "right or wrong" concept and in the religions where Karma is an important concept, there is also rebirth and if you are reborn as something other than a human, you're fucked. Karma is supposedly supposed to apply to all living things, and if humans are the only ones able to grasp right and wrong, it's obviously false.
I dont believe in karma. and heres why- say in one life your a corrupt billionaire and you've done all these horrible things to people. in your next life your a beggar on the side of the street. and say i go walking by this beggar, and he begs me for change, and i feel aversion and dont give him any. i get bad karma now. but that beggar deserves what hes getting. i think that karma is too simple to be applied to such a confusing, overlapping world.
THE LAW OF KARMA PROVIDES A GOOD DEAL OF COMFORT. IT ASSUMES THAT THE UNIVERSE IS A FAIR PLACE. IT TELLS US THAT EVIL PEOPLE AND GOOD PEOPLE WILL EVENTUALLY GET WHAT THEY DESERVE. HOWEVER I FIND TWO FLAWS.
1)THE GOAL OF LIFE ACCORDING TO THIS ANCIENT BELIEF IS TO ESCAPE SAMSARA WHICH MEANS REBIRTH. THIS MEANS THAT WE ARE HERE BECAUSE OF PAST EVIL DOINGS THEREFORE WE MUST SUFFER TO PAY FOR THOSE EVIL DOINGS. NO MATTER WHAT THIS STRIPS US OF FREE WILL AND WITHOUT FREE WILL HOW CAN WE CHOOSE TO DO GOOD OR EVIL.
2)I BELIEVE TO MAINTAIN THE BALANCE OF THE UNIVERSE IF WE MUST RETURN TO ENDURE PAST EVIL DOINGS WE MUST ALSO RETURN TO BE REWARDED FOR DOING GOOD. SO I ASK IF WE DO EVIL WE MUST RETURN AND IF WE DO GOOD WE MUST STILL RETURN, THEN HOW CAN WE POSSIBLY ESCAPE REBIRTH?
Karma cannot be real, based on the fact that you'd have to know what right and wrong are. animals are a good example to disprove karma because animals do not know what right or wrong is, only humans develop this "right or wrong" concept and in the religions where Karma is an important concept, there is also rebirth and if you are reborn as something other than a human, you're fucked. Karma is supposedly supposed to apply to all living things, and if humans are the only ones able to grasp right and wrong, it's obviously false.
I dont believe in karma. and heres why- say in one life your a corrupt billionaire and you've done all these horrible things to people. in your next life your a beggar on the side of the street. and say i go walking by this beggar, and he begs me for change, and i feel aversion and dont give him any. i get bad karma now. but that beggar deserves what hes getting. i think that karma is too simple to be applied to such a confusing, overlapping world.
A person having a hallucination about second life thinks it is a real experience....
karma is not real. good things and bad things always happen. to say one causes the other is pointless.many people believe that karma is just an explainable action that is a production of your mind, making you feel guilt for what you have done karma can be very easily dismissed as coincidence. to summarise a long introduction to a short one, . how do you know that its real, and not just coincidence?
can you explain " Karma isn't real, all chance, if Karma were real, the world wouldn't be in the state it is now " ?
are you saying the world is in this current state because it is all by chance ?
There are people inside and outside the casino who feel that their life are ruled by chance or randomness. Let them be... one day, they may understand the bigger picture, until then, let them bump around here and there thinking that oh, Mother Nature is just pure luck, nothing more, nothing less.
What's ironical is that while they resist the mechanics of Karma with their might and will, consciously AND unconsciously, they still embrace Karma, eg. they work to get their bills paid, they drink water when they are thirsty, they eat because they are hunger and a trillion and one examples. Anticipating a typical response from that camp, well, they will turn around and say, those are mundane examples and that's how Nature works. Precisely.
2+2= 4 .....3+1 can also be 4
. whats make you think only 2+2 can = 4 ? There is nothing so interesting as toppling icons and the windmill i want to tilt at today is Karma.
karma is the "cosmic dope slap" born of the belief that all of the universe is cause and effect.
another factor that influences people to believe in Karma is they find it almost impossible to justify why bad things happen to good people and why bad people seem to be the ones who get rich, get laid and get even.
add to the mix an upbringing of fear and guilt and just about anyone will find themselves longing for a universe in which karma is the rule like it were a life raft for our sanity.
the fact is that with all of that behind us karma is the glue we use to not go crazy and admit what seems to obvious:
1) some people do get away with murder.
2) some children suffer for no reason.
3) the guys who go after what they want, sometimes at the cost of others, often are the ones who get rich, get laid and get even.
as an exercise in mental flexibility (and some would say blasphemy) let's examine the karma myth with a very critical eye. if this makes you too uncomfortable you're encouraged to stop reading ant try to forget anything that is written here.
argument 1 - Time
among the questions i want to pose are "Is ALL the universe limited to cause and effect?"
the answer on one level is yes. On another level the answer is not so clear. why? Because cause and effect is a result of the awareness of time (i.e., cause is followed by effect) and none of that can make sense woen time is removed from the equation.
a clearer picture of this argument emerges when we recognize that time itself is perceived only by the nervous system and the nervous system is a result of having a body. absent of the body and nervous system there is no ability to perceive time. without time there is no more cause and effect and
it is possible to experience everything as a single event.
on this "higher" perception absent the creation of time and therefore cause and effect and the concept of karma is completely absent.
argument 2 - Good and Evil
the belief in Good and Evil is a central support pillar for the karma myth. If someone does something that we judge as bad we want to know that we are compensated by them "having bad karma". of course this does not address the fact that they believe they are doing good and that they will be rewarded for their good acts with good Karma.
the absolute of Good and Evil we find is much more subjective than we want to believe.
argument 3 - the origin
just because you read it in a book or heard it from your parents or religious leader does not make it true... unless of course you have been trained to never question authority.
argument 4 - benefits
as much as one MIGHT think that believing in Karma is good there are reasons that believing the opposite is just as good. Shocking thought, isn't it, but who likes to be motivated by fear to do the "right" thing?
argument 5 - The Intention
why would someone create Karma? One reason is to control people to do the right thing out of fear. There are other reasons if you think about them.
argument 6 - Counter Evidence
as much as you hear about the bad guys that get caught how many never get caught? some? many? most?
on that note bad things happen to good people and bad people often prosper. we fall back on the INVISIBLE karma as a way of hoping that things end up right.
so what does a person do without the "Karma crutch" to guide their actions?
the answers are many.
1) One could as as if Karma were real to guide their actions.
2) One could do whatever they damn well want to do.
3) One could do whatever they damn well want but do it with the awareness that a portion of their life *is* living in the cause and effect world and if they do something illegal it is likely to have some consequences. This does not prove the existence of Karma just the need to do some good planning.
the absence of Karma could be liberating or a burden. It can liberate one to live free of guilt and fear but it can burden one with REAL responsibility , the responsibility to be 100% in control of their life
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2+2= 4 .....3+1 can also be 4
2+2=4
3+1=4
:
:
X+Y=4, where there are infinite values of X & Y
Precisely.
2+2=4
3+1=4
:
:
X+Y=4, where there are infinite values of X & Y
Precisely.
im not talking about infinite values here ( dont twist my pont
) ...my point is what makes you think that the action you done will result in karma and not coincidence ?
im not talking about infinite values here ( dont twist my pont
You may understand, one day...
the best part is those ppl who believe in karma also believe in fate ....
Both fate and karma cannot be real at the same time because they are opposites of one another. fate means that all that happens in your life is already pre-ordained, they cannot be changed no matter what. karma on the other hand refers to your actions in this life and how they will have consequences in the future or in future lives. if you do what is right( not sinning) then you have done your karma and can expect nirvana ( according to the buddist ). Nirvana refers to the release from the endless cycle of birth and death to which the human soul is chained. fate is like a one way street where you cant turn even if you want to. karma gives you a chance to decide what you want to make of your lives to come. now start to think about your faith
Both fate and karma cannot be real at the same time because they are opposites of one another. fate means that all that happens in your life is already pre-ordained, they cannot be changed no matter what. karma on the other hand refers to your actions in this life and how they will have consequences in the future or in future lives. if you do what is right( not sinning) then you have done your karma and can expect nirvana ( according to the buddist ). Nirvana refers to the release from the endless cycle of birth and death to which the human soul is chained. fate is like a one way street where you cant turn even if you want to. karma gives you a chance to decide what you want to make of your lives to come. now start to think about your faith
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