03-18-2012, 12:08 AM
scout1 wrote:
The Thirty-one Planes of Existence
http://www.accesstoinsigh...f/dhamma/sagga/loka.html
The inescapable law of kamma guarantees that each and every one of our actions — whether it be of body, speech, or mind — has consequences in line with the skillfulness or unskillfulness of that action. We can often witness this process first-hand in our own lives, even if the effects may not be immediately apparent. But the Buddha also taught that our actions have effects that extend far beyond our present life, determining the quality of rebirth we can expect after death: act in wholesome, skillful ways and you are destined for a favorable rebirth; act in unwholesome, unskillful ways and an unpleasant rebirth awaits. Thus we coast for aeons through samsara, propelled from one birth to the next by the quality of our choices and our actions.
Dude, I'm goingto be unbelievably blunt here.
Karma is a program, like any other. It is a belief system that can trap you in ITSELF. The only karma that exists is in the here and now - and that is more along the lines of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Drink to much and beat your wife, and chances are something "bad" is going to happen. Not karma - just common sense.
The reason I am trying to get through to you on this is that can be your achilles heel, partially because it is such a powerful belief system that one tends to accept it as fact, when the reality is that it is every bit as fictional as the notion of being granted eternal life by believing in some guy on a gilded throne.
Believe no thing. Follow no one.
Think for yourself, and you may begin to *see*.
The Thirty-one Planes of Existence
http://www.accesstoinsigh...f/dhamma/sagga/loka.html
The inescapable law of kamma guarantees that each and every one of our actions — whether it be of body, speech, or mind — has consequences in line with the skillfulness or unskillfulness of that action. We can often witness this process first-hand in our own lives, even if the effects may not be immediately apparent. But the Buddha also taught that our actions have effects that extend far beyond our present life, determining the quality of rebirth we can expect after death: act in wholesome, skillful ways and you are destined for a favorable rebirth; act in unwholesome, unskillful ways and an unpleasant rebirth awaits. Thus we coast for aeons through samsara, propelled from one birth to the next by the quality of our choices and our actions.
Dude, I'm goingto be unbelievably blunt here.
Karma is a program, like any other. It is a belief system that can trap you in ITSELF. The only karma that exists is in the here and now - and that is more along the lines of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Drink to much and beat your wife, and chances are something "bad" is going to happen. Not karma - just common sense.
The reason I am trying to get through to you on this is that can be your achilles heel, partially because it is such a powerful belief system that one tends to accept it as fact, when the reality is that it is every bit as fictional as the notion of being granted eternal life by believing in some guy on a gilded throne.
Believe no thing. Follow no one.
Think for yourself, and you may begin to *see*.