do you believe in kharma?is the buddhist philosophy of life worth it?
and does meditation really enlighten you? i believe all that stuff cos im a buddhist 
but do you believe in kharma and meditation??
do believe that nirvana can find you salvation and that the teachings of siddartha gautama true?? We just had a post on this not so long ago;
http://www.frihost.com/forums/vt-37846.html
The mods will probably merge them.
I don't believe in karma as some sort of cosmic balance which must be kept and is somehow enforced by the universe.
I do however believe that if you are good to other people they are more likely to be nice to you. The reverse is true for being nasty. In a way I believe in karma, but my belief in karma is derrived from the principle "Treat others as you would like to be treated." If you treat others kindly, others are more likely to treat you kindly. On the other hand, if you treat people nasty, people are more likely to treat you nasty. That's the basic understanding of karma I have, and the closest thing to karma that I believe in.
I can't say that I believe, but I agree with Soulfire. I always trying to:
| Quote: |
"Treat others as you would like to be treated."
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This is for me the "Right" way of life. I dont believe in any religion, i'm just trying to make this world a better place a little 
I do.
But I think it plays out in my mind. If I am doing right things then I come to expect rewards so I tune into them. If I am doing wrong things and know this then I am looking for the "payment".
I recall in High School we had a football team and the coach used to work them really, really hard. They used to win many games at the end when the chips were down and it seemed to me that they felt they deserved the win in their hearts because of the work they put in so they would just go out and take the win. They earned it.
I don't believe in karma but being a determinism I realise that our actions however insignificant we are do have an effect on the future.
Our actions have a ripple effect, effecting the actions of others who's actions then effect the actions of others.
So in a way there is a deterministic karma, negative actions has a negative effect on society thus (since we are effected by society) can have a negative effect on you.
I believe in karma, and like Buddists I believe we may inherit karma, for good or bad, from previous lives.
As for enlightenment from meditation, I believe it can help us find answers & understanding. I'm not sure about enlightenment in the way a Buddist means it.
Heh, I agree with Soulfire in 'Treating others", and Conspirator truely gave things a whole new perspective. 
Egads! What's this world coming to??? 
I told this story online a few days ago when it happened to me at work (I was trying to kill a fly) ...
| John Molina wrote: |
| 2006 jul 07 - during a deathly intense grapple with the swift karma fly that had so cleverly avoided the drive-thru air wall, i slash my right hand on a piece of sharp, jutting decorative wall trim, causing excessive bleeding and an eventual incident report. yay. i am only glad i escaped alive, though the karma fly emerged victorious. venus fly traps, anyone? |
Yes, I do believe in a sort of karma. And I believe we need some venus fly traps at work. | bluedragon wrote: |
I told this story online a few days ago when it happened to me at work (I was trying to kill a fly) ...
| John Molina wrote: | | 2006 jul 07 - during a deathly intense grapple with the swift karma fly that had so cleverly avoided the drive-thru air wall, i slash my right hand on a piece of sharp, jutting decorative wall trim, causing excessive bleeding and an eventual incident report. yay. i am only glad i escaped alive, though the karma fly emerged victorious. venus fly traps, anyone? |
Yes, I do believe in a sort of karma. And I believe we need some venus fly traps at work. |
That's not "Karma", it's "not paying attention". 
Haha, well I forgot to mention the inside joke that a coworker and I had formerly dubbed any fly as the "KARMA FLY" because anytime we made fun of anyone, a fly would start to fly around our head and bother us. Instant Karma of sorts.
It was really funny ... and even more hilarious now because of the author of this topic.
And I find flies to be very karmatic creatures now. I've learned to respect them.
And that wall trim looks really safe, until you actually touch it to find that it's jutting out a tad and extremely sharp. Last few years I spend in spiritual growing. Buddhism is one of teaching what I study but on the end I cannot to tell you “I believe in karma”. It is too complicated to explain what happen in my mind but I thing that we haven’t free will and in this situation we haven’t karma. Of course this is my truth and it is not easy to living with this awareness. Meditation is one way how to get peace of mind what is giving to you great way to leaving your life without afraid and pains. Of course some pains will come but… Vipassana (Goenka) is one Teravada Buddhist meditation what is very powerful but this meditation is very heavy (ten days with 11 hours of meditation per day in noble silent without sex, drugs and rock & roll ).
Sonam I cannot say that I believe in the buddism ways but karma is something that I do believe in. I also believe that karma travels with you from one life to the next so that if for some reason you have a bunch of good ro bad karma built up in one life then you will get the over flow of that in the next. This overflow is the only reason I can come up with for someone who is good hearted, treats everyone really well and tries their best to be nice to everyone to always get the raw end of the deal so to speak. I am sure that most of us have heard the expression | Quote: |
| Nice guys always finish last |
or something to that effect... well have you ever thought that just maybe it had something to do with karmic overflow from a previous life?
Just a little something to think about while you maul over the whole karma issue... Kharma, to me, is what I have seen in my life. It is a simple thing really...
Kharma is your good energy you put out to the world coming back to you. I personally believe this is true. The reason why 'the nice guy always comes last' is the simple fact the world is ruled by MONEY, which really messes everything up...kharma may come back to you, but ppl don't see the signs, they are looking for kharma in money and power and all those nasty things...
I argue, what is last, and is last worst than first?
Think about what situation you would really be more happy in... When you're an old man lying on your deathbed: If you have spent life of greed and have obtained all materlistic object your heart desires, will you really be happy? "When will you learn that the only thing you don't have is the direct experience that there's nothing you need that you don't already have?" These ppl never realized this...
Where'as when you're on your deathbed, poor man, but have lived a simple life, have cared about the ppl around and seen that you have used the opportunity of life to be good, instead of bad, and you don't need anything to realize, will you be more happy, I think so...
I think it all comes down to breaking out of societie's one road perception of life, to be Altruistic, to honestly care about the ppl around you and the world you live in... to realize you don;t need anything to be happy...Give this energy to the world, and the world will bring you the perception you need to be happy...Your good energy, will make bring back kharma, and if you choose to see, will bring you a greater perception of life. I see these ppl as being buddhists...
So many words for karma. In a nutshell I think that everybody believes in this in some form or another (but often has another name for it.)
Either way, karma is something you create (or destroy) yourself.
| venus flytrap wrote: |
do you believe in kharma?is the buddhist philosophy of life worth it?
and does meditation really enlighten you? i believe all that stuff cos im a buddhist but do you believe in kharma and meditation??
do believe that nirvana can find you salvation and that the teachings of siddartha gautama true?? |
what the heck is karma | twilightmoon wrote: |
| what the heck is karma |
To put it simply, Karma is the balance of Good and evil on your soul. If you have a positive balance, your next life will be a good one. If you have a negative one, your next life will be in trying to make up for your previous one. Nirvana (in my limited knowledge) is the complete expulsion of evil from your soul, through many reincarnations.
I personally believe in what daoists call the "Dao" or "The Way" (though that doesn't do the concept justice). It is the balance of all opposites. All in balance produces harmony, in the soul and in the wolrd.
This is as simplistic as I can make it as my paticular beliefs are quite complicated. | Shike wrote: |
| twilightmoon wrote: | | what the heck is karma |
To put it simply, Karma is the balance of Good and evil on your soul. If you have a positive balance, your next life will be a good one. If you have a negative one, your next life will be in trying to make up for your previous one. Nirvana (in my limited knowledge) is the complete expulsion of evil from your soul, through many reincarnations.
I personally believe in what daoists call the "Dao" or "The Way" (though that doesn't do the concept justice). It is the balance of all opposites. All in balance produces harmony, in the soul and in the wolrd.
This is as simplistic as I can make it as my paticular beliefs are quite complicated. :) |
That’s if you believe in reincarnation. I guess most who believe in Karma might believe in reincarnation, but for those of us who do not, Karma would only play a role in how your current life plays out. I would also say I think of it more in terms of striving for more good in everything you do, not balancing with evil (no 50/50.)
So – so reincarnation and karma really go hand-in-hand then?I dont believe in buddhism and reincarnation and all that junk but I do believe in kharma to an extent. Do good things and for the most part it will come back to you in a good way. Vice versa, shitty things happen to shitty people.
| Quote: |
| shitty things happen to shitty people |
But not necessarily in this life, mores the pity. I see bad things happen to really nice people, and yet horrible ones seem to sail through life with nothing particularly bad happening to them. I find sometimes I have to be very careful not to send negative thoughts in horrible people's direction.I don't know. I never tried it, so I would never have an opinion on it.
I beleive in kharma but i believe it has more to do than
"Treat others as you would like to be treated." And from what i've read meditation lets you control your feelings/emotions and that master meditators are perfectly stable and never get angry. 
Also heard meditating is a harder alternative to doing drugs wtihout any bad consequences | GW_Addict wrote: |
| So – so reincarnation and karma really go hand-in-hand then? |
Someone please correct me if i'm wrong, but If i remember the "original" Hindu and Buddhist beliefs that yes, Kharma and Reincarnation go hand in hand. I'm not saying that that is the way it has to be, but I believe that that is the traditional view.So even if they traditionally go hand in hand, I am with djcaution in that I dont believe in buddhism and reincarnation, but do (to a limited extent) believe in Karma.
The 'lmited extent' is really becuase of the same thing that woundedhealer says - too often really bad things happen to really good people, and vice-a-versa.
Overall though I think that if your karma is good, your ability to work and live around others will be higher.
Karma is the only thing I believe in. No God, no religion for me. I believe good things will happen to you if you do good to others and bad if you do any bad to others.
I believe that the forces governing the universe, the checks and balances are more profound than what our 'modern' scientists have scope to observe and theorise on. Karma is not about good and/or bad, it's simply action-reaction, applied on a level that is not only physical. People might think that karma is not active because some 'bad' peopple are living wealthy, healthy lives. But you can never be certain what private hell that person lives in, or what might still come for them.
