|
Message |
| Posted By: |
UT |
| Date: |
28-May-2001-23:56:16 |
| Subject: |
Karma |
Very liberating concept, once you get into the nitty-gritty of it.
This weekend, just for the heck of it, I attended a seminar taught by an ex-Catholic, ex-feminist, ex-activist Tibetan Buddhist nun from the Mahayana tradition. It was fascinating in that she was very dogmatic, spouting the traditional teachings verbatim, convinced that every word was true and that it would be adharma to change even one word. Which, when you think about it, is kinda cool because you *get* the real teachings, without having them colored by someone's personality.
So one of the cool things I got about karma is that if you really get down to what it implies, it is completely antithetical to the notion of an external God who can interfere with life. According to the Mahayana view, there has never *been* a Creation, therefore there is no need or room for a Creator. It's just an automatic operating system that has been going on forever and will keep on going on forever. Devas and "higher beings" and the like are considered possible, but they are just as subject to karma as you are. I like this, personally.
The other bit that really resonated with me is that if you really understand the Mahayana view of karma, there is simply no way you can blame anyone for anything bad that happens to you. You did it ALL, via seeds of karma that you planted earlier. The other people or events are just the delivery mechanism.
Both concepts, once I thought about them, were very liberating for me. I mean, if there *was* the possibility of an outside God who could fuck with you, there would be nothing you could do about it. If there *was* the possibility that the other humans around you could do anything to you that you didn't deserve and had not set up yourself by actions in the past, again there would be nothing you could do about it. In both cases, you would be a total victim.
But if you dig karma and understand that since you caused it you can change it by generating positive karma, there is simply nothing that happens to you that you cannot turn to your advantage and use as a mechanism for a better life. Cool. Amazing what you can learn from even the most dogmatic teacher if you're just weird enough... :-)
|
The messages posted hear are those of the specific individual and may not represent the policies of Lila Publishing, the ideas of any other member of this bulletin board community or the teachings of Dr. Frederick Lenz. All copyrights are maintained by respective contributors and may not be reused without permission. By posting on this board you grant Lila Publishing a non-exclusive royalty free license under your copyright to use, store, display and reproduce your messages in whole or in part. All site assets, including these Perl scripts copyright © 1999-2002 Lila Publishing. These Perl scripts may not be directly linked to.
|
Communication Center - Version 3.50
© 1999-2002 Lila Publishing
|
