Does karma really exist? Is it actually real?

a reply to: 5letters

I'm asking you folks a simple question........is karma real?

A simple answer: no, it isn't.

a reply to: 5letters

There is a verse in Ezekiel that basically says that one sows to the wind but reaps of the whirlwind. Which is an analogue that one may plant a seed but when that seed comes to bear fruit good or bad you reap the whole plant. Another way of saying it is you plant a single seed and the plant that sprouts out of that seed has more fruit that each has it’s own seed. Like an ear of corn, plant one seed and reap a whole plant with many ears of corn with many seeds. Basically it’s you reap what you sow but many time more wither it is good or bad.

What people refer to as "Karma" simply refers to "Cause and Effect". When it occurs It's scientific, not spiritual. (imho)

a reply to: 3NL1GHT3N3D1

Understood my friend. And I wasnt pushing the GOD agenda....in fact just trying to use it as what may have been a not so great example.

thanks!

a reply to: yourmaker

Then why do bad things happen to children?

Rebirth, of course. They're paying for the sins they committed in their past lives.

That, at least, is the theory, as believed by hundreds of millions of Hindus and Buddhists around the world.

All religions, even essentially atheistic ones like Buddhism, demand faith in something.

You do good things, bad things can happen. You do bad things, good things can happen. Really pretty random. So, like the caste system that was shunned by buddhism, the karma idea is rather bunk or dukkha as well, at least in the way many seem to see it. People seem for one to apply elementary morality, or a heavy emphasis on "good" and "bad", when really its amoral and outside of that stuff. Any determination of "good" or "bad" first has to be done by "you", which buddhism says "anatta", not self.

Thing is there is more cultural interpretations of buddhism than even christianity. So good luck making any headway when there's a tower of babel thing going on.

"It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is".

What was the "first?" thing that we did to create "karma" - there was a time before we did anything "wrong" and then all of a sudden we did, and now, we all have this "karma".

Why exactly did we do these "wrong" things, and importantly, whom defined that they were "wrong" - whom made us perceive and experience reality in such a way that certain actions equate to suffering and certain actions equate to benefits?

The answer is that "Karma" is a form of "judgement" in the form of a universal "law" and "Heaven and Hell" is a form of judgement by a creator "God" that has the power to dictate the fate of our souls.

"Karma" is really quite a scary concept, however, if all is "Karma" what about things that are totally different? What about events that happen purely by chance? If nothing did not happen spontaneously, then all would be based on a perpetual law that is somehow "universal".

The truth is that accidents happen and they can be good or bad depending upon how you experience them, and the fact that horrible accidents occur and that we cannot really do anything about them requires us to find a "reason" - and this reason is "karma".

"Oh I tripped and broke my ankle, it must be my 'karma'"

... As opposed to the fact that you were distracted and were not looking where you were walking...

In this sense, "karma" justifies ones experience of life, and it also contains a reason to do "good" things because there are consequences for "bad" things - the basis of morality. If you question why karma exists, as mentioned, you will hit a brick wall and receive the answer that it is some kind of universal law that even "God" can't change.

Why is it a "universal law" - because of action and reaction, apparently.

I say, if an action leads to an unpredictable reaction, then new things can happen. If all actions have reactions, then they all cancel themselves out and in this sense there would be not reality.

How to they combat this? Easy - you experience this state of "non-reactivity" when you attain "enlightenment" - the truth to all existence.

Now what? Who created you to be the way you are?

Their answer - we are all "God".

Why choose their belief system? Because, you reject the God that willed you to exist yet still want to have spiritual beliefs.

The clincher?

It implies that my mother and father did not create me - I "incarnated" and had "past lives".

Wait a second - if we are all "co-creators" why on Earth can't I create a child from scratch, with no past lives?

Their answer is obviously - "No".

I find that highly disagreeable, and for that reason in particular I reject "karma" and "reincarnation" as they would see it.