PRINCIPLE OF KARMA
(Compiled by N. R. Srinivasan for a Discourse at Sri Ganesha Temple)
The only way out of karma is self-discovery. What is this karma thing… Is it destiny? Is it a punishment for past transgressions? Is it a reward for past merits? Who is doling out the reward or the punishment? It is none of the above actually but it can be a bit difficult to understand. In the west, because of our religious heritage, we see karma in the same way we see God, doling out punishment and reward. In other words, it is seen as an ethical or moral enforcement, carrot and stick. For that reason people are busy trying to avoid bad karma and trying to accumulate good karma.
The mission of spirituality is not getting all the good karma and avoiding the bad but stepping out of karma altogether. The Smoke & Mirrors of Materialistic Desires. There is no karma for the true self… that is, the true you! Karma belongs to the realm of the unconscious, conditioned mind. If is a mindless energy, grinding along. It is like a spaceship moving through space. It will remain forever on that same trajectory unless and until something bumps it off into a new direction. That bump can come from some unexpected event or it can come from a conscious awakening. Join Lisa Berry and Master Spiritual Teacher GP Walsh when they explore this profound but little understood phenomenon controversial on this week’s Flow of Enlightenment.
“As you sow, so shall you reap” is a common phrase in life which concisely sums up the law of karma. Karma is the universal Hindu law of cause and effect which holds a person responsible for his or her actions and effects. According to one’s good or bad actions, Bhagawan rewards or punishes. The word ‘karma’ means human action or deed; we are constantly performing karmas whether physically, mentally, or emotionally. A person’s karma is responsible for good or bad consequences in his or her life. Nothing in this world happens accidentally or coincidentally; there is a reason behind everything though it may not be clear to us at that time. Good actions produce happiness and bad actions lead to suffering and misery in the present or next life. A person’s past actions govern his present, and his present actions have an effect on his future. This means that every person is, to a certain degree, the creator of his own destiny.
All of our karmas are performed in one of two ways. The first way is called nishkãm karma, when actions are performed without any expectation of material gain, ego, or material desires. Nishkãm karmas are only performed to fulfill one’s duties and please God. The second way is called sakãm karma, when actions are performed with an expectation of material desire or purpose. Bhagwan Swaminarayan taught the ideal of performing one’s karmas without the expectation of material gain. He stressed the need for an aspirant to have one desire – to please God even while performing nishkãm karma.
In Hindu Dharma there are 3 types of karmasery moment. The fruits of these karmas can be attained in this life, the next, or after many births.
:
- Kriyamãn karma are karmas being acquired every moment. The fruits of these karmas can be attained in this life, the next, or after many births.
- Sanchit karma is an accumulation of karmas containing the sum total of all a person’s karmas from one or many past lives. The fruits of these karmas are being experienced or have yet to be experienced.
- Prãrabdha karma is a part of one’s sanchit karma that is being experienced in this birth. For example, the attributes and conditions of one’s physical body and mental capacities are due to one’s prãrabdha karmas.
Dharma
Dharma is the very foundation of life. It is moral law combined with spiritual discipline that guides one's life. Dharma means ‘that which holds,’ i.e., the people of this world and the whole of creation cannot exist without dharma to hold them in place. Dharma is an all-inclusive term used to mean righteousness, morality, religion, responsibility, and duty. Dharma includes the practice of religious disciplines and duties, such as honesty, Brahmacharya, and non-violence. The purpose of dharma is not only to help one’s jiva come closer with Bhagawan, but it also suggests a code of conduct that is intended to secure both worldly joys and eternal bliss. The practice of dharma gives an experience of happiness, strength, and tranquility within one's self and makes life disciplined.
“Karma is misunderstood, Good Karma does not give you material rewards but association with Gurus, and Shastras that lead you to Moksha. Bad Karma destroys your inner peace, darkens the mind and makes you more attached to the mortal body and material world”-David Frawley
Karma also refers to a conceptual principle
that originated in India, often descriptively called the principle of
karma, and sometimes the karma theory or the law
of karma.
In the context of theory, karma is
complex and difficult to define. Different schools of Indology derive different definitions for
the concept from ancient Indian texts; their definition is some combination of
(1) causality that may be ethical or
non-ethical; (2) ethicization, i.e., good or bad actions have consequences; and
(3) rebirth. Other Indologists include in the
definition that which explains the present circumstances of an individual with
reference to his or her actions in past. These actions may be those in a
person's current life, or, in some schools of Indian traditions, possibly
actions in their past.
The law of karma operates independent of
any deity or any process of divine judgment. lives.[12] 6] A Common between karma and causality is a
central motif in all schools of Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain thought One of the earliest
association of karma to causality occurs in the Brihadaranyaka
Upanishad of Hinduism.
For example, at 4.4.5–6, it states: Now as
a man is like this or like that, according as he acts and according as he
behaves, so will he be;a manof good acts will become good, a man of bad acts,
bad;he becomes pure by pure deeds, bad by bad deeds;And here they say that a
person consists of desires, and as is his desire, so is his will; and as is his
will, so is his deed;
and whatever deed he does, that he will reap.
Another
causality characteristic, shared by karmic theories, is that like deeds lead
to like effects. Thus, good karma produces good effect on the
actor, while bad karma produces bad effect. This effect may be material, moral,
or emotional—that is, one's karma affects both one's happiness and unhappiness. The effect of karma need not be
immediate; the effect of karma can be later in one's current life, and in some
schools it extends to future lives. The consequence or effects of one's karma
can be described in two forms: phala and samskara.
A phala (lit. 'fruit' or 'result') is the visible or invisible effect that is typically
immediate or within the current life.
In contrast,a samskara (Sanskrit: संस्कार) is an
invisible effect, produced inside the actor because of the karma, transforming
the agent and affecting his or her ability to be happy or unhappy in their
current and future lives. The theory of karma is often presented in the context
of samskaras.
Karl Potter (1964) and Harold Coward (1983) suggest that karmic
principle can also be understood as a principle of psychology easy:
it requires conscious karmic effort. Thus, psyche and
habit, according to Potter and Coward, link karma to causality in ancient
Indian literature. The idea of karma may be compared to
the notion of a person's 'character', as both are an assessment of the person
and determined by that person's habitual thinking and acting.
Atheization
The second theme common to karma theories is atheization. This begins with the premise that every action has a consequence, which will come to fruition in either this life or a future life; thus, morally good acts will have positive consequences, whereas bad acts will produce negative results. An individual's present situation is thereby explained by reference to actions in his present or in previous lifetimes. Karma is not itself 'reward and punishment', but the law that produces consequence. Wilhelm Halbfass (1998) notes that good karma is considered as dharma and leads to punya ('merit'), while bad karma is considered adharma and leads to pāpa ('demerit, sin').
Reichenbach (1988) suggests that the
theories of karma are an ethical theory. This is so because the ancient
scholars of India linked intent and actual action to the merit, reward,
demerit, and punishment. A theory without ethical premise would be a pure causal relation; the merit or reward or
demerit or punishment would be same regardless of the actor's intent. In
ethics, one's intentions, attitudes and desires matter in the evaluation of
one's action. Where the outcome is unintended, the moral responsibility for it
is less on the actor, even though causal responsibility may be the same
regardless. A karma theory considers not only the
action, but also actor's intentions, attitude, and desires before and during
the action. The karma concept thus encourages each person to seek and live a
moral life, as well as avoid an immoral life. The meaning and significance of
karma is thus as a building block of an ethical theory.
Rebirth
The third common theme of karma theories is
the concept of reincarnation or
the cycle of rebirths (saṃsāra). Rebirth is a fundamental concept of Hinduism, Buddhism,
Jainism and Sikhism.Rebirth, or saṃsāra, is the concept that all life forms go
through a cycle of reincarnation, that is, a series of births and rebirths. The
rebirths and consequent life may be in different realm, condition, or form. The
karma theories suggest that the realm, condition and form depends on the
quality and quantity of karma. In schools
that believe in rebirth, every living being's soul transmigrates (recycles)
after death, carrying the seeds of Karmic impulses from life just completed,
into another life and lifetime of karmas. This cycle continues indefinitely,
except for those who consciously break this cycle by reaching moksha. Those who break the cycle reach
the realm of gods, those who don't continue in the cycle.
The concept has been intensely debated in ancient literature of India; with different schools of Indian religions considering the relevance of rebirth as either essential, or secondary, or unnecessary fiction Hiriyanna (1949) suggests rebirth to be a necessary corollary of karma; Yamunacharya (1966) asserts that karma is a fact, while reincarnation is a hypothesis; and Creel (1986) suggests that karma is a basic concept, rebirth is a derivative concep
The theory of 'karma and rebirth' raises
numerous questions—such as how, when, and why did the cycle start in the first
place, what is the relative Karmic merit of one karma versus another and why,
and what evidence is there that rebirth actually happens, among others. Various
schools of Hinduism realized these difficulties, debated their own
formulations, some reaching what they considered as internally consistent
theories, while other schools modified and de-emphasized it, while a few
schools in Hinduism such as Charvakas (or Lokayata) abandoned the
theory of 'karma and rebirth' altogether. Schools of Buddhism consider
karma-rebirth cycle as integral to their theories of soteriology
Early Development
The Vedic Sanskrit word kárman- (nominative kárma) means 'work' or
'deed' often used in the context of Srauta rituals. In
the Rigveda, the word occurs some 40 times.[41] In Satapatha Brahmana 1.7.1.5, sacrifice is
declared as the "greatest" of works; Satapatha Brahmana 10.1.4.1
associates the potential of becoming immortal (amara) with the karma of
the agnicayana sacrifice. The earliest clear discussion of the karma
doctrine is in the Upanishads For
example, causality and ethicization is stated in Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 3.2.13
“Truly, one becomes good through good deeds, and evil through
evil deeds."
Some authors state that the samsara (transmigration) and karma
doctrine may be non-Vedic, and the ideas may have developed in the "shramana" traditions that preceded Buddhism and Jainism. Others state that some of the complex
ideas of the ancient emerging theory of karma flowed from Vedic thinkers to
Buddhist and Jain thinkers. The mutual influences between the
traditions is unclear, and likely co-developed.[
Many philosophical debates surrounding the
concept are shared by the Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist traditions, and the early
developments in each tradition incorporated different novel ideas. For example, Buddhists allowed karma
transfer from In contrast, Hindu schools and Jainism would not allow the
possibility of karma transfer.
The concept of karma in Hinduism developed
and evolved over centuries. The earliest Upanishads began with the questions
about how and why man is born, and what happens after death. As answers to the
latter, the early theories in these ancient Sanskrit documents include pancagni vidya (the five fire
doctrine), pitryana (the cyclic path of fathers) and devayana (the
cycle-transcending, path of the gods). Those who do superficial rituals and
seek material gain, claimed these ancient scholars, travel the way of their
fathers and recycle back into another life; those who renounce these, go into
the forest and pursue spiritual knowledge, were claimed to climb into the
higher path of the gods. It is these who break the cycle and are not reborn With
the composition of the Epics – the common man's introduction to dharma in Hinduism – the ideas of
causality and essential elements of the theory of karma were being recited in
folk stories. For example:
As a man himself
sows, so he himself reaps; no man inherits the good or evil act of another man.
The fruit is of the same quality as the action.— Mahabharata, xii.291.22[
The 6th chapter of the Anushasana Parva (the Teaching Book), the 13th book of the Mahabharata, opens with Yudhishthira asking Bhishma: "Is the course of a person's life already destined, or can human effort shape one's life?" The future, replies Bhishma, is both a function of current human effort derived from free will and past human actions that set the circumstances. Over and over again, the chapters of Mahabharata recite the key postulates of karma theory. That is: intent and action (karma) has consequences; karma lingers and doesn't disappear; and, all positive or negative experiences in life require effort and intent.[56] For example:Happiness comes due to good actions, suffering results from evil actions, by actions, all things are obtained, by inaction, nothing whatsoever is enjoyed. If one's action bore no fruit, then everything would be of no avail, if the world worked from fate alone, it would be neutralized.— Mahabharata, xiii.6.10 & 19
Over time, various schools of Hinduism
developed many different definitions of karma, some making karma appear quite
deterministic, while others make room for free will and moral agency. Among the
six most studied schools of Hinduism, the theory of karma evolved in different
ways, as their respective scholars reasoned and attempted to address the
internal inconsistencies, implications and issues of the karma doctrine.
According to Professor Wilhelm Halbfass,[
The Nyaya school
of Hinduism considers karma and rebirth as central, with some Nyaya.
The Vaisesika school does not consider the
karma from past lives doctrine very important.
The Samkhya school considers karma to be of
secondary importance (second to prakrti).
The Mimamsa school gives
a negligible role to karma from past lives, disregards samsara and moksa.[60]
The Yoga school considers karma from past
lives to be secondary, one's behavior and psychology in the current life is
what has consequences and leads to entanglements.[52]
The Vedanta school acknowledges the
karma-rebirth doctrine, but concludes it is a theory that is not derived from
reality and cannot be proven, considers it invalid for its failure to explain
evil / inequality / other observable facts about society, treats it as a convenient fiction to
solve practical problems in Upanishadic times, and declares it irrelevant.[
In the Advaita Vedanta school, actions in
current life have moral consequences and liberation is possible within one's
life as jivanmukti (self-realized
person).
The above schools illustrate the diversity
of views, but are not exhaustive. Each school has sub-schools in Hinduism, such
as that of non-dualism and dualism under Vedanta. Furthermore, there are other
schools of Indian philosophy such as Charvaka (or Lokayata; the materialists) who denied the theory of
karma-rebirth as well as the existence of God; to this non-Vedic school, the
properties of things come from the nature of things. Causality emerges from the interaction,
actions and nature of things and people, determinative principles such as karma
or God are unnecessary.
Karma and karmaphala are
fundamental concepts in Buddhism,[63][64] which explain how our intentional
actions keep us tied to rebirth in samsara, whereas the Buddhist path, as
exemplified in the Noble Eightfold Path,
shows us the way out of samsara., The cycle of rebirth is determined by
karma, literally 'action'. Karmaphala (wherein phala means
'fruit, result') refers to the 'effect' or 'result' of
karma. The similarterm karmavipaka (wherein vipāka means 'ripening') refers to
the 'maturation, ripening' of karma.
In the Buddhist tradition, karma refers
to actions driven by intention (cetanā), a deed done deliberately through
body, speech or mind, which leads to future consequences.
The Nibbedhika Sutta, Anguttara Nikaya 6.63:
Intention (cetana) I tell you, is kamma. Intending,
one does kamma by way of body, speech, & intellect.
How these intentional actions lead to
rebirth, and how the idea of rebirth is to be reconciled with the doctrines
of impermanence and no-self, is a matter of philosophical inquiry
in the Buddhist traditions, for which several solutions have been proposed. In early Buddhism no explicit theory
of rebirth and karma is worked out,
and "the karma doctrine
may have been incidental to early Buddhist soteriology." In early Buddhism, rebirth is
ascribed to craving or ignorance. The
Buddha's teaching of karma is not strictly deterministic, but incorporated
circumstantial factors, unlike that of the Jains. It is not a rigid and mechanical
process, but a flexible, fluid and dynamic process. There is no set linear relationship
between a particular action and its results The karmic effect of a deed
is not determined solely by the deed itself, but also by the nature of the
person who commits the deed, and by the circumstances in which it is committed. Karmaphala is not a
"judgement" enforced by a God, Deity or other supernatural being that
controls the affairs of the Cosmos. Rather, karmaphala is the
outcome of a natural process of cause and effect. Within Buddhism, the real importance
of the doctrine of karma and its fruits lies in the recognition of the urgency
to put a stop to the whole process. The Acintita
Sutta warns that "the results of kamma" is one of the four
incomprehensible subjects (or acinteyya), subjects that are beyond all
conceptualization and cannot be understood with logical
thought or reason
Nichiren Buddhism teaches that
transformation and change through faith and practice changes adverse
karma—negative causes made in the past that result in negative results in the
present and future—to positive causes for benefits in the future.
Karma in Jainism
In Jainism, karma conveys a totally different
meaning from that commonly understood in Hindu philosophy and western
civilization Jain philosophy is the one of the oldest
Indian philosophy that completely separates body (matter) from the soul (pure
consciousness).[103] In Jainism, karma is referred to as
karmic dirt, as it consists of very subtle particles of matter that pervade the
entire universe Karmas are attracted to the karmic
field of a soul due to vibrations created by activities of mind, speech, and
body as well as various mental dispositions. Hence the karmas are the subtle matter surrounding the consciousness of a soul. When these two
components (consciousness and karma) interact, we experience the life we know
at present. Jain texts expound
that seven tattvas (truths
or fundamentals) constitute reality.
These are:
Jīva: the soul which is characterized by consciousness; Ajīva:
the non-soul; Āsrava: inflow of auspicious and evil
karmic matter into the soul. Bandha (bondage): mutual intermingling
of the soul and karmas. Samvara (stoppage):
obstruction of the inflow of karmic matter into the soul. Nirjara (gradual dissociation):
separation or falling off of part of karmic matter from the soul. Mokṣha (liberation):
complete annihilation of all karmic matter (bound with any particular soul).
According
to Padmanabh Jaini,
This emphasis on reaping the fruits only of
one's own karma was not restricted to the Jainas; both Hindus and Buddhist
writers have produced doctrinal materials stressing the same point. Each of the
latter traditions, however, developed practices in basic contradiction to such
belief. In addition to shrardha (the ritual Hindu offerings by
the son of deceased), we find among Hindus widespread adherence to the notion
of divine intervention in ones fate, while Buddhists eventually came to
propound such theories like boon-granting bodhisattvas, transfer of merit and
like. Only Jainas have been absolutely unwilling to allow such ideas to
penetrate their community, despite the fact that there must have been
tremendous amount of social pressure on them to do so.
The relationship between the soul and karma, states Padmanabh Jaini, can be explained with the analogy of gold. Like gold is always found mixed with impurities in its original state, Jainism holds that the soul is not pure at its origin but is always impure and defiled like natural gold. One can exert effort and purify gold, similarly, Jainism states that the defiled soul can be purified by proper refining methodology. Karma either defiles the soul further, or refines it to a cleaner state, and this affects future rebirths. Karma is thus an efficient cause (nimitta) in Jain philosophy, but not the material cause (upadana). The soul is believed to be the material cause.
The key points where the theory of karma in
Jainism can be stated as follows:
Karma operates as a self-sustaining
mechanism as natural universal law, without any need of an external entity to
manage them. (Absence of the exogenous 'Divine entity' in Jainism)
Jainism advocates that a soul
attracts karmic matter even with the thoughts, and not just
the actions. Thus, to even think evil of someone would endure a karma-bandha or
an increment in bad karma. For this reason, Jainism emphasise on
developing Ratnatraya (The
Three Jewels): samyak darśana ('Right Faith'), samyak
jnāna ('Right Knowledge') and samyak charitra ('Right
Conduct').
In Jain theology, a soul is released of
worldly affairs as soon as it is able to emancipate from the karma-bandha. In Jainism, nirvana and moksha are
used interchangeably. Nirvana represents annihilation of all
karmas by an individual soul and moksha represents the perfect
blissful state (free from all bondage). In the presence of a Tirthankara, a soul can attain Kevala Jnana ('omniscience') and
subsequently nirvana, without any need of intervention by the Tirthankara. The
karmic theory in Jainism operates endogenously. Even the Tirthankaras themselves
have to go through the stages of emancipation, for attaining that state.
Jainism treats all souls equally, inasmuch
as it advocates that all souls have the same potential of attaining nirvana.
Only those who make effort, really attain it, but nonetheless, each soul is
capable on its own to do so by gradually reducing its karma.
Eight Karmas
There are eight types of Karma which attach
a soul to Samsar (the cycle of birth and death):
Gyanavarniya (knowledge-obstructing): like a veil
prevents a face and its features from being seen, this karma prevents the soul
from knowing an object along with details about that object. This karma
obstructs the soul from realizing its essential quality of knowledge. In its
absence, a soul is omniscient. There are five sub-types of gyanavarniya karma
which prevents the five types of knowledge: mati gyan (sensory
knowledge), shrut gyan (articulate knowledge), avadhi
gyan (clairvoyance), mana
paryay gyan (telepathy) and keval
gyan (omniscience).
Darshanavarniya (perception-obstructing): like a
gatekeeper prevents the sight of the king, this karma prevents an object from
being perceived, hiding it. This karma obstructs the soul from realizing its
essential quality of perception. In its absence, a soul completely perceives
all substances in the universe. There are nine sub-types of this karma. Four of
these prevent the four types of perception; visual perception, non-visual
perception, clairvoyant perception and omniscient perception. The other five
sub-types of darshanavarniya karma bondage induce five kinds of sleep causing
reduction in consciousness: light sleep, deep sleep, drowsiness, heavy
drowsiness, and sleep-walking.
Vedaniya (sensation-producing): like licking
honey from a sword gives a sweet taste but cuts the tongue, this karma makes a
soul experience pleasure and pain. The soul's bliss is continuously disturbed
by experiences of external sensual pleasure and pain. In the absence of the
vedaniya karma, the soul experiences undisturbed bliss. There are two sub-types
of this karma; pleasure-producing and pain-producing.
Mohniya (deluding): like a bee becomes
infatuated with the smell of a flower and is attracted to it, this karma
attracts the soul to the objects that it considers favorable while repelling it
from objects it considers unfavorable. It creates a delusion in the soul that
external objects can affect it. This karma obstructs the soul's essential
quality of happiness and prevents the soul from finding pure happiness in
itself.
Ayu (lifespan-determining): like a
prisoner remains trapped by iron chains (around his legs, hands, etc.) this
karma keeps a soul trapped in a particular life (or birth).
Naam (body-producing): like a painter
creates various pictures and gives them various names, this karma gives souls
various types of bodies (that are classified based on various attributes). It
is the naamkarma which determines the body of living organism
into which the soul must enter.
Gotra (status-determining):
like a potter makes short and tall pots, this karma bestows a low or high
(societal) status on the body of soul. It creates social inequalities and in
its absence, all souls are equal. There are two sub-types of gotra karma: high
status and low status.
Antaray (power-obstructing): like a treasurer
obstructs a king from spending his wealth, this karma prevents the soul from
using its innate power for acts of charity, profit, enjoyment, repeated
enjoyment and will-power. It obstructs and prevents the soul's essential
quality of infinite power from manifesting. In its absence, a soul has infinite
power.
Sikhism
In Sikhism, all living beings are described as
being under the influence of the three qualities of maya. Always present together in varying
mix and degrees, these three qualities of maya bind the soul
to the body and to the earth plane. Above these three qualities is the eternal
time. Due to the influence of three modes of maya's nature, jivas (individual
beings) perform activities under the control and purview of the eternal time.
These activities are called karma, wherein the underlying principle
is that karma is the law that brings back the results of actions to the person
performing them.
This life is likened to a field in which
our karma is the seed. We harvest exactly what we sow; no less, no more. This
infallible law of karma holds everyone responsible for what the person is or is
going to be. Based on the total sum of past karma, some feel close to the Pure
Being in this life and others feel separated. This is the law of karma in Gurbani (Sri Guru Granth Sahib).
Like other Indian and oriental schools of thought, the Gurbani also accepts the
doctrines of karma and reincarnation as the facts of nature.[114]
Falun Gong
David Ownby, a scholar of Chinese history
at the University of Montreal,[115] asserts that Falun Gong differs from Buddhism in its
definition of the term "karma" in that it is taken not as a process
of award and punishment, but as an exclusively negative term. The Chinese
term de, or
'virtue', is reserved for what might otherwise be termed 'good karma' in
Buddhism. Karma is understood as the source of all suffering – what Buddhism
might refer to as 'bad karma'. According to Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Gong: "A
person has done bad things over his many lifetimes, and for people this results
in misfortune, or for cultivators it's karmic obstacles, so there's birth, aging,
sickness, and death. This is ordinary karma."[116]
Falun Gong teaches that the spirit is locked in the cycle of rebirth, also known as samsara,[117] due to the accumulation of karma.[118] This is a negative, black substance that accumulates in other dimensions lifetime after lifetime, by doing bad deeds and thinking bad thoughts. Falun Gong states that karma is the reason for suffering, and what ultimately blocks people from the truth of the universe and attaining enlightenment. At the same time, karma is also the cause of one's continued rebirth and suffering. Li says that due to accumulation of karma the human spirit upon death will reincarnate over and over again, until the karma is paid off or eliminated through cultivation, or the person is destroyed due to the bad deeds he has done.
Ownby regards the concept of karma as a
cornerstone to individual moral behaviour in Falun Gong, and also readily
traceable to the Christian doctrine of "one reaps what one sows".
Others say Matthew 5:44 means
no unbeliever will not fully reap what they sow until they are judged by God
after death in Hell. Ownby says Falun Gong is differentiated by a "system
of transmigration", although, "in which each organism is the
reincarnation of a previous life form, its current form having been determined
by karmic calculation of the moral qualities of the previous lives lived."
Ownby says the seeming unfairness of manifest inequities can then be explained,
at the same time allowing a space for moral behaviour in spite of them. In the same vein of Li's monism, matter and spirit are one, karma
is identified as a black substance which must be purged in the process of cultivation.
According to Li, Human beings all fell here
from the many dimensions of the universe. They no longer met the requirements
of the Fa at their given levels in the universe, and thus had to drop down.
Just as we have said before, the heavier one's mortal attachments, the further
down one drops, with the descent continuing until one arrives at the state of
ordinary human beings.[119]
He says that, in the eyes of higher beings,
the purpose of human life is not merely to be human, but to awaken quickly on
Earth, a "setting of delusion," and return. "That is what they
really have in mind; they are opening a door for you. Those who fail to return
will have no choice but to reincarnate, with this continuing until they
amass a huge amount of karma and are destroyed."[
Ownby regards this as the basis for Falun
Gong's apparent "opposition to practitioners' taking medicine when ill; they are missing an
opportunity to work off karma by allowing an illness to run its course
(suffering depletes karma) or to fight the illness through cultivation." Benjamin Penny shares this
interpretation. Since Li believes that "karma is the primary factor that
causes sickness in people," Penny asks: "if disease comes from karma
and karma can be eradicated through cultivation of xinxing, then
what good will medicine do?"[120] Li himself states that he is not
forbidding practitioners from taking medicine, maintaining that "What I'm
doing is telling people the relationship between practicing cultivation and
medicine-taking." Li also states that "An everyday person needs to
take medicine when he gets sick." Danny Schechter (2001) quotes a Falun
Gong student who says "It is always an individual choice whether one
should take medicine or not. Karma s an important concept in Taoism. Every deed is tracked by deities and
spirits. Appropriate rewards or retribution follow karma, just like a shadow
follows a person.
The karma doctrine of Taoism developed in
three stages. In the first stage, causality between
actions and consequences was adopted, with supernatural beings keeping track of
everyone's karma and assigning fate (ming). In the second phase,
transferability of karma ideas from Chinese Buddhism were expanded, and a
transfer or inheritance of Karmic fate from ancestors to one's current life was
introduced. In the third stage of karma doctrine development, ideas of rebirth
based on karma were added. One could be reborn either as another human being or
another animal, according to this belief. In the third stage, additional ideas
were introduced; for example, rituals, repentance and offerings at Taoist
temples were encouraged as it could alleviate Karmic burden.
Shinto
Interpreted as musubi, a view
of karma is recognized in Shinto as a means of
enriching, empowering and life affirming.[
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