 | Karma: Encyclopedia II - Karma - Karma in the Dharma-based religions
Karma - Karma in the Dharma-based religions
Karma - Hinduism
Main article: Karma in Hinduism
Karma in Hinduism differs from karma in Buddhism and Jainism, and involves the role of God. Within Hinduism, Karma appears to function primarily as a means to explain the Problem of evil.
One of the first and most dramatic illustrations of Karma can be found in the great Hindu epic, the Mahabharata. The original Hindu concept of karma was later enhanced by several other movements within the religion, most notably Vedanta, and Tantra.
Karma literally means "deed" or "act" and more broadly names the universal principle of cause and effect, action and reaction which governs all life. Karma is not fate, for man acts with free will creating his own destiny. According to the Vedas, if we sow goodness, we will reap goodness; if we sow evil, we will reap evil. Karma refers to the totality of our actions and their concomitant reactions in this and previous lives, all of which determines our future. The conquest of karma lies in intelligent action and dispassionate reaction. Not all karmas rebound immediately. Some accumulate and return unexpectedly in this or other births.
It is considered an entirely impersonal and spiritually originated law that cannot be abrogated by any person but may be mitigated by God. Karma is not punishment or retribution, but simply an extended expression of natural acts. The effects experienced are also able to be mitigated by actions and are not necessarily fateful.
Quoting Sai Baba [2] concerning the removal of problems, disasters, calamities, etc. in reference to karma:
Any instant solution would go against the fundamental quality of nature itself as well as the Karmic law of cause and effect. Most people live in the material world of their desires and egos which is governed by the law. They reap the fruits of their actions. This brings about their evolution or devolution. If the Avatar intervenes to instantly solve their problems, it would stop all action, development, even evolution. This solution can be ruled out because it totally negates the natural laws.
Karma - Buddhism
In Buddhism, only intentional actions are karmic "acts of will". The 'Law of Karma' refers to "cause and effect", but Karma literally means "action" - often indicating intent or cause. Accompanying this usually is a separate tenet called Vipaka, meaning result or effect. The re-action or effect can itself also influence an action, and in this way, the chain of causation continues ad infinitum. When Buddhists talk about karma, they are normally referring to karma/action that is 'tainted' with ignorance - karma that continues to ensure that the being remains in the everlasting cycle of samsara.
This samsaric karma comes in two 'flavors' - 'good' karma, which leads to positive/pleasurable experiences, like high rebirth (as a deva, asura, or human), and bad karma which leads to suffering and low rebirth (as a hell-sufferer, as a preta, or as an animal).
There is also a completely different type of karma that is neither good nor bad, but liberating. This karma allows for the individual to break the uncontrolled cycle of rebirth which always leads to suffering, and thereby leave samsara to permanently enter Nirvana.
The Buddhist sutras explain that in order to generate liberating karma, we must first develop incredibly powerful concentration, and proper insight into the (un)reality of samsara. This concentration is akin to the states of mind required to be reborn in the Deva realm, and in itself depends upon a very deep training in ethical self-discipline.
This differentiation between good karma and liberating karma has been used by some scholars to argue that the development of Tantra depended upon Buddhist ideas and philosophies.
Karma is related to the notion of Buddhist rebirth - sometimes understood to be the same thing as reincarnation - which has its roots in the principle of Karma.
Other related archivesBible and reincarnation, Born again, Buddhism, Buddhist rebirth, Carl Jung, Dharma, Edgar Cayce on Karma, Esoteric Christianity, Ethic of reciprocity, First Epistle to the Corinthians, Gautama Buddha, God, Hinduism, India, Jainism, Kardecist, Karma in Hinduism, Mahabharata, Neopagan, New Age, Nirvana, Pali, Paul of Tarsus, Problem of evil, Reincarnation, Rosicrucians, Sai Baba, Sanskrit, Sikhism, Sin, Spiritism, Spirituality, Tantra, Theosophical Society, Theosophy, Upanishads, Vedanta, Vipaka, Western, Yuanfen, ad infinitum, asura, cause, cause and effect, cognitive dissonance, deva, eastern, effect, epic, esoteric, evil, goodness, hell, human, just-world phenomenon, omniverse, preta, reincarnation, samsara, sin, souls, superstring theory, sutras, synchronicity, the West, will
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Karma in the Dharma-based religions", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
