good & bad KARMIC deeds! what's the difference?

[sunshine]

Here's Harry again with something he has no proper insight into. As I am not that much familar with the thoughts about Karma in Buddhism or other traditions, I hope you don't mind me retreating to something I read about it by Li Hongzhi (Falun Gong) & hope for your thoughts on the subject:

 

My main question is. How do Buddhists for example decide what is producing bad Karma, what is just paying back Karma and what is producing good Karma?

 

For example: two "everday difficulties" I am encountering:

Asking somebody wherever in the world to send me something with low invoice in order either to save on customs/tax or in order to get it to bypass customs (as otherwise it might not be let in).

 

Is that producing bad Karma? Is it a bad deed?

 

OR: as a medical student I see it all the time that fellow students are cheating in order to get through, and for those studying is a lot easier.

 

Now: if I cheat in order to pass an exam: Am I only acting out Karma, am I cheating Karma thereby producing new bad Karma?

 

What do you think?

 

Now to Karma in general. If I understand Li Hongzhi correct he say that we have something called "De". This De is a kind of "white substance" (while Karma is a kind of "black substance"). If you have a lot of it you either have good fortune or whatever compared to those with lower amount. Now: If you do someone bad one is said to loose some of that white substance. The person being being done bad receives it in exchange. In the person who does bad a place gets free and there black substance (Karma) finds a place to stay.

 

Regarding the question of doing good deeds:

If the above is the case I wonder how it is with doing good deeds? Me doing a good dead would mean taking someone his/her white substance away?

 

I am really curious of what you think or know

 

thank you

 

Harry

[rex]

Harry, Here's an article that may help:

http://www.beezone.com/karma.html

rex

[peter falk]

well after almost 20 years of seeking and searching and practicing and playing, i have come to this conclusion: karma is mostly bullshit! especially the moralistic notion presented in buddhism and hinduism. and in fact, it doesn't evenm really help you to think about it or "work with it". it's a wste of time and energy. the alchemy and meditation is all you have to wrry about. no act by intself is good or bad. this is probably the greatest fallacy perpetrated by organized religion of any kind--that a given action is always good or always bad. sometimes it's ok to lie, cheat, fuck, or even kill. you need the wisdom and profound depth and consciousness that guides you thru the journey to see clearly the circumstances of life and act accordingly. forget about karma. the little bit of that teaching that is true will be made clear to you when it's needed. dwelling on karma and morality causes you to lose sight of the big picture. the BIG picture.

 

just my two cents.

[Pietro]

well after almost 20 years of seeking and searching and practicing and playing, i have come to this conclusion:  karma is mostly bullshit!  especially the moralistic notion presented in buddhism and hinduism.  and in fact, it doesn't evenm really help you to think about it  or "work with it".  it's a wste of time and energy.  the alchemy and meditation is all you have to wrry about.  no act by intself is good or bad.  this is probably the greatest fallacy perpetrated by organized religion of any kind--that a given action is always good or always bad.  sometimes it's ok to lie, cheat, fuck, or even kill.  you need the wisdom and profound depth and consciousness that guides you thru the journey to see clearly the circumstances of life and act accordingly.  forget about karma.  the little bit of that teaching that is true will be made clear to you when it's needed.  dwelling on karma and morality causes you to lose sight of the big picture.  the BIG picture.

 

just my two cents.

 

Yep, christians call that discernment.

 

May I also add that in general Taoist have been known to do pretty much everything and to be confortable with the universe doing pretty much everything to them. As opposed to the moralistic position which stops you from doing 50% of the action, but then make you cry to heaven:"Why my God?", as soon as something happens to you that you would not have done to others.

[neimad]

while i wouldn't go as far as peter as saying karma is all bullshit... i definataly agree with him on the point of religion twisting this around to try to define everything as good or bad etc.

what i think the idea of karma is, is the imprint on your soul/spirit body/thetan/mind/whatever you want to call the part that is you (not the energy body, not the physical body). if you undertake what could be considered a negative action, such as your example of cheating on an exam... and you know you are cheating, you know you are doing something 'wrong' then you leave an imprint on your soul, form a block, create karma. in this sense the generation of karma, especially 'bad karma' is related to the social morals of the particular time, however it is also a reflection of your own personal beliefs.

however if you undertake similar actions without any kind of conception that it is wrong, then there will be no block or imprint, because you are not creating attention on that specific event, it is of no consequence to you.

as for good karma... well i believe it works in kind of the same way, you do something for someone for example that makes you feel really good... you then cultivate a positive state of being within your body and this is reflected in your nature and in the way the nature of the universe responds to you. after all we are just the universe we create (although its one big tangled mess with all our creations overlapping... we still have the ability to exert influence on this reality though).

we all have 'bad karma' built up from our previous lives (we are immortal souls), because to be free of bad karma is essentially releasing all ties to this physical universe.

 

its kind of difficult to explain, and this is only my point of view... that i have created from looking at the buddhist, taoist and scientology points of view (the old scientology, before it was infiltrated and corrupted by the cia/brotherhood network). but i hope you can get it.

[Max]

[peter falk]

can you repeat that in english?