Tianzun Posted January 31, 2023 (edited) Sorry if this is a dumb question but I am wondering, if karma is what gets rebirthed over lifetimes, and one can get rebirthed into other realms, how does karma get rebirthed into other realms? Edited January 31, 2023 by Tianzun I forgot to include the last bit of the question Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Maddie Posted January 31, 2023 3 hours ago, Tianzun said: Sorry if this is a dumb question but I am wondering, if karma is what gets rebirthed over lifetimes, and one can get rebirthed into other realms, how does karma get rebirthed? Thanks. First of all not a dumb question at all, in fact a pretty good question that I ponder quite a bit actually. In short karma has a LOT to do with rebirth. Inclination plays a role as well, but while we can think of inclination as where you want to buy your plane ticket to, karma is the money in the bank that actually gets you the ticket. So for example everyone wants to be born wealthy and healthy right? but clearly not everyone is born into this situation. It's obviously not for lack of desire, rather its for lack of karma. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ChiDragon Posted February 1, 2023 10 hours ago, Tianzun said: Sorry if this is a dumb question but I am wondering, if karma is what gets rebirthed over lifetimes, and one can get rebirthed into other realms, how does karma get rebirthed into other realms? It is not that karma gets rebirth, rather it is karma that cause some to rebirth to another realm. Whatever the person did in life will cause s/he to go to hell or heaven or rebirth to be an animal or whatever. Hence, karma is what the person did in life which cause the consequences. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mark Foote Posted February 1, 2023 On 1/31/2023 at 10:07 AM, Tianzun said: If karma is what gets rebirthed over lifetimes, and one can get rebirthed into other realms, how does karma get rebirthed into other realms? Who's on first! As best as I can understand it, karma is a result of intention in action, of the volition or choice in action. Here's Gautama the Buddha: …I say that determinate thought is action. When one determines, one acts by deed, word, or thought. (AN Book of Sixes 415, Pali Text Society Vol III p 294) “When one determines”–when one makes up one’s mind, "action" takes place. And again: And what… is the ceasing of action? That ceasing of action by body, speech, and mind, by which one contacts freedom,–that is called ‘the ceasing of action’. (SN IV 145, Pali Text Society Vol IV p 85) Gautama taught that speech ceases in the first concentration, action of body (specifically activity in the movement of breath) ceases in the fourth, and action of mind (specifically "feeling and perceiving") ceases in the last of the concentrations. By that he meant that "determinate thought" in action ceases, choice or will in action ceases. Whether the intention is good or bad, the consequence of the action ripples on, and eventually comes back to undue the exercise of intention--if we're lucky! Moreover: Where there have been deeds, Ananda, personal weal and woe arise in consequence of the will there was in the deeds. Where there has been speech–where there has been thought, personal weal and woe arise in consequence of the will there was in the speech–in the thought. Either we of ourselves, Ananda, plan those planned deeds conditioned by ignorance, whence so caused arises personal weal and woe, or others plan those planned deeds that we do conditioned on ignorance, whence so conditioned arises personal weal and woe. Either they are done deliberately, or we do them unwittingly. Thence both ways arises personal weal and woe. So also is it where there has been speech, where there has been thought. Either we plan, speaking, thinking deliberately, or others plan, so that we speak, think unwittingly. Thence arises personal weal and woe. In these six cases ignorance is followed after. But from the utter fading away and cessation of ignorance, Ananda, those deeds are not, whence so conditioned arises personal weal and woe. Neither is that speech, nor that thought. As field they are not; as base they are not; as wherewithal they are not; as occasion they are not, that so conditioned there might arise personal weal and woe. (SN II text ii, 36, Pali Text Society SN Vol II p. 31-32) "how does karma get rebirthed into other realms?"--sort of like being in a pool hall, and somebody strikes the ball on their table so hard it bounces off, lands on another table, and strikes the balls there. How's that! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lairg Posted February 1, 2023 (edited) Karma exists outside the individual. Our actions may cause pain to the greater Entity within which we exist. That Entity pushes back so that we learn not to pain It. Karma variously is personal, family, group, national, planetary, systemic, galactic... Apart from personal, karma follows lines of least resistance. Thus a human may on occasion ask the Lipika Lords for group karma to be diverted. In the few cases I have observed, such requests are often granted if the human is progressing well. Karmic energy is usually attached at the left shoulder, extending in an arc to the left hip. More extensive karma can cover the whole body like a sphere. https://www.theosophy.world/encyclopedia/lipikas Edited February 1, 2023 by Lairg Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
