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Best wishes for a speedy recovery! I hope it is the last one you have to deal with. You have really excelled with this video at interlacing your own experiences with the dharma. One of my favorites of your many helpful talks!
I guess only a Buddha can explain very well about our past Karmas (actions). Karma is not the only thing which cause problems to us. But also heredity, environment, nature and nurture. According to Buddhism, there are five orders or processes (niyama) which operate in the physical and mental realms. They are: Utu Niyama - physical inorganic order, e.g. seasonal phenomena of winds and rains. The unerring order of seasons, characteristic seasonal changes and events, causes of winds and rains, nature of heat, etc., all belong to this group. Bija Niyama - order of germs and seeds (physical organic order), e.g. rice produced from rice-seed, sugary taste from sugar-cane or honey, peculiar characteristics of certain fruits, etc. The scientific theory of cells and genes and the physical similarity of twins may be ascribed to this order. Karma Niyama - order of act and result, e.g., desirable and undesirable acts produce corresponding good and bad results. As surely as water seeks its own level so does Karma, given opportunity, produce its inevitable result, not in the form of a reward or punishment but as an innate sequence. This sequence of deed and effect is as natural and necessary as the way of the sun and the moon. Dhamma Niyama - order of the norm, e.g., the natural phenomena occurring at the advent of a Bodhisattva in his last birth. Gravitation and other similar laws of nature. The natural reason for being good and so forth, may be included in this group. Citta Niyama - order or mind or psychic law, e.g., processes of consciousness, arising and perishing of consciousness, constituents of consciousness, power of mind, etc., including telepathy, telaesthesia, retro-cognition, premonition, clairvoyance, clairaudience, thought-reading and such other psychic phenomena which are inexplicable to modern science. Source: www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/karma.htm It’s nature, nurture, genes & karma that shape our future.
All of what you mentioned is part of karma. Nature, nurture, genes, etc. are all parts of the karmic unfolding. There is no separation between these. Peace and wisdom to you.
Cancer doesn't come from nothing and the sun only brings to the surface what is already there. It is our unhealthy lifestyle that causes it and with that I don't mean "being in the sun" but eating meat, dairy and other things our body isn't meant to eat. I wish you all the best, thank you for your great content and I hope you will get better.
I love your content. You’ve really helped me realise what’s Important in life, and you talk about these topics incredibly well. I hope you’re doing well, and I’m glad to see you’re staying strong.
Hello doug, in this case, buddha has sayed there are five destinies under which everything are happening. One of these is karma. But telling that somthing happens under that particular destiny is realy a subject of wisdom. That means we should understand why somthing happens correctly according to five destinies. The karma is a real good topic. But when you suggests this disease happens according to karma, dont forget to consider other four destinies. But here we need to consider about karma deeply. It is not easy as it seems. That will surly help you to find the best answer. Because if somone can see karma and its correct result, then he is in right path that is right viwe. I would like to recommend 'chulla karma vibanga sutra' to know more informatios on karma including definition of karma. It is a deep understanding. The definition of karma is our thoughts (sankara, sankaras in fourth aggregate). That mean any work we have done using our thoughts. Work that we have done without knowing it is not regarded as karma. For ex:- if you did somthing without knowing what really you are doing is not a karma. It is just a somthing you did without knowing. I hope if you find sutras on explaining the karma, it will be surely useful to you.
Right sdn nir, I actually have an earlier video on karma where I discuss some of this: ruclips.net/video/oN5292K60yc/видео.html . Karma is about intention, and if we intend to do something we know might be harmful to ourselves later on, then there is some culpability when harm comes. This is unskillful. But yes, there are also other intervening causes that are understood not to be karma-related in Buddhism. That's fine too and makes a lot of sense.
I'm not sure I understand your question DJ23sup. The Buddhist notion of karma is that the person who acts is the one who receives the positive or negative result of that action in the future. The character of the intention is what determines the character of the result.
@@DougsDharma let's just there is a person "A" who hurts a man "b" , so as per cause and effect person "B" is hurt but person "A" is untouched . What bothers me is justice being left out in this case person "A" being un affected - if you say that person "A" does get affected how is it different from hindu belief of karma -Thank you for replying it means so much , I'm just filled with questions and searching for answers.
Ah yes, the Buddhist notion of non-self means there is no literal sameness in selves over time. Check out my playlist on that topic to understand it better: ruclips.net/p/PL0akoU_OszRjA9n0-U24ZCpfEQVFxeGz2
How does it work when an adult suffering with MPD and PTSD recalls that as a small child she was being repeatedly gang raped (by father and his friends). How does the small girl created this suffering and this karma?
This is one reason why I don't think karma is a complete answer to all things that happen in our lives. Some things are simply random, terrible acts of harm.
@@DougsDharma Thank you so much for your lovely and quick response. I understood karma as Spiritual Justice, which is going to act at the best time and the best place. Then I thought it is some kind of Cause & Effect, which that doesn't make sense, as everything can be 'effect' only, as cause is effect of the previous cause. Some people are sure that we can 'create' own karma, which again, how that can actually work. They even claim that we can create 'good' karma, whilst what IS actually good karma? Is it easy, happy life, or live full of struggle and suffering so we get the opportunity to grow.... Would you mind telling me your opinion on if you think that karma is or could be some kind of spiritual justice, or if I am completely off the track?
As I see it, karma is just the idea that our intentions and actions have consequences, and their consequences most often depend on the character of those intentions. It's not perfect justice though, since such a thing just isn't possible.
@@DougsDharma I thought that even intentions don't really matter, as one can have a harmful intention and that failed creating helpful result and the other way around, when someone has a helpful intention and it turns wrong, doing lots of even fatal harm.
@@DougsDharma ok, never mind. I see, you are a real Therevadian. However, I think you would surely benefit lot from reading Thich Nhat Hanhs books or listening to his lectures and q&as. Personally, I'm in love whith this man! Gradually he became one of the most important people in my life, although I wouldn't consider myself as Zen. Appreciating your videos🙏
Karma is highly non linear. All that can be said is that skillful actions will have beneficial results and unskillful actions will have detrimental ones. When, how much, where etc can not be said. In the Udanas(?) the Buddha forbids analyzing of karma as one of the great unknowables. Doing so shall result is "great suffering and madness".
Many Buddhist sects eat meat, such as in the Theravāda and many Tibetan practices. The Buddha himself did so. For more on this see: ruclips.net/video/r5oncPD7jKo/видео.html
Best wishes. In a "secular dharma" sense - I would think the term Karma has a lot of baggage and is very entangled with notions of reincarnation and/or some sort of automatic cosmic judgement mechanism. Obviously one can try to separate karma from those notions and leave it as cause and effect - but to me, that doesn't seem fair to the very complicated encyclopedia entry for the term.
For sure there are differences, though there are also resonances. Even the traditional notion of karma is after all about cause and effect, though some of those are supernatural. Take it however works best for you.
There are many people who greedy get sun without any consequences for their health... So for me the question arises- where is their carma except for pleasure they get?
Ha! Yes good point berzubirze. This is only a rough analogy, and at any rate there wouldn’t be ‘perfect justice’ unless we allowed for rebirth. I on the other hand don’t really believe perfect justice is possible. So ... some folks are just lucky.
Thank you so much for being a "Guinea Pig" so to speak, for the Dharma. Actually, now that I come to think of it this could also qualify you as a Bodhisattva. Using "one's own" dukkha to demonstrate a point of Dharma, is at the very least, a compassionate act.IMHO I hope you don't mind me postulating about this but what comes to mind re the Karmic consequences(Vipaka)or otherwise, of getting too much sun exposure, may not be a karmic result. At least rather more a general Vipaka, that is, the result of coming to birth. I am a rather poor Buddhist scholar, in that I have a recall of certain Suttas, but I can't accurately remember their source. I really only remember whether they are in accord with the so called taste of the Dharma, if you will. One of these I remember from the Udana, which I think I remember reading once about twenty years ago. The section I remember most is entitled Pernicious wrong view. The upshot of this was that if an unlearned person had the view that in this world, everything proceeded only through Karma(Intention/action) and it's result, then this would be considered not of the path. Rather than dwell on your example I will use my own experience of sun damaged skin and corrective surgery. Over exposure of skin to the sun, is something that is rather indeterminate, that is, that it's almost impossible to be able to calculate, just how much sun exposure will eventually result in skin damage, given yours or my skin type, where we are located on the planet etc. For instance, I live in Australia and we had pretty fierce summers when I was a kid, so I accrued a lot of skin damage. Peeling skin, once or twice every summer. I became a Marathon runner as an adult, but even with precautions I probably did even more skin damage. Over the last several years I have had a couple of operations to remove growths from my skin also. The thing is that I believe that the eventual outcome, in this case, skin damage and surgery, is more to do with coming to birth( the Karmic activities of the 5 aggregates and subsequent dukkha.) because as I mentioned before, I cannot delineate any moral component to sun exposure, certainly not as a child. Even as an adult, I was aware of possible consequences but I never intended to do myself damage, because that's an imponderable. IMHO. Please forgive me this long rant. Exploring the Dharma what's closest to my heart. Consequently, sometimes the curtain of ignorance tears asunder, but on most days it just frays around the edges and fades a bit more. I really have to keep a sense of humour about all this and once again thank you so much for your tireless efforts and generosity.
You're very welcome John and thanks as well for your story. Yes, I don't know that this precisely fits the early idea of karma, but at least it has certain similarities and lessons we can learn. Take care and get your skin checked regularly! I'm sure you already know that. 🙂
To make dependent origination quite literal, basal cells are the cells in your skin that split/clone themselves into new skin cells, which eventually shed. Your sunburn as a child mutated the DNA in your basal cells so that that cell and every cell in that line afterward contains the same damaged DNA, until that DNA damage aggregates into cancer. (I work with skin for a living, so I could not resist!) You quite literally do not have the same DNA as an adult that you had when you were born. It is constantly being mutated as your cells replicate in your lifetime, so anatta even applies to DNA!
Great example, thanks Riki! Yes it is fascinating stuff when you look into it. I've tried reading about the mutations and so on but it's kind of over my head. 😄
Yes, indeed genes play a role. In my view (which is secular) justice isn't perfect so there are certainly going to be aspects of what happens to us that do not happen because of karma. This was true for the Buddha as well in fact, he did not believe that literally every good and bad thing that befell us did so because of our karma. Though some traditional believers may say that our genetic inheritance is partly karmic.
Dear Doug, how can you justify selling courses about the Buddhas teaching, if these teachings were once given for free, out of kindness and are considered to be priceless? I see that you put work into wrapping things up and letting the teachings speak in todays language, but still, I personally would not accept anything else but donations.
Hi AF, thanks for the question. I did a video about this question awhile back when I started making courses, giving my reasoning: ruclips.net/video/oYT5Ymm-zOE/видео.html
Hope you're better now. I think you have to do a lot of acrobacy to make Karma a good take on anything. Action-reaction is much more complex and interesting than Buddhist moralism. Plus, lots of stuff happen to "underserving" people and animals. This phrase sucks because the idea of merit sucks.
Karmic merit only becomes a problem if we believe it explains everything. We don’t need to believe this, and indeed even the Buddha rejected such an idea.
Join us on Patreon and get fun benefits like exclusive behind-the-scenes videos, audio-only versions, and extensive show notes: www.patreon.com/dougsseculardharma
May your goodness karma for all beings bless you be very well soon. With great respect ..from Chiangmai Thailand 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
Thanks Somthawin Boonyasupha, very kind of you. 🙏
Best wishes for a speedy recovery! I hope it is the last one you have to deal with. You have really excelled with this video at interlacing your own experiences with the dharma. One of my favorites of your many helpful talks!
Great, glad to hear my foolishness can at least be helpful to others along the way! 😄
Sending you metta and thank you 🙏🏻
You're very welcome David! Thanks for the kindness.
Thanks Doug! Get well soon! May you be happy, peaceful and liberated. Greetings from Portugal
Thanks Pedro, very kind of you! Be well too. 🙏
Doug is a tough fella. Ain't no karma keeping him down!!
Get well, dude :)
😆 Well I'm doing my best you know Gunndle! Thanks much.
I pray for your speedy recovery!
Thanks Homebody, very kind of you!
Wishing you good health and a speedy recovery!
Thanks Olufsennn! 🙏
Best wishes Doug! Hope you recover quickly. Thank you for these videos!!
Thank you kindly Max, I've recovered well! Hope you are safe and healthy too.
I wish you a speedy recovery, and may this be your last such surgery Doug.
Thanks Andrés, we can always hope! 😄
I guess only a Buddha can explain very well about our past Karmas (actions). Karma is not the only thing which cause problems to us. But also heredity, environment, nature and nurture. According to Buddhism, there are five orders or processes (niyama) which operate in the physical and mental realms.
They are:
Utu Niyama - physical inorganic order, e.g. seasonal phenomena of winds and rains. The unerring order of seasons, characteristic seasonal changes and events, causes of winds and rains, nature of heat, etc., all belong to this group.
Bija Niyama - order of germs and seeds (physical organic order), e.g. rice produced from rice-seed, sugary taste from sugar-cane or honey, peculiar characteristics of certain fruits, etc. The scientific theory of cells and genes and the physical similarity of twins may be ascribed to this order.
Karma Niyama - order of act and result, e.g., desirable and undesirable acts produce corresponding good and bad results. As surely as water seeks its own level so does Karma, given opportunity, produce its inevitable result, not in the form of a reward or punishment but as an innate sequence. This sequence of deed and effect is as natural and necessary as the way of the sun and the moon.
Dhamma Niyama - order of the norm, e.g., the natural phenomena occurring at the advent of a Bodhisattva in his last birth. Gravitation and other similar laws of nature. The natural reason for being good and so forth, may be included in this group.
Citta Niyama - order or mind or psychic law, e.g., processes of consciousness, arising and perishing of consciousness, constituents of consciousness, power of mind, etc., including telepathy, telaesthesia, retro-cognition, premonition, clairvoyance, clairaudience, thought-reading and such other psychic phenomena which are inexplicable to modern science.
Source: www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/karma.htm
It’s nature, nurture, genes & karma that shape our future.
Thanks for that Suresh.
I heard that Ajahn Amaro was writing a book about it and the common misundertandings about karma/vipaka
@@DougsDharma , It's my pleasure.
@@aliciamontero7061 That's good. Most people misunderstand Karma/Vipaka, and there are more reasons for good and bad results (Vipaka).
All of what you mentioned is part of karma. Nature, nurture, genes, etc. are all parts of the karmic unfolding. There is no separation between these. Peace and wisdom to you.
Cancer doesn't come from nothing and the sun only brings to the surface what is already there. It is our unhealthy lifestyle that causes it and with that I don't mean "being in the sun" but eating meat, dairy and other things our body isn't meant to eat. I wish you all the best, thank you for your great content and I hope you will get better.
Thanks for your thoughts SD!
Thank you! May you be well.
Thank you too for watching and commenting!
Thank you for a wonderful explanation. WIshing you a swift recovery!
Thanks Andrew, no worries!
I love your content. You’ve really helped me realise what’s Important in life, and you talk about these topics incredibly well. I hope you’re doing well, and I’m glad to see you’re staying strong.
Thanks Koioniaku, that's nice to hear! I'm doing fine, no worries! 🙂
You will definitely get a good rebirth with your contribution with this channel. Get well soon 😄🙏🏻.
Ha! Well thanks poikkiki, that would be nice but who knows? 🤔😉
Doug's Secular Dharma I was just joking, or maybe not! 😊
Hello doug, in this case, buddha has sayed there are five destinies under which everything are happening. One of these is karma. But telling that somthing happens under that particular destiny is realy a subject of wisdom. That means we should understand why somthing happens correctly according to five destinies. The karma is a real good topic. But when you suggests this disease happens according to karma, dont forget to consider other four destinies. But here we need to consider about karma deeply. It is not easy as it seems. That will surly help you to find the best answer. Because if somone can see karma and its correct result, then he is in right path that is right viwe. I would like to recommend 'chulla karma vibanga sutra' to know more informatios on karma including definition of karma. It is a deep understanding. The definition of karma is our thoughts (sankara, sankaras in fourth aggregate). That mean any work we have done using our thoughts. Work that we have done without knowing it is not regarded as karma. For ex:- if you did somthing without knowing what really you are doing is not a karma. It is just a somthing you did without knowing. I hope if you find sutras on explaining the karma, it will be surely useful to you.
Right sdn nir, I actually have an earlier video on karma where I discuss some of this: ruclips.net/video/oN5292K60yc/видео.html . Karma is about intention, and if we intend to do something we know might be harmful to ourselves later on, then there is some culpability when harm comes. This is unskillful. But yes, there are also other intervening causes that are understood not to be karma-related in Buddhism. That's fine too and makes a lot of sense.
Going by colassal effect does that mean a person who hurts some one else does not bear any ill but the bearer has to , where is the justice in that ?
I'm not sure I understand your question DJ23sup. The Buddhist notion of karma is that the person who acts is the one who receives the positive or negative result of that action in the future. The character of the intention is what determines the character of the result.
@@DougsDharma let's just there is a person "A" who hurts a man "b" , so as per cause and effect person "B" is hurt but person "A" is untouched . What bothers me is justice being left out in this case person "A" being un affected - if you say that person "A" does get affected how is it different from hindu belief of karma -Thank you for replying it means so much , I'm just filled with questions and searching for answers.
Ah yes, the Buddhist notion of non-self means there is no literal sameness in selves over time. Check out my playlist on that topic to understand it better: ruclips.net/p/PL0akoU_OszRjA9n0-U24ZCpfEQVFxeGz2
I am wish you have a good health
Thanks very much Danny, I'm doing well no worries. 🙂
despite that, thanks for the great content on this channel, and may you be well soon !
You’re very welcome! BTW, happy to work with anyone who feels they can’t afford the courses, as I have done before. 🙏
How does it work when an adult suffering with MPD and PTSD recalls that as a small child she was being repeatedly gang raped (by father and his friends). How does the small girl created this suffering and this karma?
This is one reason why I don't think karma is a complete answer to all things that happen in our lives. Some things are simply random, terrible acts of harm.
@@DougsDharma Thank you so much for your lovely and quick response. I understood karma as Spiritual Justice, which is going to act at the best time and the best place. Then I thought it is some kind of Cause & Effect, which that doesn't make sense, as everything can be 'effect' only, as cause is effect of the previous cause. Some people are sure that we can 'create' own karma, which again, how that can actually work. They even claim that we can create 'good' karma, whilst what IS actually good karma? Is it easy, happy life, or live full of struggle and suffering so we get the opportunity to grow.... Would you mind telling me your opinion on if you think that karma is or could be some kind of spiritual justice, or if I am completely off the track?
As I see it, karma is just the idea that our intentions and actions have consequences, and their consequences most often depend on the character of those intentions. It's not perfect justice though, since such a thing just isn't possible.
@@DougsDharma I thought that even intentions don't really matter, as one can have a harmful intention and that failed creating helpful result and the other way around, when someone has a helpful intention and it turns wrong, doing lots of even fatal harm.
Hey Doug, do you have a video on rebirth ??? I want to learn a little about it...
Well I have a few videos that discuss it, perhaps start here: ruclips.net/video/83ycWNSnjC0/видео.html
Get Well soon! Greetings from BRASIL!
Thanks Frederico! 🙏🙂
Is dependent origination the same thing as what Thich Nhat Hanh is calling interbeing?
I'm not sure what "interbeing" is, but it doesn't sound to me like dependent origination.
@@DougsDharma ok, never mind. I see, you are a real Therevadian. However, I think you would surely benefit lot from reading Thich Nhat Hanhs books or listening to his lectures and q&as. Personally, I'm in love whith this man! Gradually he became one of the most important people in my life, although I wouldn't consider myself as Zen. Appreciating your videos🙏
Excellent video! I almost think it should be called, "Is this how dependent origination works?"
Thanks Daniel, yes it could be called that too! 😄
Karma is highly non linear. All that can be said is that skillful actions will have beneficial results and unskillful actions will have detrimental ones. When, how much, where etc can not be said.
In the Udanas(?) the Buddha forbids analyzing of karma as one of the great unknowables. Doing so shall result is "great suffering and madness".
That’s right Baudhh, he also says that not everything we experience good and bad is due to karma.
Get well soon!!🙂
Thanks Tech Ultra, I'm doing well! 😀👍
I know it all to will had 3 and had breast cancer a bad one but I'm OK now I'm wishing all the best 😍
So glad to hear it Karen, that is much more serious. Be well! 🙏
Hi Doug! Really love all your videos. I have a question for you. Can one be on a dharma path and eat meat?
Many Buddhist sects eat meat, such as in the Theravāda and many Tibetan practices. The Buddha himself did so. For more on this see: ruclips.net/video/r5oncPD7jKo/видео.html
Please studying with srilankan buddhism books.srilanka has a
deep history about buddha and his darma.i like your best teaching
Yes indeed, thanks TU!
Best wishes. In a "secular dharma" sense - I would think the term Karma has a lot of baggage and is very entangled with notions of reincarnation and/or some sort of automatic cosmic judgement mechanism. Obviously one can try to separate karma from those notions and leave it as cause and effect - but to me, that doesn't seem fair to the very complicated encyclopedia entry for the term.
For sure there are differences, though there are also resonances. Even the traditional notion of karma is after all about cause and effect, though some of those are supernatural. Take it however works best for you.
3.5 years since then, but best wishes are always appropriate! 😅 Best wishes, Doug! ❤🙏
Thank you! 😃
There are many people who greedy get sun without any consequences for their health... So for me the question arises- where is their carma except for pleasure they get?
Ha! Yes good point berzubirze. This is only a rough analogy, and at any rate there wouldn’t be ‘perfect justice’ unless we allowed for rebirth. I on the other hand don’t really believe perfect justice is possible. So ... some folks are just lucky.
Thank you so much for being a "Guinea Pig" so to speak, for the Dharma. Actually, now that I come to think of it this could also qualify you as a Bodhisattva. Using "one's own" dukkha to demonstrate a point of Dharma, is at the very least, a compassionate act.IMHO
I hope you don't mind me postulating about this but what comes to mind re the Karmic consequences(Vipaka)or otherwise, of getting too much sun exposure, may not be a karmic result. At least rather more a general Vipaka, that is, the result of coming to birth. I am a rather poor Buddhist scholar, in that I have a recall of certain Suttas, but I can't accurately remember their source. I really only remember whether they are in accord with the so called taste of the Dharma, if you will. One of these I remember from the Udana, which I think I remember reading once about twenty years ago. The section I remember most is entitled Pernicious wrong view. The upshot of this was that if an unlearned person had the view that in this world, everything proceeded only through Karma(Intention/action) and it's result, then this would be considered not of the path. Rather than dwell on your example I will use my own experience of sun damaged skin and corrective surgery. Over exposure of skin to the sun, is something that is rather indeterminate, that is, that it's almost impossible to be able to calculate, just how much sun exposure will eventually result in skin damage, given yours or my skin type, where we are located on the planet etc. For instance, I live in Australia and we had pretty fierce summers when I was a kid, so I accrued a lot of skin damage. Peeling skin, once or twice every summer. I became a Marathon runner as an adult, but even with precautions I probably did even more skin damage. Over the last several years I have had a couple of operations to remove growths from my skin also. The thing is that I believe that the eventual outcome, in this case, skin damage and surgery, is more to do with coming to birth( the Karmic activities of the 5 aggregates and subsequent dukkha.) because as I mentioned before, I cannot delineate any moral component to sun exposure, certainly not as a child. Even as an adult, I was aware of possible consequences but I never intended to do myself damage, because that's an imponderable. IMHO. Please forgive me this long rant. Exploring the Dharma what's closest to my heart. Consequently, sometimes the curtain of ignorance tears asunder, but on most days it just frays around the edges and fades a bit more. I really have to keep a sense of humour about all this and once again thank you so much for your tireless efforts and generosity.
You're very welcome John and thanks as well for your story. Yes, I don't know that this precisely fits the early idea of karma, but at least it has certain similarities and lessons we can learn. Take care and get your skin checked regularly! I'm sure you already know that. 🙂
Maybe you both were hunters in past lives killing animals to make coats!! Just kidding ;-D It is clear now you are both wise men
To make dependent origination quite literal, basal cells are the cells in your skin that split/clone themselves into new skin cells, which eventually shed. Your sunburn as a child mutated the DNA in your basal cells so that that cell and every cell in that line afterward contains the same damaged DNA, until that DNA damage aggregates into cancer. (I work with skin for a living, so I could not resist!) You quite literally do not have the same DNA as an adult that you had when you were born. It is constantly being mutated as your cells replicate in your lifetime, so anatta even applies to DNA!
Great example, thanks Riki! Yes it is fascinating stuff when you look into it. I've tried reading about the mutations and so on but it's kind of over my head. 😄
What about genes?
Yes, indeed genes play a role. In my view (which is secular) justice isn't perfect so there are certainly going to be aspects of what happens to us that do not happen because of karma. This was true for the Buddha as well in fact, he did not believe that literally every good and bad thing that befell us did so because of our karma. Though some traditional believers may say that our genetic inheritance is partly karmic.
recover quickly.
Thanks Anthony, everything is going well. 🙂
In other words. "You reap what you sew" (get well soon :)
Pretty much! Thanks SpockBoy. 🙂
heir to my karma
Dear Doug,
how can you justify selling courses about the Buddhas teaching, if these teachings were once given for free, out of kindness and are considered to be priceless? I see that you put work into wrapping things up and letting the teachings speak in todays language, but still, I personally would not accept anything else but donations.
Hi AF, thanks for the question. I did a video about this question awhile back when I started making courses, giving my reasoning: ruclips.net/video/oYT5Ymm-zOE/видео.html
Hope you're better now. I think you have to do a lot of acrobacy to make Karma a good take on anything. Action-reaction is much more complex and interesting than Buddhist moralism. Plus, lots of stuff happen to "underserving" people and animals. This phrase sucks because the idea of merit sucks.
Karmic merit only becomes a problem if we believe it explains everything. We don’t need to believe this, and indeed even the Buddha rejected such an idea.
Stop beating yourself up. Sri Lankans spend a lot of time outdoors, with few consequences. BTW what exactly do you mean when you use the term secular?
This video might help a little: ruclips.net/video/yTxKgz8MeWg/видео.html
Slainte
Thanks John! 🙏