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Expert Yogi
Posts: 5098
 
Location: Somewhere in the Mountains of Western NC | gogirl58 - 2005-07-26 10:40 PM
Could you say more about reaping our cosmic karma globally? I really don't understand.
Well, we have karma to deal with on a personal level. I think we have a basic understanding of that don't we?
As a nation, a community, the world, we have karma as well. So, for instance, say you were in a tribal village or lets use Tibet as a good example. A long time ago before Buddhism, Tibet and China fought terrible wars. Tibetans actually were the stronger ones and did some pretty nasty things to the Chinese people. Then later on Padmasambava brought Buddhism to Tibet from India and it flourished throughout the region. Some Tibetans say that the situation going on in that country right now and what happened in 1959 when the Dalai Lama had to flee and thousands of Tibetans were killed, was due to Karmic results of the past. Now, we can look at this many different ways. We could say, the Tibetans deserved it and should be punished...but, what if the Chinese people today had more compassion about the past and the present, think about what could really happen if the Chinese were more forgiving and decided to break the patterns or karma and unite peacefully, giving the Tibetans back their country. Just Imagine as John Lennon would say. There are so many examples in our world today about karmic results. Look at America. Look at our prisons and see how many people really need to be or should be there and the petty crimes they committed. The Native American Indians also had their karma and lost their land to the settlers and the British that came here. So, whatever the karma may be, we always have a choice to make it better or worse - if we could see beyond our pettiness. If we are totally aware and mindful (which is what a good yoga practice can do for you), we could see wonderful things happen in our world. If we continue with the BS, we are on a downhill slide. It's very simple. It gets worse with every generation, because our children will be the ones who suffer and they will have to pay for our misdeads. So, bottom line is that you should live every day as if it were your last, time is wasted every moment that you are not spending it on self-discovery or self-realization. Sure we have to make money and live, but that truely is not what our main priority should be, we just think it is because that is what we have been programmed by society to believe. Hope that helps and I hope you were truly sincere in asking the question, cause that is my sincere answer..If you want more details you really need to go ask a Swami. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 338
| thanks |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 338
| I realize we are waaay off the stated subject, but here we are
I have on and off throughout this day about this concept of "group karma". It seems that many of today's
Chinese were not chinese in their past lives. I think of Karma as having to do with themes, loss, illness, war etc. On a national or international level we are talking about many generations
of people, and all of them have their own spiritual destinies. If there is reincarnation, then they
have their own histories separate from their families.
Even if their is a "group Karma", a white person in America today, is not responsible for the
white people in America 150 years ago. 150 years ago, most of our ancestors were oppressed in some other country ( or this one).
I am sure there are smarter and more astute analyses of these issue, but I wanted to share my thoughts. |
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| gogirl58 - 2005-07-28 1:08 AM
I have on and off throughout this day about this concept of "group karma". It seems that many of today's
Chinese were not chinese in their past lives.
Now how in the world do you know that??? |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 5098
Location: Somewhere in the Mountains of Western NC | GoGirl,
Its not that cut and dry. The dharma says that we have had countless lives - countLESS. Meaning that sure you could have been Chinese, American, whatever. How many times have you been a Chinese??? How many times you have been an American???...does not matter. Most people really don't have a clue. Your still responsible. We ALL are. There are also so many different worlds, dimensions that you have no way of truly knowing this unless you are a complete enlightened being, and then even knowing it, you wouldn't live out of the past, you would live in the present. You would be living from everything.
Don't let the Chinese kid you, they were Chinese in their past lives. Just like I've been a rotten early American Settler at one point of my lives, but I have also been on the other side of the Native Americans too!! Oh, and Asia..yep, been there too. Actually, we ALL have lived across the board at some point in time. So, knowing that and then the global responsibility that we have...is kinda scary when you take a look at what is happening in the world. |
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| i tend to think of the concept of 'countless lifetimes' and 'world karma' going something like this:
since we're all 'one' thing, or no-thing, then we're all simultaneously living all lives at once. IN the past, we lived all lives at onces. in the future, we'll live all lives at once. My experience, personally, is part of the whole experience. your experience is part of the whole experience. because i am, truly, the whole; and you are, truly, the whole, then we are one experience which seems to have multiple aspects. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 5098
Location: Somewhere in the Mountains of Western NC | Well, this just came into my mailbox this morning. I love it when this happens at the exact perfect timing. Anyway, this is what the Dalai Lama says about karma, Enjoy!
...karma refers not only to our actions but, more importantly, to the motivation or intention behind them. The acts themselves are not the primary cause of our suffering; rather, it arises from the world of our intentions or, in other words, from our thoughts and emotions. These afflictive states of mind underlie our negative karma and are therefore the source of our suffering.
Obviously, these afflictions won't go away simply by saying prayers or wishing them away; they can only be eliminated by cultivating their corresponding remedies or antidotes. To understand how this process of applying the antidote works we can observe our physical world. For instance, we can contrast heat and cold: if we are suffering from the effects of too cold a temperature, then we increase the thermometer on our heater or air-conditioning unit and adjust it to our comfort. Thus, even in the physical world we can see instances where opposing forces counter each other.
...From our own personal experience we recognise that anger and hostility disturb our peace of mind and, more importantly, that they have the potential to harm others. Conversely, we recognise that positive emotions like compassion and loving kindness can engender in us a deep sense of peace and serenity, beneficial results that we can extend to others as well. This appreciation of their great value naturally leads to a desire to cultivate these positive emotions. It is through this gradual process that the antidotes work in decreasing and eventually eliminating their opposing forces in the mental realm, the realm of our thoughts and emotions.
-- by His Holiness the Dalai Lama from Lighting the Way, published by Snow Lion Publications
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Expert Yogi
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| zoebird - yes! We tend to think of living our countless lives as a linear thing because that is how we think in this world. But time may not be linear!  It is an interesting concept and a bit overwhelming to someone who may just be beginning to consider the idea of reincarnation. People just really need to watch a lot more Star Trek so they can be exposed to these concepts   Seriously though, imagine that time is more malleable than we have been taught to believe. So you may have been a cave dweller, at the building of the pyramids etc. but try to wrap your mind around the possibility that you are either living these all now, simultaneously as zoebird says or that you may still have to live these "past" lives in the "future" of your soul. It gives the mind something to keep it occupied for a while! |
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| Right on.
The Fish Rots From the Head Down. Bikram down on down to the teachers. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| Do fish really rot from the head down? That is a new expression to me |
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bikram bad teachers.
