Buddhist Doctrine Of Karma Essay -- essays research papers fc

The Buddhist doctrine of karma ("deeds", "actions"), and the closely related doctrine of rebirth, are perhaps the best known, and often the least understood, of Buddhist doctrines. The matter is complicated by the fact that the other Indian religious traditions of Hinduism and Jainism have their own theories of Karma and Reincarnation. It is in fact the Hindu versions that are better known in the West. The Buddhist theory of karma and rebirth are quite distinct from their other Indian counterparts. In Buddhism the law of karma is the moral law of causation - good actions give good results and vice versa. It is the quality of an act, which determines its consequences. But what determines the karmic quality of a deed? In Hinduism it is the correct performance of a person's "duty", especially his caste duties that counts. Early Buddhism, which recognized no caste distinctions, evaluates the karmic quality of an act in terms of moral and ethical criteria. In particular it is the mental factors, which accompany the commission of deed that determines its consequences or "fruits" (vipà ¢ka). All negative karma (i.e. those leading to bad consequences) arise from the three roots of unwholesomeness. These are greed (lobha), aversion (dosa), and delusion (moha). Accordingly good karmic results follow from deeds that spring from generosity (caga), loving-kindness (mettà ¢) and wisdom (vijjà ¢). The Buddha emphasized that it is the mental factors involved rather than the deeds themselves that determine future consequences. Thus the same deed committed with different mental factors will have different consequences. Likewise purely accidental deeds may have neutral consequences, however if the accident occurred because insufficient mindfulness was exercised it could have adverse results for the person responsible for it. The theory of karma presupposes that individuals have "free will". Everything that happens to an individual is not the fruit of some past karma. In fact the experiences that involve an individual may be of three kinds: some are the result of past action, some are deliberately committed free acts; and the remainder could be due to chance factors operating in the environment. The doctrine of karma is not a theory of predestination of any kind. One common misunderstanding is not to distinguish between the action an... ...vana is a representation of someone becoming enlightened in this life. It seems as though Christians tend to emphasize too greatly the importance of acceptance into the Kingdom of Heaven. Buddhists believe it is not the deeds themselves, but the mental factors involved in making those decisions that determine later consequences. We, as Catholics, should at least try to follow that example. Because it seems that all too often Christians over look the fact that they should not overlook the fact that they only have a certain amount of time to do things right in this lifetime, because heaven is never ending. In order to live better lives; Christians should learn as much as possible about religions that are alien to them. They should adopt ideals that make sense to them in their daily lives. And finally, they should be proud that they share similar ideals as many of the worlds other great religions. Bibliography Berchol, Samuel The Buddha and his Teachings. New York: Barnes and Noble books, 1997 Gurasekara, Victor A. Basic Buddhism. London: Buddhist Monk Press, 1997 Kaufman, Walter Religions, in Four Dimensions .New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1976