Do not Condemn or Insult Other Religions
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Well, the only persons who do not inherit kamma, whether good or bad, are the buddha and arahants.Originally posted by oxford mushroom:So you mean all handicapped persons are so because they did evil in their past life? If I am not mistaken, a UK Minister was sacked for saying that before...
Pls note kamma means results of actions, whether good or bad.
if you done good, deeds, you will be blessed with good fortune later, if you done bad deeds, you will be punish by bad kamma later on, whether in this life or the next, there is no escape.
The Buddha said, not in the heaven, nor mid ocean, that one can escape from the effects of kamma.
Kamma is inpersonal and is the way or nature of how our world acts. -
The concept of karma applies to everyone regardless of his faith. Ditto for the threefold law.
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frankly i find such reasoning hard to accept.Originally posted by oxford mushroom:So you mean all handicapped persons are so because they did evil in their past life? If I am not mistaken, a UK Minister was sacked for saying that before...
i do bad this lifetime and will get punished the next. at my next life i dont even know who i was in my last life. -
Euthanasia or abortion or killing, who gave you the right to take away other people's life, especially a life with consciousness and emotion.
If you want to have a peace of mind, do not kill or injure other living beings.
How can one get a peace of mind, if one is to kill another living being.
You won't get salvation through killing, as simple as that, common sense.
Thats why the Buddha first precept is not kill. -
Well, then can you accept reasoning using god analogy?Originally posted by dragg:frankly i find such reasoning hard to accept.
i do bad this lifetime and will get punished the next. at my next life i dont even know who i was in my last life.
Kamma is impersonal and is the law of the world. It is neither good nor bad, just that the only way not to accumulate kamma is attain Nirvana.
Mind you, even the Buddha and arahants, even when they have attained Enlightenment and does not accumulate anymore kamma as it is their last rebirth, they still suffer the effects of their past lives kamma.
Case in point is, the Buddha took 6 years to achieve enlightenment through austere self mortification before he realises the middle path is the way to enlightenment. It was said that during his past life, he was angry with his parents and drew out the sword, wanting to strike his parents, but later withdrew from the thought.
Even though he did not strike his parents with the sword, but the bad thought causes him to suffer for the 6 years before his enlightenment. -
Thats not the point. The point is, there is no escape from the effects of kamma, whether good or bad. There is neutral kamma, ie no good or bad kamma, like walking, sleeping, watching tv or reading a book.Originally posted by dragg:frankly i find such reasoning hard to accept.
i do bad this lifetime and will get punished the next. at my next life i dont even know who i was in my last life.
If you insulted a person online, you will have kamma on this as the intention is to insult that person, even though it is on the world wide web.
Hence, intention is the key to understand kamma.
If you kill an insect accidentally, cos you did not realise it was there, so the intention was not there. -
that still dont explain my concern.Originally posted by marcteng:Thats not the point. The point is, there is no escape from the effects of kamma, whether good or bad. There is neutral kamma, ie no good or bad kamma, like walking, sleeping, watching tv or reading a book.
If you insulted a person online, you will have kamma on this as the intention is to insult that person, even though it is on the world wide web.
Hence, intention is the key to understand kamma.
If you kill an insect accidentally, cos you did not realise it was there, so the intention was not there.
i dont even know who i am gonna be in my next life. why should i be concerned about the karma in my next life? -
Our karmic seeds we planted today (this life) will dictake who we are and where we go the next life.Originally posted by dragg:that still dont explain my concern.
i dont even know who i am gonna be in my next life. why should i be concerned about the karma in my next life? -
Who will know where and which realm they are going to go in their next life?Originally posted by dragg:that still dont explain my concern.
i dont even know who i am gonna be in my next life. why should i be concerned about the karma in my next life?
Unless you are a bodhisattva, you will know where and which realm you will be reborn as.
Practitioners of Pureland Buddhism will go to Amitabha Pureland when they die. What do you reckon of people like Osama, hitler next life will be?
Whether you like it or not, believe kamma or not, doesnt matter as it is the nature of the world of how it works. -
Conventionally speaking: it is the same person.Originally posted by dragg:that still dont explain my concern.
i dont even know who i am gonna be in my next life. why should i be concerned about the karma in my next life?
Picture that you are in a situation whereby you're surrounded and if you step just one step forward you're going to be shot. Would you say 'since I don't know exactly what I am going to be the next moment, why not I just step forward and get shot la?' -
Just because a murderer suddenly suffers amnesia he should be exempted from death sentence?Originally posted by dragg:frankly i find such reasoning hard to accept.
i do bad this lifetime and will get punished the next. at my next life i dont even know who i was in my last life.
What's more, these memories can be recalled again. Through past life regression, meditation etc. I am not advising people to purposely recall it though.
My friend Thusness tells me that even when you recall, you may not be able to cope and understand the full meaning of it. He also says that when a person reach a certain meditative absorption, at that moment, the entire body will recall, not just the mind. This is because memories is not just in the mind.
There is NO escape from karma at all. Just like if you planted an apple seed, an orange tree will not grow from it. -
Originally posted by An Eternal Now:
I recall my memories and found out my face is in a museum.....
Just because a murderer suddenly suffers amnesia he should be exempted from death sentence?
What's more, these memories can be recalled again. Through past life regression, meditation etc. I am not advising people to purposely recall it though.
My friend Thusness tells me that even when you recall, you may not be able to cope and understand the full meaning of it. He also says that when a person reach a certain meditative absorption, at that moment, the entire body will recall, not just the mind. This is because memories is not just in the mind.
There is NO escape from karma at all. Just like [b]if you planted an apple seed, an orange tree will not grow from it.[/b]
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Originally posted by An Eternal Now:
THought Buddhism opposed capital punishment?
Just because a murderer suddenly suffers amnesia he should be exempted from death sentence?
What's more, these memories can be recalled again. Through past life regression, meditation etc. I am not advising people to purposely recall it though.
My friend Thusness tells me that even when you recall, you may not be able to cope and understand the full meaning of it. He also says that when a person reach a certain meditative absorption, at that moment, the entire body will recall, not just the mind. This is because memories is not just in the mind.
There is NO escape from karma at all. Just like [b]if you planted an apple seed, an orange tree will not grow from it.[/b] -
Sorry, I meant it as an example only. I think the law do not exempt people who forgot what they did but all evidence is against him.Originally posted by TIB1133B:THought Buddhism opposed capital punishment?
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Who??Originally posted by maggot:I recall my memories and found out my face is in a museum..... 
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A bad guyOriginally posted by An Eternal Now:Who?? 
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It seems extremely cruel to tell the handicapped that they are who they are because of some great sins in their previous lives. It may also exacerbate the discrimination they already face by giving society a pretext to victimize them further on the grounds that they are reaping the just rewards of past sins.Originally posted by marcteng:Well, the only persons who do not inherit kamma, whether good or bad, are the buddha and arahants.
Pls note kamma means results of actions, whether good or bad.
if you done good, deeds, you will be blessed with good fortune later, if you done bad deeds, you will be punish by bad kamma later on, whether in this life or the next, there is no escape.
The Buddha said, not in the heaven, nor mid ocean, that one can escape from the effects of kamma.
Kamma is inpersonal and is the way or nature of how our world acts. -
There is never an easy way to explain to a handicap why he is a handicapped. From the scientific angle, we can tell him we don't know how his handicap comes about, and we dont know why he is the only one in about a hundred thousand people to suffer this. (In other words, tell the handicapped that he is a freak and/ or genetic accident). From the monotheistic religious angle, we can tell him that this is God's will and He choose to make you so for a reason only He knows. None of these explanations are easy.Originally posted by oxford mushroom:It seems extremely cruel to tell the handicapped that they are who they are because of some great sins in their previous lives. It may also exacerbate the discrimination they already face by giving society a pretext to victimize them further on the grounds that they are reaping the just rewards of past sins.
However, the point of Buddhism is not to rub it into the handicapped and to exacerbate their discrimination, but rather to explain the phenomena of his handicap. Whats more important for us Buddhists is to help these handicap in anyway we can and to alleviate their suffering. Buddhists are not to sit back, do nothing, and claim that these handicapped are reaping a just karmic consequence. Compassion is afterall the theme for all Buddhists.
If we can help these handicapped and alleviate their sufferings, then that just mean that in their lives, these handicapped has also done something good to mitigate their karmic misdeeds. -
We must also practice to live in the very present moment. (Dang1 Xia4). Whatever happened in the past is passed. Whatever will happen in the future will come and for most we can't see it with our naked eyes. Alway keep our mind at peace and pure.
Everything is yin1 (cause) and guo3 (result) just focus on present moment to do good yin - do not focus much about the past and do not anticipate or worry much about the future, as it will all come naturally (do not Pan1 Yuan2). Be a NOWIST and have a sense of NOWNESS. -
Originally posted by Beyond Religion:
I was about to reply the same thing when i saw your post.
There is never an easy way to explain to a handicap why he is a handicapped. From the scientific angle, we can tell him we don't know how his handicap comes about, and we dont know why he is the only one in about a hundred thousand people to suffer this. (In other words, tell the handicapped that he is a freak and/ or genetic accident). From the monotheistic religious angle, we can tell him that this is God's will and He choose to make you so for a reason only He knows. None of these explanations are easy.
However, the point of Buddhism is not to rub it into the handicapped and to exacerbate their discrimination, but rather to explain the phenomena of his handicap. Whats more important for us Buddhists is to help these handicap in anyway we can and to alleviate their suffering. Buddhists are [b]not to sit back, do nothing, and claim that these handicapped are reaping a just karmic consequence. Compassion is afterall the theme for all Buddhists.
If we can help these handicapped and alleviate their sufferings, then that just mean that in their lives, these handicapped has also done something good to mitigate their karmic misdeeds.
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True, while there may be elements of bad karma from previous life or from any other reasons I dont want to go guessing, more often than not, I see Buddhists preach compassion towards the handicapped and set up charities rather than preaching about karma to the disabled. -
Firstly, not all agree that a foetus is a living thing. That is from the scientific view. However, from a religious stand, I believe that everything is alive. But it doesn't mean that they have emotion or conscious. If a baby has emotion right from the start they are born, why would we need to teach them the right and wrong? If they have conscious, would we need to teach them?Originally posted by marcteng:Euthanasia or abortion or killing, who gave you the right to take away other people's life, especially a life with consciousness and emotion.
If you want to have a peace of mind, do not kill or injure other living beings.
How can one get a peace of mind, if one is to kill another living being.
You won't get salvation through killing, as simple as that, common sense.
Thats why the Buddha first precept is not kill. -
Not knowing the world yet doesnt mean they are not conscious and cannot feel pain. And as my article has suggested, foetus of the 1-3 months already has heartbeat and formation of a human. Although the legal period for abortion is much longer than that.Originally posted by ndmmxiaomayi:Firstly, not all agree that a foetus is a living thing. That is from the scientific view. However, from a religious stand, I believe that everything is alive. But it doesn't mean that they have emotion or conscious. If a baby has emotion right from the start they are born, why would we need to teach them the right and wrong? If they have conscious, would we need to teach them? -
I agree with what Shade343 said. In fact , Judaism, Islam , Christianity, all three religions share the same God. And Judaism is the mother of Christianity that is to say Christianity comes from Judaism. The Old Testament is Jewish scriptures.Jesus Christ gone to India to learn Buddhism and Hinduism before.All religions have Doomdays Teachings, including Buddhism which has a future Buddha calls Maitreya coming to save the world.
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this is my case.... (regarding foetus)
when i knew i was pregnant, i just felt naturally there's another living thing living inside together with me. be it a foetus of 2months or more so forth, sometimes i could feel its heart beat and movement around inside the womb tummy. its alive just like me...
abortion is cruel but in modern society where people have many different needs and reasons they opt for this solution to remove from having kids. sometimes its sad sometimes no choice...... but killing is involved in abortion where a healthy alive normal foetus is concerned. its important to use precaution if not planning for babies cos "accidents" do happen as nothing is 100% safe.
i experienced miscarriage too. thats my cause and effect. cos from young i never eat enough healthy tonic nourishing food and have always been stressful busy with work....
or.... is that my karma?
the doctor told me to abort the 2.5months old foetus cos its unhealthy died already inside my womb.... -
Actually, the fact is, you do know who you were in your last life. You just need to discover it yourself. Its somewhere in your memories. When the time is right, you will know how to access it.Originally posted by dragg:frankly i find such reasoning hard to accept.
i do bad this lifetime and will get punished the next. at my next life i dont even know who i was in my last life.