why is there suffering?

• ~b1RD_m4N~

  1 Jul 08, 20:07

  Why does the Sichuan earthquake happen?

  When theres babies being killed? Is this a way of life?

• An Eternal Now

  1 Jul 08, 22:59

  Whenever there are major catastrophes, it is the result of collective karma. As I explained in the other thread,

   

  However, it is possible that a group of people, committing the same deeds, plant the same kind of seeds, and as a result create what we call collective karma.

  That means, in each individual 8th consciousness mindstream, through the same sort of actions they performed together, they each form the same kind of imprints in their 8th consciousness. As a result, some time in the future when conditions are ripen, they will 'collectively' ripen together.

  Perhaps others can fill you with a better understanding and more examples.

  Karma is one part of the conditionings. There are 4 other conditionings, and when these conditionings (particularly Utu Niyama or the physical inorganic order and tectonic plate movements due to movement of magma) + karma meet, the death and destruction occurs. Total are five types of conditionings, the 5 Niyamas.

  http://www.kmspks.org/activities/bbc/bbc7.htm

   

  The Five Niyamas  -  The 5 Cosmic Orders  According to the Buddhism there are five orders or processes (Niyamas) which operate in the physical and mental realm.  They are :        1. Utu Niyama, physical inorganic order;            Examples  : 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. belong to this group.          2. Bija Niyama, order of germs and seeds (physical organic order);            Examples  : Rice produced from seed, sugary taste from sugar-cane or honey,                              and peculiar characteristics of certain fruits. The scientific theory of                              cells and genes and the similarity of twins may be ascribed to this                              order.          3. Kamma Niyama, order of an act and result;            Examples  : Desirable and undesirable acts produce corresponding good and                              bad results.          4. Dhamma Niyama, order of the norm;            Examples  : The natural phenomena occurring at the birth of a Bodhisatta in his                              last birth. Gravitation and other similar laws of nature, the reason                              for being good, etc. may be included in this group.          5. Citta Niyama, order of mind and psychic law;            Examples  : Processes of consciousness, constituents of consciousness, power                              of mind, including telepathy, telesthesia, retro-cognition,                              premonition, clairvoyance, clair-audience, thought-reading, and                              such other psychic phenomena, which are inexplicable to modern                              science.

• An Eternal Now

  1 Jul 08, 23:01

  Originally posted by ~b1RD_m4N~:

  Why does the Sichuan earthquake happen?

  When theres babies being killed? Is this a way of life?

  As for babies being killed, it is generally due to ignorance. It is very sad.

  The result of our being ignorant and not liberated means the 3 poisons, Greed, Hatred, Ignorance will always affect us, resulting in endless sufferings.

• ~b1RD_m4N~

  2 Jul 08, 16:13

  so, does that mean, that people can be doomed to death for what their ancestors did in the past (without even knowing it)?

  And theres no definitive reasons for the bad karma that happens to babies, and we only can take it as it just happened?

• An Eternal Now

  2 Jul 08, 19:51

  Originally posted by ~b1RD_m4N~:

  so, does that mean, that people can be doomed to death for what their ancestors did in the past (without even knowing it)?

  And theres no definitive reasons for the bad karma that happens to babies, and we only can take it as it just happened?

  No, karma does not pass down from ancestors. That is a false concept and Buddha never taught that. Karma are imprints and conditionings in our 8th consciousness, and each stream of consciousness is individual and unique. There is no shared consciousness from ancestor and so on.

  Next, karma is a process that continues on to the afterlife. That means the baby that suffers also have karma brought over from the past life. When the various conditionings such as karma are met, plus he met an ignorant parent, he gets killed.

  So, we should be careful of our mind, speech, action, not to create unwholesome karma that will result in pain and suffering in this and the future lives.