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| Karma has no value |
fullofnothing - 2/5/2009 19:14 |
The first commenter was almost correct. Certainly Bad Karma is not an oxymoron since the meaning of the word karma, which has various interpretations into English I'll cover in a second, is not associated with "good." However, I've never heard this conception that is supposedly common that karma is only "good. " Maybe some must believe this (or this would not have been posted in the first place), but in my experience I've never heard of anyone doing so until now.
In my study and understanding of the word, it more approximately means both action and reaction, or actions and their consequences, or in scientific terms, cause and effect. Also, the word originates in Sanskrit through the Hindu and Tantric philosophies, not Buddhism. In any case, the idea that Karma is either good or bad is what is erroneous here. Karma as cause and effect is simply natural law and has no inherent moral or feeling value. This is what Westerners make of the concept when they hear of it due to our Good/Evil cosmology and our reward and punishment eschatology, yet Eastern philosophies in general are not so simple-minded. Karma has also been linked to the word wheel, as in the turning of the Karmic wheel of death and rebirth. No life ever lived is wholly bad or good, and thus no consequences of any rebirth are wholly bad or good. No is any act ever committed wholly bad or good. Karma as a natural law is neutral, and it is only people who place the good and bad labels upon it.
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