[(JD)]

The Law of Karma
In Buddhist teaching, the law of karma, says only this: `for every event that occurs, there will follow another event whose existence was caused by the first, and this second event will be pleasant or unpleasant according as its cause was skillful or unskillful.' A skillful event is one that is not accompanied by craving, resistance or delusions; an unskillful event is one that is accompanied by any one of those things. (Events are not skillful in themselves, but are so called only in virtue of the mental events that occur with them.)
Therefore, the law of Karma teaches that responsibility for unskillful actions is born by the person who commits them.

Let's take an example of a sequence of events. An unpleasant sensation occurs. A thought arises that the source of the unpleasantness was a person. (This thought is a delusion; any decisions based upon it will therefore be unskillful.) A thought arises that some past sensations of unpleasantness issued from this same person. (This thought is a further delusion.) This is followed by a willful decision to speak words that will produce an unpleasant sensation in that which is perceived as a person. (This decision is an act of hostility. Of all the events described so far, only this is called a karma.) Words are carefully chosen in the hopes that when heard they will cause pain. The words are pronounced aloud. (This is the execution of the decision to be hostile. It may also be classed as a kind of karma, although technically it is an after-karma.) There is a visual sensation of a furrowed brow and downturned mouth. The thought arises that the other person's face is frowning. The thought arises that the other person's feelings were hurt. There is a fleeting joyful feeling of success in knowing that one has scored a damaging verbal blow. Eventually (perhaps much later) there is an unpleasant sensation of regret, perhaps taking the form of a sensation of fear that the perceived enemy may retaliate, or perhaps taking the form of remorse on having acted impetuously, like an immature child, and hping that no one will remember this childish action. (This regret or fear is the unpleasant ripening of the karma, the unskillful decision to inflict pain through words.)

If there are no persons at all, then there is no self and no other. There is no distinction between pain of which there is direct sensual awareness (which is conventionally called one's own pain) and pain that is known through inference (conventionally called another person's pain). Whether pain is known directly or indirectly, there is either an urge to quell it or an urge to cultivate it. Whether joy is known directly or indirectly, there is either an urge to nourish it or to quell it. In the conventional language of speaking of events personally, the urge to quell all pain and to nourish all joy is known as being ethical or skillful or (if you like) good. The urge to nourish pain and quell joy is known as being unskillful, unethical or bad.

Being fully ethical is said to be impossible for those who make a distinction between self and other and show preference for the perceived self over the perceived other, for such perceptions inhibit being fully responsive. Being fully ethical is possible only for those who realize that all persons are empty, that is, devoid of personhood.

[wisewoman]

Sky, how do you keep this stuff in your brain? Excellent post. I have done and continue to do buddhist readings when time and motivation allow. Thanks.

[SeptemberMorn]

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Therefore, the law of Karma teaches that responsibility for unskillful actions is born by the person who commits them.

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Is this before or after the age of reason?

Since we are in a mental health forum where we all live with one form or another of mental illness, just how much does that weigh in favor or against "responsibility"?

[eskielover]

_Sky,

Yes, how do you keep hold on all this thinking & the understanding involved to make sense from what is said. I think for me to grasp the meaning fully, I would need to "flow chart" the logic involved. The concepts & how they apply to life seems rather complex for my simple mind....but are valuable thoughts for us to thing about.

Thank you for your deep thinking....I like it when the thoughts provide a challenge to our minds to understand how they apply to our own lives.

Debbie

[(JD)]

They aren't my words in order. </font><blockquote><div id="quote"><font class="small">Quote:</font>
http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/freenet/r...hs/karma2.html

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Here is another way: </font><blockquote><div id="quote"><font class="small">Quote:</font>
Karma
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other uses, see Karma (disambiguation)
Basic definition: Karma is a sanskrit word and a concept of eastern religions. Simply explained, it is a sum of all that an individual has once done during many lives and is currently doing. The effects of those deeds actively create present and future experiences, thus making one responsible for one's own life.
Karma (Sanskrit: कर्म), or Kamma (Pali) 'action, effect, destiny'. In Hinduism and, later, Buddhism, it is the sum of a person's actions, regarded as determining that person's future states of existence. The law of Karma originated in the Vedic system of religion, otherwise known as Hinduism or Sanatan Dharma (perennial faith). As a term, it can at the latest be traced back to the early Upanishads, around 1500 BC.

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Kind of like Newton's law about cause and effect?
However, like many good therapies, it says that we are responsible for how we are affected; how we act or react. IMO This is true even to the point that another can be the "cause" but the moment WE determine THEY are the cause, WE are now the cause of our distress. This is especially true for those of us who suffer with mental unwellness... which is proof that we have allowed others' actions to continue to affect us negatively. In a way, this is hopeful, for believing this way we can now have some control and begin to change things for the better for us.