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Buddhism
"There should be no distinction between enemy or friend. All
people have a Buddha Nature inside and should be respected."
The Buddha
"I have come to deeply feel that all
people are one. I have also felt that all religions are one. Therefore,
in the future, those of us who have religious belief should not
become self-righteous. We must respect other religious and create
great harmony among us. What I mean by this is to nurture within
ourselves the spirit of learning from the good within others. When
we try to learn from others, in form and in spirit, I believe we
are already reaping the fruits of harmony. If we return hatred with
hatred it only leads to more hatred, not salvation."
Shinjo-Ito, Co-founder of Shinnyo-en Buddhism*
*If you would like to know more about Shinnyo-en Esoteric
Buddhism, please
ask us (via email)!
The
Shinnyo-en Foundation bringing peace and harmony
to the world with acts of charity.
We have members in our community who are buddhist. Here one
of our sisters explains her experience with the aspect of buddhism
called "Karma."
Karma
"Holding on to anger is like grasping
a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are
the one who gets burned." - The Buddha
We are indeed in the end times as different religions have prophesied.
One aspect of these end times is that of a “Spiritual Awakening”
by all of humanity, which is God outpouring His Divine Wisdom and
Grace upon the Earth in a continually growing stream. This spiritual
awareness has been granted to people of all religions and faiths.
In this discussion of Karma, I would like to quote the Dalai Lama
from the book, "The Art of Happiness":
"How can we deal with the feeling of unfairness that so
often seems to torture us when problems arise?" The Dalai
Lama replied, "there may be a variety of ways that one
might deal with the feeling that one's suffering is unfair.
I've already spoken of the importance of accepting suffering
as a natural fact of human existence. And I think that in some
ways Tibetans might be in a better position to accept the reality
of these difficult situation, because they will say, 'Maybe
it is because of my Karma in the past.' They will attribute
it to negative actions committed in either this or a previous
life, and so there is a greater degree of acceptance.
...there is a tendency to blame everything on Karma and try
to exonerate oneself from the responsibility or from the need
to take personal initiative. One could quite easily say, 'This
is due to my past Karma, my negative past Karma, and what can
I do? I am helpless' this is a totally wrong understanding of
Karma, because although one's experiences are a consequence
of one's past deeds, that does not mean that the individual
has no choice or that there is no room for initiative to change,
to bring about positive change.
Negative karma effects EVERYONE, even Christians who believe that
Christ took every sin to the Cross with Him. Yes, Jesus did die
for our sins, thus cleansing us of our sins, but we need to live
pure lives in order to live the life
that Jesus wants us to. Jesus' plan, His Way for us, if we truly
lived it, will create for us, nothing but good karma, peace and
harmony in this world. Too many people use the Bible as a means
to spread division, hatred, and bigotry. Jesus gave us the "new"
commandment.."love one another as I have loved you." He
did not say, "love only those who believe in Me" or "love
only those you approve of." No. He said, "love one another"
with no qualifiers! If we truly lived this way, the world would
be peace filled and harmonious...not strife with wars, division,
suffering etc. It is NOT just Christians who are "reading into"
Sacred Scripture...but people of ANY faith who take Sacred Scripture
and use it to accomplish their own agenda, imposing their own
"sacred" rules to the rest of the world. Living this way,
imposing our views on others, will only create more negative karma
for ourselves and those we love. Living in the way Jesus described.."loving
EVERYONE" will only create good karma (or blessings) for ourselves
and our families.
Karma is defined by the Buddha as: 'I am
the owner of my actions (kamma), heir to my actions,
born from my actions, related through my actions, and have my actions
as my judge. Whatever I do - for good or for evil - that I will
inherit...'
The Sanskrit word Karma literally means action. In Buddhism, karma
mainly refers to one's intention or motivation
while doing an action. Similarly, as it
says in The Bible, Proverbs 16:2 "You may think everything
you do is right, but the Lord judges your motives."
The shortest explanation of karma that I know is: 'you get what
you give'. In other words; whatever you do
intentionally to others,
a similar thing will happen to yourself in the future. Our largest
obstacle to understanding or even believing in karma may be time.
The re-actions or results of our actions show up with a time delay,
and it becomes extremely hard to tell which action caused which
result. Actions done in a previous life can create results in this
life, but who can remember their past life? For ordinary humans,
the mechanisms of karma can be intellectually understood, but never
completely "seen". Two of my favorite reasons to believe
in karma (whether you believe in reincarnation or not), are 1) that
it represents ultimate justice as everyone will harvest the results
of their actions, and 2) even if karma would not exist, as long
as I try to avoid negative actions, the world would be a better
place to live.
The Buddha said: "Do not think a
small sin will not return in your future lives. Just
as falling drops of water will fill a large container, the little
sins that steadfast accumulate will completely overwhelm
you.
Do not think a small virtue will
not return in your future lives. Just as falling drops of water
will fill a large container, the little
virtues that steadfast accumulate will completely overwhelm
you."
So in other words, even slight negative actions accumulate, as
well as slight positive actions accumulate, to come into fulfillment
in our lifetime. I know many, many true stories of people who had
sons, daughters, mothers, sisters, brothers, fathers, uncles all
go through some kind of physical or mental tragedy because of the
accumulation of negative karma. The bad news is ...karma can effect
those we love if we don't suffer through the ripening of our own
negative actions. I know of people who have died horrible, terrible
deaths, because of negative karma from deceased relatives who never
suffered through the ripening of their negative deeds. The good
news is, I also know the opposite, I've known people who realizing
the consequences of their actions, have immediately changed their
lives, living a life of purity, love and service to others, and
their parents or loved ones that were near death died peacefully
in Grace from the ripening of the positive actions of their loved
one. (if you would like to know the actual full accounts of these
and other stories ...please email
me.) So the very painful reality is this, even if you do some
terrible action to someone, the suffering that the action accumulated
MIGHT NOT EFFECT YOU, BUT YOUR FAMILY OR LOVED ONES! Take for instance
the recent case of Martha Stewart who caused thousands of little
investors, to lose their life savings when she dumped her stock
after learning through insider trading, that it would drastically
lose value. Even though she's going to prison (maybe), depending
on the appeals, do you think that even years of prison time is the
karmic payment for such disregard of fellow humans? No.
Sadder still is the fact that Martha's negative karma, might not
ever effect Martha (in this life), but her daughter or other future
loved ones!
If you think that negative karma refers ONLY to actual positive
or negative ACTIONS, it does not...it almost always refers
to YOUR INTENT OR MOTIVE. For example, even if you do the
smallest daily action or deed with GREAT LOVE in your heart (altruistic
love ...which is serving others not yourself or your own agenda),
you can change your life from one of constantly creating negative
karma to constantly creating good karma. But this creating negative
or positive karma also goes into FORGIVING THE BAD THAT OTHERS DO
TO US! Jesus said to always forgive those who do wrong to you, to
"pray for those who persecute you." He really meant that.
He knew that if we all did that, this world would be filled with
Positive Karma and Grace. Forgiveness is NOT AN OPTION, it is a
NECESSITY in order to NOT create negative karma for ourselves and
those we love. I have experienced many times over situations where
I remained angry at someone for doing something to me (perhaps even
unintentionally). Then months or even years later, I am fatefully
in a situation where I AM THE ONE DOING THE HURTING...(also perhaps
quite unintentionally), and I am forced to beg forgiveness, and
not get it...simply because I neglected to forgive the person who
hurt me. Forgiveness means, letting go of the anger and vengeful
feelings that we have attached to the pain done to us. It means
putting yourself in the other persons shoes and saying, "if
this person KNEW what they did to me (were enlightened spiritually
about it), they would not do it. Thus I will forgive them because
we are all human, and I have or could do the same thing to others."
I tell you, if you do not forgive, you will wind up doing what you
won't forgive to others, and you will feel the pain of wanting to
be forgiven but not be forgiven! One of our sisters here is writing
a book called, "Congratulations, your baby is a boy and a girl"
that illustrates many of the principles I've talked about here in
actual real-life examples. If you have further questions, please
email me,
I will be happy to write back.
So how do you get rid of negative karma? By living LOVE. Altruistic
love that is. Live your life in service of others, for others without
any expectation of repayment, forgive any hurts against you no matter
how difficult, pray for the consolation of our dead relatives and
friends, and love everyone with no distinction between friend or
foe. This is the way to bring about true, lasting joy and happiness
and good karma/virtue to ourselves, our loved ones, and the world.
What does it mean to love or live "altruistically." It
means giving EVERYTHING you have, say, and do, for the sake of others
either physically, spiritually or mentally. Many saints have given
everything for the sake of others. Saint Therese of Lisieux offered
her many good deeds, merits and virtues she accumulated to God for
the benefit of other souls. She kept no merit for herself. She is
one of the Catholic Church's greatest saints, because she knew that
in giving everything to God for the sake of others, when she died
she would indeed be "poor-in-spirit" and have no merit
left save for that merit that God kept because of her selflessness.
Any act or deed can be transformed into positive karma/virtue by
simply doing it with love in your heart and serving others, not
yourself (or your reputation). Especially beneficial are good acts
which NO ONE SEES except ourselves and God. Praying for the dead
is one of the most important positive karmic things we can do. Not
only does it bring consolation to the souls in the spiritual world,
but it comes back to us as good karma or blessings. Those dead souls
we pray for, then pray for us, bringing us much needed Grace and
blessings. If you think, "how could praying for my dead aunt
help me now?" then think of this...we are the only ones who
can help the dead the most. Without our prayers the dead go un-consoled
for a long time until someone prays for them. In the Catholic faith,
there has been hundreds of years of praying for the poor souls in
purgatory...this is something that brings much consolation not only
to our deceased loved ones, but also brings us much blessings, because
as these souls elevate, they in turn pray for us, bringing us much
blessings and joy. If you would like to read more about this subject
click here to read a text version of a small book called "Read
Me or Rue it" by Fr. Paul O'Sullivan. It explains much
about the sufferings of deceased souls.
So, how do you bring yourself good karma/virtue(and peace to the
world)...
- Live life in LOVE, altruistic love, having HARMONY with ALL
those around you, ESPECIALLY those closest to you like your family,
friends, co-workers and those you interact with
- Forgive and pray for all those that hurt you
- Pray for deceased souls every day (ones you know and especially
ones you don't know), pray even for the souls in Hell, for God's
Mercy is UNFATHOMABLE...we humans do not know the extent of God's
Mercy, we can only pray for others to receive it, and they will
- Do daily actions with love in your heart for the sake of others
not for your own desires or benefit
- Offer up all your accumulated merit for the benefit of others
- Show others how to live, not by words but by your life's actions
- Honor and worship God in whatever form you know Him to be...Aum,
Great Mystery, Great Spirit, God the Father, Wankan Tanka, Buddha,
Yaweh, Allah, etc.
I have had a lifetime of what others called "bad luck."
But if you believe that the Spiritual is present in the physical
world, then there is no such thing as bad luck ...there is only
bad karma or good karma. Live a life altruistically...this will
bring blessings and joy to you, your family and ultimately the whole
world.
Namaste.
Sr. Frances
of the Sisters of Embracement
Here is a link to a special
letter about praying for the dead, especially praying for those
souls in Hell.
These are sites that discuss reincarnation and karma for
those interested in further study...
The Jivamala
The
Science of Reincarnation
A
list of articles about Reincarnation
Reincarnation,
It's meaning and consequences
*Shinnyo-en Buddhism is a faith developed from Shingon
Esoteric Buddhism. If you would like more information about it,
please email me!
If you have questions or
comments, please email Sister
Juliemarie
of the Sisters of Embracement
© 2006 Sisters of Embracement - All Rights Reserved
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