Buddhism and Karma (Religion)

by xeno6696 , Sonoran Desert, Thursday, August 29, 2013, 00:56 (4102 days ago) @ George Jelliss

I'm uh... rather late to this game (being that Jan 2013 is nearly 9 months ago) -but sticking true to my word to dhw that I would read and comment--Here we go!-
Having spent 8+ yrs practicing at least the meditative aspects of Buddhism, this article seems an example of perspectivism. Why? In the branch of Buddhism I practiced, (Zen in general, Soto/Kwan Um in particular) karma was never mentioned once. I'll have to dig, but I remember even that Dalai Llama expressing doubts about reincarnation--so even though karma is a thought that is implicit in many practicing forms of Buddhism, the views of this article aren't encompassing. -In my readings, the fourth state of meditation is supposed to be the "rememberance of past lives." But... at no point is there any reference (that I'm aware of) about the Buddha being able to tell someone else about their past lives... -To me, an important sentence in this thought rings loud and clear:-"For nine years, I worked as a science and maths teacher at a small private Buddhist school in the United States."-The United States is a particularly poor model to use to study Buddhism. Seriously.

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"