Karma: a way to blame the victim?

[The idea]

Suppose you figure out a way to steal all of a wealthy person's wealth. If you get away with it, then does it follow that the victim of the theft must have done something bad in a previous life?

 

[Lisa Simpson]

Not really. If the wealthy person stole some other wealthy person's wealth in another life, then I guess you might say it's karmic.

From http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/karma1.htm

For instance, when Maudgalyayana was beaten to death by bandits, the Buddha was able to tell that this event was the effect of something Maudgalyayana had done in a previous life when he had taken his aged parents to the forest and having beaten them to death, had then reported that they had been killed by bandits.

I personally don't believe in reincarnation. Karma only happens in this life. And it only means positive actions lead to positive feelings. Negative actions lead to negative feelings.

 

[c4ts]

Suppose you figure out a way to steal all of a wealthy person's wealth. If you get away with it, then does it follow that the victim of the theft must have done something bad in a previous life?

If you get away with it, you are screwed in the next life.

 

[username]

Re: Re: Karma: a way to blame the victim?

If you get away with it, you are screwed in the next life.

Which goes to the OP's question. If you are the victim of a bad thing, does karma say that you have done something in this or a past life to deserve it?

If karma balances things out, then those who suffer the most in this life must have been the worst in a past life.

In this sense it isn't much different than the belief that when bad things happen to people, it is god punishing them for their sin.

It seems like humans have had a difficult time accepting that life isn't fair. Our desire for justice seems to have resulted in us inventing superstitions that result in justice always occuring. If not in this life, in the next.

 

[bluess]

One of the greatest injustices in the Hindu Code of Manu rests on the blame the victim - If you are born into an 'untouchable' caste, it is assumed you did something so terrible in your last life that you were fated in this life to be the lowest of the low. Dalits (the caste) can be beaten, raped, killed - and MAYBE a cop will stand up for them. Its sickening.

I use karma for shorthand - generally, there is no immediate reward for behaving ethically and kindly. The balance seems to always come later. However, doing the wrong thing usually has an immediate benefit followed by a much later downer.

 

[gnome]

Can anyone confirm this:

A friend of mine asserts that most people, woo-woo's usually, that talk about Karma are not really using the term correctly. He says that in Hindu philosophy all karma is bad, there is no such thing as "good karma" and the idea is to accumulate as little as possible during your lifetime.

The way people talk about it, perhaps they should be using a different word.

 

[Lisa Simpson]

Can anyone confirm this:

A friend of mine asserts that most people, woo-woo's usually, that talk about Karma are not really using the term correctly. He says that in Hindu philosophy all karma is bad, there is no such thing as "good karma" and the idea is to accumulate as little as possible during your lifetime.

The way people talk about it, perhaps they should be using a different word.

I don't know about Hindu, but Buddhism has "good" and "bad" karma:

We can understand by means of this general introduction that karma can be of two varieties - wholesome karma or good karma and unwholesome karma or bad karma. In order that we should not misunderstand this description of karma, it is useful for us to look at the original term. In this case, it is kushala or akushala karma, karma that is wholesome or unwholesome. In order that we understand how these terms are being used, it is important that we know the real meaning of kushala and akushala. Kushala means intelligent or skilful, whereas akushala means not intelligent, not skilful. This helps us to understand how these terms are being used, not in terms of good and evil but in terms of skilful and unskilful, in terms of intelligent and unintelligent, in terms of wholesome and unwholesome. Now how wholesome and how unwholesome? Wholesome in the sense that those actions which are beneficial to oneself and others, those actions that spring not out of desire, ill-will and ignorance, but out of renunciation, loving-kindness and compassion, and wisdom.

From the link I used above.

 

[gnome]

I don't know about Hindu, but Buddhism has "good" and "bad" karma:



From the link I used above.

I think I may have thrown in "hindu" by mistake. Further research (by me) is in order.

 

[Dancing David]

Buddhism has gathered alot of stuff as it has rolled through the world, and of course 'original' buddhism would be a misnomer.

The teachings of the buddha would indicate that perhaps they taught more of an instant kamma things. There is no atman to carry on, so the only 'things' that survive are thoughts and actions. Therefore the only kamma/karma which exists is in the consequences of actions and thoughts.

The buddha was teaching directly against the hindu caste system and all the other beliefs of hindu society. The buddha taught repeatedly that there is no self, there is no atman.

BTW Lisa , Craaaaazy Taco!

 

[Bikewer]

A number of "new-age" types have co-opted these ideas as well. The ever-popular J.Z. Knight has expressed that it's a bad idea to try to assist the poor and downtrodden, as they are "paying" for past misdeeds.

Leads to a lot of Social-Darwinistic thinking.