Everything Under the Moon

Ive been thinking lately about all that has happen to me since i was born and this thought hit me.

If you were a really really bad person in your previous life can that karma come with you into this life?

Im not saying that everything that has happen to me is just karma or random , i know i have made mistakes and have made wrong choices and have to deal with the out come of those choices.

Gweneverewitch

well when we learnt all about buddhism for my religion class karma played a big factor. it was thier belief that karma could take several life times to catch up with a person. this went hand in hand with thier beliefs of re-incarnation.
hope i helped

wow thats a long time.
might that explain some of the people in our world today?

Yeah, I think it would explain some of the people in our world today.

Not just the people though but also what might be happening to the world.

A Taoist tradition I read about was that people made offerings to the gods to free their ancestors from the underworld. This was in part because the sins of our ancestors kept on piling up each generation and the petitioner wanted to cleanse the sins so as not to add to them. Now, the world is supposedly full of the sins of ages past which DEFINATELY can explain some of the world today.

that sounds kinda like the "original sin" in catholicism
for those that dont know the original sin is born into every person and one of the functions of baptism is to be cleaned of the sin. the sin is how A&E at the forbidden fruit or something and as a result everyone in thier line was born with this sin over thier heads.

That's really interesting stuff...

I've heard the karma tradition blamed for the oppressive caste system in India - the idea that if you are born in a 'lowly' caste then you should stay their because it is your karma.

I suppose, like a lot of beliefs and traditions, it is easy to use as a tool for controlling others.

I've heard the karma tradition blamed for the oppressive caste system in India - the idea that if you are born in a 'lowly' caste then you should stay their because it is your karma.

I suppose, like a lot of beliefs and traditions, it is easy to use as a tool for controlling others.

And that's exactly what it is, a tool to control. IMO, if someone was born to a low station because of bad karma (which I don't think is what always or necessarily happens) then they would be there to make up for their mistakes. This doesn't mean 'suffer because you sinned' to me, it means 'work hard and learn what virtue is so you don't do it again'. I've always hated the idea of being born into nobility anyway. Nobility isn't a birthright, it's a way of life. But, again, control...

*sigh* Sometimes I feel like going completely anarchic just to topple those kinds of people onto their heads.

Yeah, I don't follow Buddhism, but how could that be fair? Maybe someone can explain to me how this works. A person is born, and if they were bad people in a previous lifetime, karma could catch up to them in their current life? That seems to eliminate that person’s chance of survival without justified reason, at least to their knowledge. If they do not know the mistakes of their past life, how could they live with the consequences? I guess if that person follows Buddhism they can assume that the Karma is catching up with them from a past life, but what if they don't follow Buddhism. Again, I don’t know much about it, so I am just putting my feelings out there.

Well, noone knows about their past lives (if they even have one) until they are made aware of it later - well, some are sensitive but that's not the point.

No matter what station you are born to you should be a good person. By Buddhist karmic reincarnation you would be punished for not being a good person. If in the punishing life you are good again like you should be (aware or not) then you make up for it. I think...

It's kind of like the heaven idea. Whether heaven or reincarnation are real or not, they are rewarding good behaviour. Except that I think people should be good anyway without needing a reward, but that's way too much to ask.

Oh I see now. I wasn't really sure the beliefs of Buddhism.

Try this site. I haven't finished reading up on it, but it will give you insight into buddhism (and many other religions) plus some valuable resources for further information.

www.religioustolerance.org/buddhism.htm

Thanks! I'll check it out