[Buddha-l] Re: on eating meat

[Jim Peavler]

On Oct 23, 2005, at 7:10 AM, Mike Austin wrote:

> In message <fa5d0b589a070e2f50d12e2b6c6266c5 at mindspring.com>, Jim 
> Peavler <jpeavler at mindspring.com> writes
>
>> We can learn from others, from books, or from deep reflection, but 
>> the final responsibility for our actions must finally be ourselves. 
>> Whether or not there are karmic rewards or karmic punishments for 
>> whatever place we draw that line is irrelevant. I think.
>
> If one is thinking in terms of future lives with the dedication of 
> those lives to achieving an improved position from which to help 
> others, it is important not to compromise those lives by 
> ill-considered actions in the present life. In this context, one's 
> karma vipaka is not just a personal reward or punishment, but 
> something that has implications for others. If such a perspective is 
> not appreciated, it could appear that concern with karma and its 
> ripening is merely a narrow and selfish concern.

I guess I am confused again. These future lives you are concerned 
about, which make the concern about karma not a selfish concern, don't 
they have some direct connect with some form of "you"? Are you most 
interested in being the best person you can be right now or about 
making sure you don't somehow, accidentally, blow your next lives?