[Buddha-l] RE: Article of possible interest--correction

[Christopher Fynn]

curt wrote:

>> Of course all of this begs the real question: why are poor people 
>> poor, enslaved people enslaved, etc? Those who wish to pooh-pooh the 
>> "they deserve it because of bad karma from past lives" theory should 
>> be ready to provide some explanation of their own, or else it is 
>> merely an exercise in darkness cursing.

While it may seem reasonable to believe that bad actions inevitably lead
to bad results, unless you are omniscient and can perceive all dharmas
past present and future, how would it be possible to know all the
particular and contributing causes of an individuals situation?

While intuitively the notion of karma may seem to make a lot sense,
as it offers a seemingly simple explanation (cause & effect) of why
things are the way they are, short of becoming an Omniscient One the
"law" of karma is at best an unprovable hypothesis.

I've heard some Tibetan lamas state that we should accept the teaching
on karma, - the idea of which is fairly easy to grasp but impossible to
fathom - because the Buddha taught other things such as emptiness of
self and phenomena, which they maintain are difficult to understand but
can be proven by means of logic. In other words their view seems to be
if the Buddha was correct about those things which can be determined by
logic it is reasonable to accept his teachings about those things which
cannot be determined one way or the other - at least as a working
hypothesis - until one is enlightened enough to directly perceive their
truth (or otherwise).

I've never met a single teacher who has seriously claimed that karma or
rebirth can be in some way be physically or logically proven  - but the
majority seem to think that if one calls oneself a Buddhist these things
should be accepted as a matter of faith or trust.

- Chris