[Buddha-l] karma offset?

[Curt Steinmetz]

Jayarava wrote:
> --- On Mon, 17/8/09, Sally McAra <sallymcara at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>   
>> Someone thinks they can offset the harm cars cause with a few sacred
>> syllables....
>>     
>
> Nice one. It is of course completely consistent with their world view to accept that the mantra will offset any harm. That is what the sacred scriptures reveal.
>
> "Just touching and turning a prayer wheel brings incredible purification and accumulates unbelievable merit" Lama Zopa.
>
> I think he has his adjectives about right: incredible - not credible; unbelievable - not believable. 
>   


Of course anyone who has ever studied Tibetan Buddhism as it is actually 
taught and practiced knows that the Hinayana teachings come first and 
these can be summarized as (1) perform virtuous actions, (2) do not 
perform non-virtuous actions, (3) cultivate the mind. Or some variation 
thereon. And anything that causes harm to other beings is non-virtuous.

But perhaps it depends on the Tibetan Buddhists one hangs out with - and 
this, in turn, is a reflection of one's own karma. The Tibetan Buddhists 
I know would never say that spinning a prayer wheel makes it OK to cause 
harm to others and the environment -- and they would never say it 
because they know perfectly well that it is not true.

Just to be absolutely clear: Tibetan Buddhism does not teach that it is 
acceptable to harm others so long as one spins a prayer wheel x amount 
of times to "offset" the "karma".

Curt