[Buddha-l] karma and consequences

[Robert Ellis]

Chris Fynn wrote:

>>Isn't karma nothing more than that - intentional actions and their consequences??<<

The claim that karma is nothing more than intentional actions and their consequences?is widely used (in my experience) by Western Buddhists to try to make karma palatable to Western audiences: but?this claim?is intellectually dishonest. The consequences of intentional actions are a necessary part of karmic doctrine, but by no means all of it. The metaphysical stuff gets smuggled in by stealth?through karma being presented in a common-sense fashion.

The law of karma claims not only that intentional actions have consequences, but that they always have consequences which are an equivalent moral requital for the intentional action. For example, if we tell an intentional lie, at some point the equivalent karmic effects of that lie will get back at us, whether through mental processes (e.g. guilt) or physical ones (some form of physical suffering equivalent to the lie). We have no way of telling through experience whether this is the case, as some lies seem to have a bad effect, but others do not.?The world is also full of?good people dying of cancer, and nasty dictators living in happy retirement, which also suggest counter-examples. The acceptance of karma, then, whether or not it incorporates rebirth, is a faith response to a dogmatic teaching. It should not be confused with an appreciation of the effects of our mental states and our actions such as can be?directly experienced, and developed through meditation practice.?

Best wishes,
Robert


Robert Ellis

website: www.moralobjectivity.net