[Buddha-l] Confession

[Erik Hoogcarspel]

Op 15-3-2010 23:40, Richard P. Hayes schreef:
>
> Karma, however, is another matter. That seems to me to be nothing but
> a shorthand way of acknowledging that everything one does has
> consequences for future sentient beings. Whether my present stupidity
> brings pain to me or to someone else makes no difference at all to me;
> all that matters is that it brings pain to someone and therefore
> should somehow be discarded. Interestingly enough, I have read that
> that is precisely what Batchelor says. So he does not seem to deny the
> referent of the word "karma," but he does not much like using the word
> itself. That, it seems to me, is purely a matter of taste in which
> glossary one feels most comfortable using. And matters of vocabularic
> taste, I think, are perfectly harmless.
>
> Richard Hayes
>
>    
I like that approach very much. Karma and rebirth are not specific to 
Buddhism and it's difficult to imagine the cruel discrimination and 
injustice they brought to Indian society. The way you put it however 
karma is not very different from many existentialist, deontological or 
even consequentialist ethics. In an nonindividualistic way a good deed 
is good for everyone, because giver and beneficiary are both linked by 
the principle of dependent origination.
I prefer however not to use the word karma for this kind of ethics, 
because it would twist it's meaning very much. In Sanskrit it still has 
the memory of the Vedic meaning attached to it and I see no reason to 
ignore that.


-- 


Erik

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