Buddhism-Karma and reincarnation

Buddhism-Karma and reincarnation

Buddhism
Buddhism is a major Asian religion that began in India in the 6th century C.E., spread to China, and then to the rest of the world. It is centered around the teachings of a man named Siddhartha Gautama who came to be known as "the Buddha" after he achieved enlightenment into true reality when he was about 35 years old.
Siddhartha Gautama, or the historical Buddha, was born a Hindu and grew up in Hindu culture. Therefore, Buddhist philosophy contains some basic Hindu ideas, much like Christianity contains some Jewish ideas. Hinduism is its "parent religion."
Buddhism, like any other major world religion, contains different groups within it. The three major groups are: Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana.
Theravada means "doctrine of the elders" and is one of the earliest forms of Buddhist religion. It is dominant in Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand and other parts of southeast Asia. It focuses on the pursuit of nirvana, or extinguishing of unenlightened self and its desires.
Mahayana means "great vehicle" which is a term that arose, to an extent, in opposition to Theravada. Mahayana refers to itself as the "great vehicle" and to Theravada as the "lesser" or "smaller" vehicle, implying that it is a superior path in some respects. Mahayana allows for more involvement of regular lay people in Buddhist practice than does Theravada (which tends to focus on monks and nuns). It also prioritizes the role of the bodhisattva, a person who achieves enlightenment and takes a vow to teach others until all are enlightened.
Vajrayana means "thunderbolt" or "diamond" vehicle and is a form of Buddhism prominent in Tibet and in other areas which feature tantric and shamanistic practices. This form also spread to Mongolia and India. 
Other forms of the religion include Zen and Pure Land. Zen begins in China and spreads to Japan and elsewhere. It focuses on specific meditative approaches to the path of enlightenment. Pure Land is prominent in Japan and focuses on the reverence of Buddha Amida, or the Buddha of "boundless light." Pure Land adherents envision being reborn into the "pure land" of this Buddha, which is loosely similar to Christian notions of heaven.
Buddhist philosophy revolves around the central teaching of the Buddha, which is found in the Four Noble Truths. These truths contain basic ideas about the nature of life and our experience as human beings within it. Specifically, the Four Noble Truths offer an explanation for the suffering people experience in life and how to minimize it.
Buddhism is a philosophy as much as it is a religion. Like most religions, it is a set of beliefs about reality, and an approach to daily life rooted in those beliefs. However, it does not involve the worship of a deity or even of the Buddha himself. In its core, it is an "a-theistic" philosophy - meaning "no god." 
The central practice of Buddhism, aside from the general ethical prescriptions, is meditation. It is a religion of the mind and, as such, its focus is on enlightening the mind through a range of practices including study and meditation. Ultimately, suffering in life can be minimized or eliminated altogether by strengthening and enlightening the mind

Karma

Karma is a word everyone knows, yet few in the West understand what it means. Westerners too often think it means "fate" or is some kind of cosmic justice system. This is not a Buddhist understanding of karma, however.

Karma is a Sanskrit word that means "action." Sometimes you might see the Pali spelling, kamma, which means the same thing. In Buddhism, karma has a more specific meaning, which is volitional or willful action. Things we choose to do or say or think set karma into motion. The law of karma is a law of cause and effect.

Sometimes Westerners use the word karma to mean the result of karma. For example, someone might say John lost his job because "that's his karma." However, as Buddhists use the word, karma is the action, not the result. The effects of karma are spoken of as the "fruits" or the "result" of karma.

Teachings on the laws of karma originated in Hinduism, but Buddhists understand karma somewhat differently from Hindus

In the Buddha's day, most religions of India taught that karma operated in a simple straight line -- past actions influence the present; present actions influence the future. But to Buddhists, karma is non-linear and complex. Karma,  "acts in multiple feedback loops, with the present moment being shaped both by past and by present actions; present actions shape not only the future but also the present."

Thus, in Buddhism, although the past has some influence on the present, the present also is shaped by the actions of the present.

"...instead of promoting resigned powerlessness, the early Buddhist notion of karma focused on the liberating potential of what the mind is doing with every moment. Who you are — what you come from — is not anywhere near as important as the mind's motives for what it is doing right now. Even though the past may account for many of the inequalities we see in life, our measure as human beings is not the hand we've been dealt, for that hand can change at any moment. We take our own measure by how well we play the hand we've got."

What You Do Is What Happens to You

When we seem stuck in old, destructive patterns, it may not be the karma of the past that's causing us to be stuck. If we're stuck, it's more likely that we're re-creating the same old patterns with our present thoughts and attitudes. To change our karma, and change our lives, we have to change our minds

Zen teacher  said, "Cause and effect are one thing. And what is that one thing? You. That’s why what you do and what happens to you are the same thing."

Certainly the karma of the past impacts your present life, but change is always possible.

No Judge, No Justice

Buddhism teaches that there are other forces beside karma that shape our lives. These include natural forces like the changing seasons and gravity. When a natural disaster like an earthquake strikes a community, this is not some kind of collective karmic punishment. It's an unfortunate event that requires a compassionate response, not judgment.

Some people have a hard time understanding karma is created by our own actions. They want to believe there is some kind of mysterious cosmic force Out There somewhere, directing karma, rewarding good people and punishing bad people. Some religions may teach that, but not Buddhism.

"The theory of karma should not be confused with so-called 'moral justice' or 'reward and punishment'. The idea of moral justice, or reward and punishment, arises out of the conception of a supreme being, a God, who sits in judgment, who is a law-giver and who decides what is right and wrong. The term 'justice' is ambiguous and dangerous, and in its name more harm than good is done to humanity. The theory of karma is the theory of cause and effect, of action and reaction; it is a natural law, which has nothing to do with the idea of justice or reward and punishment."

The Good, the Bad, and the Karma

Sometimes people talk about "good" and "bad" (or "evil") karma. Buddhist understanding of "good" and "evil" is somewhat different from the way Westerners usually understand these terms. To see the Buddhist perspective, it's useful to substitute the words "wholesome" and "unwholesome" for "good" and "evil." Wholesome actions spring from selfless compassion, loving kindness, and wisdom. Unwholesome actions spring from greed, hate, and ignorance.

Karma and Rebirth

The way most people understand reincarnation is that a soul, or some autonomous essence of self, survives death and is reborn into a new body. In that case, it's easy to imagine the karma of a past life sticking to that self and being carried over to a new life. But Buddhist teachings are very different.

The Buddha taught a doctrine called anatman, or anatta -- no soul, or no self. According to this doctrine, there is no "self" in the sense of a permanent, integral, autonomous being within an individual existence. What we think of as our self, our personality and ego, are temporary creations that do not survive death.

In light of this doctrine -- what is it that is reborn? And where does karma fit in?

A full discussion of this teaching would, I'm afraid, take several more essays explaining the Buddhist teachings of self, life and death. In brief, the karma of one life carries itself forward and results in a new life

What is karma?

The Sanskrit word karma means "volitional act" or "deed." The law of karma is a law of cause and effect, or an understanding that every deed produces fruit.

Karma is created by the intentional acts of body, speech, and mind. Only acts pure of desire, hate and delusion do not produce karmic effects. Once set in motion, karma tends to continue in many directions, like ripples on a pond.

Karma is not mysterious or hidden. Once you understand what it is, you can observe it all around you. For example, let's say a man gets into an argument at work. He drives home in an angry mood, cutting off someone at an intersection. The driver cut off is now angry, and when she gets home she yells at her daughter. This is karma in action -- one angry act has touched off many more.

However, if the man who argued had the mental discipline to let go of his anger, the karma would have stopped with him.

What Is Rebirth?

Very basically, when the effects of karma continue across lifetimes it causes rebirth. But in light of the doctrine of no-self, what exactly is reborn?

The classical Hindu understanding of reincarnation is that a soul, or atman, is reborn many times. But the Buddha taught the doctrine of anatman -- no soul, or no-self. The various schools of Buddhism approach this question in somewhat different ways.

One way to explain rebirth is to think of all existence as one big ocean. An individual is a phenomenon of existence in the same way a wave is a phenomenon of ocean. A wave begins, moves across the surface of the water, then dissipates. While it exists, a wave is distinct from ocean yet is never separate from ocean. In the same way, that which is reborn is not the same person, yet is not separate from the same person.

What Is the Self?

Among all the Buddha's teachings, those on the nature of the self are the hardest to understand, yet they are central to the religion. In fact, "fully perceiving the nature of the self" is one way to define enlightenment.

The Five Skandhas

The Buddha taught that an individual is a combination of five aggregates of existence, also called the Five Skandhas or the five heaps. These are:

1.Form

2.Sensation

3.Perception

4.Mental formations

5.Consciousness

Various schools of Buddhism interpret the skandhas in somewhat different ways. Generally, the first skandha is our physical form. The second is made up of our feelings, emotional and physical, and our senses -- seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, smelling.

The third skandha, perception, takes in most of what we call thinking -- conceptualization, cognition, reasoning. This also includes the recognition that occurs when an organ comes into contact with an object. Perception can be thought of as "that which identifies." The object perceived may be a physical object or a mental one, such as an idea.

The fourth skandha, mental formations, includes habits, prejudices and predispositions. Our volition, or willfulness, also is part of the fourth skandha, as are attention, faith, conscientiousness, pride, desire, vindictiveness, and many other mental states both virtuous and not virtuous. The causes and effects of karma are especially important to the fourth skandha.

The fifth skandha, consciousness, is awareness of or sensitivity to an object, but without conceptualization. Once there is awareness, the third skandha might recognize the object and assign a concept-value to it, and the fourth skandha might react with desire or revulsion or some other mental formation. The fifth skandha is explained in some schools as base that ties the experience of life together.

The Self Is No-Self

What's most important to understand about the skandhas is that they are empty. They are not qualities that an individual possesses, because there is no-self possessing them. This doctrine of no-self is called anatman or anatta.

Very basically, the Buddha taught that "you" are not an integral, autonomous entity. The individual self, or what we might call the ego, is more correctly thought of as a by-product of the skandhas.

On the surface, this appears to be a nihilistic teaching. But the Buddha taught that if we can see through the delusion of the small, individual self, we experience that which is not subject to birth and death.

Two Views

Beyond this point, Theravada Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism differ on how anatman is understood. In fact, more than anything else it is the different understanding of self that defines and separates the two schools.

Very basically, Theravada considers anatman to mean that an individual's ego or personality is a fetter and delusion. Once freed of this delusion, the individual may enjoy the bliss of Nirvana.

Mahayana, on the other hand, considers all physical forms to be void of intrinsic self (a teaching called shunyata, which means "emptiness"). The ideal in Mahayana is to enable all beings to be enlightened together, not only out of a sense of compassion, but because we are not really separate, autonomous beings.

Suddhodhana – King – Kapilavastu

Maya Devi – Queen – Kapilavastu – Died after 7 days of Buddha’s birth

Lumbini Groove – Place where Siddharta was born( which is in the thick forest) – Born of Full moon

Kumbira – Maid who helped maya for labour

Asita – Hermit who warned Mara about Buddha’s birth

Mara – Demon King with 4 face (Fear, Temptation, disease and Death

Mara Daughters – Desire, Raga ( Lust) and Arati ( Aversion)

Canki – Priest  at Kapilavastu – who told about Buddha’s strange fate – who also  did last rites to May

Prajapati – Maya’s mother

Channa – Friend

Bikram – Stable master  for King Suddhodhana (who is Channa’s father.)

Neighbouring State – Kosala , Angada

Gandhik – King’s doctor

Devadatta – Siddharta’s cousin

Sujata – Maid at Palace whom Siddharta had romantic feeling at first sight

Yosadhara – Siddhartha’s wife

Rahula – Siddhart’s Son

Kanthaka – His Horse

Gutta – Old Maid in his palace

Ganaka – Sanyasi – Whom Gaytama met. First one to meet after coming out of his palace in search of Truth

Pabbata – Monk whom Gautama met

Monk – Hermit whom Gautama met and meditated silently. Monk read his thought and spoke about mara and Sidharta’s wife

Ananda – Gautama  met while wandering in Udaka’s hermit. He became Gautama’s first disciple

Udaka – Second luminary whom Gautama met while wandering. He spent lot of time in his hermit trying to know the truth. He stayed with Ananda. Udaka said God is everywhere and so how can you seek what is already here. He was talking about Soul or Atman

Alara – Gnani whom Gautama met . Who spoke about lower self and higher self. Maya or illusion. Gautama left Alara telling him that only lower self will read Vedas and not higher self

Ganaka – Met Gautama and said he wanted to be free by dying. Not scriptures, Gurus and holy place gave him freedom. He thought only death will free him. Gautama was helpless.

Assaji – One of the five monks who joined Gautama for silent meditation. Senior of the five. But he left Gautama thinking that he will die out of starvation and thought his path was wrong

Kondana – Youngest of the five monks

Vappa – One of the 5 monks who did not believe anything. Respected Buddha but did not believe for a while

Sujata – Another character – 16 year old who gave good to Buddha immediately after he came out of enlightenment.

What is Karma – It is body’s endless desires. Karma is the memory of past pleasure. We want to repeat and past pain we want to avoid

Pabbata who said that  “Let the world be your teacher

Every experience that traps me is a worldly experience. The world is seductive and hard to interpret for what it really is, yet this world is nothing more than desire and every desire makes me run after it. Why? Because it is believed to be real Desires are phantoms, concealing the grinning face of death. Believe in nothing

Two journey had to be made without companion. The journey to your death and the one to enlightenment.

It is a matter of  course that someone who reaches enlightenment has severed all connections to his former personality. Gautama said, I keep Gautama’s body and you can call me by his name of you like. I am not this body or this name. I am not a person any longer as you know it.

Even holiness ha become food for your ego to feed on. You want to be different. You want to be safe. You want to have hope

Death is not the point. Buddha said. As long as you are caught in the web of Karma, death comes with birth. The two are inseperable. Find the part of you that is unborn, then you will be free of birth and death together.

First Noble Truth – life contains Suffering

Second Noble Truth – Suffering has a cause and can be known

Third Noble Truth – Suffering can be brought to be an end

Fourth Noble Truth – The path to end suffering has 8 parts.

Some of these steps sound natural. We all want to believe that our actions and words are virtuous. We don’t want to go wrong in our effort and intentions. Other parts of the path need special guidance. What is right ?

What can Buddha’s teaching do for me? Is there something that will open my eyes and make me more awake, right this minute?

There are three basic facts about Being.

1 Dukkha   -  Life is unsatisfactory. Pleasure in the physical world is transient. Pain inevitably follows. Therefore, nothing we experience can be deeply satisfying. There is no resting place in change.

2. Anicca  -  Nothing is permanent. All experience is swept away in flux. Cause and effect is indless and confusing. Therefore one can never find clarity of permanence

3 Anatta – The separate Self is unreliable and ultimately unreal. We apply words like soul and personality to something that is fleeting and ghostly. Our attempts to make the self real never end but also never succeed. Therefore, we cling for reassurance to an illusion

The self reaches its goal by being the self? It sounds like a paradox.

Yes. But Buddhists found three ways to live the wisdom their teacher left behind.

The first way was social, forming groups of disciples into Sanga, like the group of monks and nuns that Buddha gathered in his lifetime. The Sangha exists to establish a spiritual lifestyle. People remind themselves of the teaching and keep the Buddhist vision alive. They meditate together and create an atmosphere of peace

The second way to follow Buddha is ethical, centered on the value of compassion. Buddha was known as the The compassionate One. A being who loved all of humanity without judgement. Buddhists ethics bring the same attitude into everyday life. A Buddhist practices being kind and seeing others without judgement, but in addition displays love and reverence for life itself. Buddhist morality is peaceful, accepting and joyous.

The third way to follow Buddha is mustical. You take to heart the message of non-self. You do everything possible to break the bonds of attachment that keep you trapped in the illusion that you are a separate self. Here your aim is to tiptoe out of the material world even as your body remains in it. Ordinary people are doing things all day, but in your heart you have turned your attention to non – doing, as the Buddhists call it. Non-doing isn’t passivity but a state of openness to all possibility

Nirvana

Nirvana is no longer about life and death, which are opposites. Buddha wanted to free people from all opposites. If you are following his teachings the second way, through morality and ethics then being good, truthful, nonviolent and compassionate is important. You don’t want to practice the opposite behavior. But if duality is the very thing you try to dissolve. You go beyond good and evil, which is scary to many people.

When you successfuly practice mindfulness, the silent gap between thoughts goes by too fast for anyone to live there. You have to give the gap a change to expand, and at the same time silence deepens. It may sound strange, but your mind can be silent the wholetime its also thinking. Ordinarily silence and thought are considered opposites, but when you go beyond opposites, they merge. You identify with the timeless source of thought rather than the thouts emerging from i

What is non self?

It’s who you are when there are no personal attachments. This sounds mystical, but we shouldn’t be distracted by semantics. The non-self is natural, it’s rooted in everyday experience. When you wake up in the morning there’s a moment before our mind gets filled with the things you have to do today. In that moment you exist without a self. You don’t think about your name or your bank account, you don’t even think about your spouse and children. You just are. Enlightenment extends that state and deepens it. You aren’t burdened by having to remember who you are, ever again.

Consider how you relate to your body. You mostly forget about it. Heartbeat, metabolism, body temperature, electrolyte balance - literally dozens of processes go on automatically, and your nervous system coordinates them perfectly without interference from the conscious mind. Buddha suggests that you can let go of many things that you are certain you must control. Instead of devoting so much effort and struggle to thinking, planning, running after pleasure and avoiding pain, you can surrender and put those function on automatic also. This is accomplished gradually by a practice called mindfulness.

We are pulled in by temptation to choose between A ad B. Duality makes us believe that making good decisions and avoiding bad ones is all important. Buddha disagrees - he says that getting out of duality is all important and you will never escape as long as you keep burying yourself deeper into the game of A or B? Reality isn't A or B. It is both and its neither.

Note : This is only a scribbling note. These are purely my understanding after reading some article. These may or may not be the correct one.