> > I am sure catcalls will follow this post... > > Judy: > Not to mention that rich people can be > psychologically miserable (sometimes as a > result of their wealth, other times > independently of it). > In an ideal karmic system, good things should happen to good people, and bad things should happen to bad people, But in real life, in an imperfect world, we know this does not always occur.
> You don't have to be materially deprived to > undergo great suffering. For that matter, you don't have to be poor to undergo great > *physical* suffering. > The goal of the enlightenment tradition is the perfection (siddhi) of human existence, so that system would include moral reciprocity as well as material causation. Karmic actions are moral actions, as well as purely physical acts and events. A 'thought' is a moral event, as well as being a physical property of consciousness which produces a reaction. We act, based on the rule of law, in order to avoid corporeal punishment, but we also act because it is a categorical imperative to 'do unto other as we would have them do unto us'. The Buddha defined karma by reference to moral choices and the acts consequent upon them. He stated, "It is choice (cetana), 0 monks, that I call karma; having chosen one acts through body, speech, or mind" (A.iii.415). Read more: Subject: Karma From: Willytex Newsgroups: alt.meditation.transcendental Date: May 11, 2002 http://tinyurl.com/ybxz4op
