karma

karma: all effects are the result of multiple causes and conditions, often beyond our complete comprehension. but often positive actions result in conditions for future positive effects. as exemplified by this eight minute clip titled “spin dj is a god”:

UPDATE: The film is no longer on YouTube, but you can go to this site and click “watch it”.

the buddhist view of karma is often misunderstood by westerners, who i think have a very pop cultural understanding of karma as some sort of brownie point system that cross lifetimes. the rice seedling sutra in the buddhist cannon talks about karma much more in terms of effects from causes, and our lives making sense because the situation we find ourself in is the very reasonable result of causes and conditions. it’s not magic particularly.

but then it goes further or in my lineage we talk alot about how the mind becomes conditioned. when you have a thought and act on it, then you condition your mind. so if you yell out in anger, your mind becomes conditioned that way and the next time you’re angry you will be more likely to act in that way. so there is a particular interest in buddhism of how the mind becomes trained by ordinary action, what effects that has on us individually and in society, and how to work with that effectively and mindfully.

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