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No more reincarnation… intermediate scope motivation in Mahayana Buddhism

The Path to Enlightenment, the Lam Rim in Tibetan Buddhism, is divided in three ‘stages’ or three motivations. I started out my explaining the Beginners Motivation. It is, as Lodro Rinzler says in his upcoming ‘The Buddha Walks into a Bar: A Guide to Life for a New Generation‘: a process of getting your act [...]

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Buddha on Good and Bad Karma (quotes and explanation)

People find one of my web projects for the term ‘buddha quotes on karma’. Unfortunately we don’t really know what the Buddha said. Lots of ‘Buddha quotes’ pages online share quotes attributed to Buddha rather indiscriminately. What I mean by that is that these online sources take each sutra attributed to the Buddha literally on [...]

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Karma in the Bhagavad Gita

Vijay Kumar commented on my post about karma and free will with the remark that the Bhagavad Gita has something to say about the topic. He stresses the freedom of the Soul, or Atma, and it’s joy in finding itself in life, doing something. He has a point, but how does that relate to freedom [...]

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Free will, karma and reincarnation

It’s an often asked question: how much free will do we have, if karma rules our lives? I usually answer: Karma rules our circumstances, our potential, our habits. Karma does not rule what we do with all that today. What we do today: thoughts, emotions, insights, words and deeds creates new karma. Let’s back up [...]

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The karma of disease and health

The relationship between karma and disease is a controversial one. There is the common sense view that since disease is unwelcome, it ‘must be’ bad karma. On the other hand there is a long tradition of theosophical thought saying that bad karma doesn’t exist. I was reading up on a related topic this summer and [...]

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Work as those who are ambitious…

Work as those work who are ambitious. Respect life as those do who desire it. Be happy as those are who live for happiness. Mabel Collins, Light on the path, part 1 (4) This quote must be a bit puzzling for those who think ambition itself is a spiritual virtue. Light on the Path is [...]

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Spirituality fun? Think again! Spirituality as a hard road

Two of my spiritual friends commented recently that there is a general misconception that spirituality is fun. I’ve previously posted that spirituality CAN be fun. I stand by that, but they have a point. Spiritual transformation is, on the whole, neither easy nor fun. As one friend said (I’m keeping her anonymous for obvious reasons): [...]

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The origin of evil – the great mystery

I asked you, my readers, yesterday why some people insist that the universe is morally neutral. The question means in normal words: why do people believe that evil is as inherent in the universe as good is? I let my own thoughts on the matter be for the moment, but this post may just be [...]

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A question about (Group) karma: below average intellect?

I hope you can throw light on the following matter in connection with the karmic effects. A relative has been born with a below-average intellect; he takes time to respond to questions or join in on social conversations. He also has a very poor memory, cannot recall events, forgets what he went to another room [...]

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Karma and Time

Comments on my posts about group karma have made it clear that not all of my readers are aware of the basics of the doctrine of karma. The law of karma (a law of nature just like the law of physics) basicly states that all action will have consequences for the person acting. In everyday [...]

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