Indeed... people have been stoned for much less. Some have even been stoned for crimes of which they have been innocent.mikenz66 wrote:I don't think anyone would find it surprising that Angulimala would be stoned, after killing 999 people.
I'd be interested to know what you mean by "things" as it's particularly pertinent to these discussions. In the Dhamma, "kamma" is paired with "vipaka", its result.mikenz66 wrote:Why, then would there be surprise that other good or bad things that happen could be a result of kamma?
As we see in this definition of vipaka...
http://www.palikanon.com/english/wtb/u_v/vipaaka.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
By way of example, if I throw a stone at an empty can, sitting on a fence and cause it to be dinted, then the new form of the can could be said to be kamma-produced, but it is not vipaka. The action, the kamma, was the throwing of the stone... and what was the mind state associated with the throwing of the stone? It is the mind state behind the action which will determine its mental result. As it is with the case of the stone thrown at the can, so it is with the clods thrown at Angulimala.'karma-result', is any karmically (morally) neutral mental phenomenon (e.g. bodily agreeable or painful feeling, sense-consciousness, etc. ), which is the result of wholesome or unwholesome volitional action (karma, q.v.) through body, speech or mind, done either in this or some previous life.
Totally wrong is the belief that, according to Buddhism, everything is the result of previous action. Never, for example, is any karmically wholesome or unwholesome volitional action the result of former action, being in reality itself karma.
On this subject s. titthāyatana, karma, Tab. I; Fund II. Cf. A. III, 101; Kath. 162 (Guide, p. 80).
Karma-produced (kammaja or kamma-samutthāna) corporeal things are never called kamma-vipāka, as this term may be applied only to mental phenomena.
Agreed. The Buddha may well have said this in order to stop people indulging in papanca regarding kamma and its effects, and to stop people wrongly attributing events and perceived fortunes and misfortunes to kamma. Yet, the Buddha did say in AN 6.63 ( http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... tml#part-5" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; )...Of course, since the workings of kamma are said to be unfathomable to anyone other than a Buddha it would be silly to look at some situation and try to say that it was because of such-and-such a particular kamma.
... so we certainly should not put the issue of kamma away and ignore it. The challenge is to understand it experientially and in accordance with the Dhamma, as the Buddha encourages, rather than as a subject for papanca."'Kamma should be known. The cause by which kamma comes into play should be known. The diversity in kamma should be known. The result of kamma should be known. The cessation of kamma should be known. The path of practice for the cessation of kamma should be known.'
Yes... as a morality teaching, looking forward is better than looking back, but as a subject for insight, the best place to observe kamma and its workings are here and now, through mindfulness and meditation.The point is that actions have consequences. This concept ... helps us to maintain our sila. So I prefer to take a forward-looking, rather than backward-looking perspective.
Metta,
Retro.