Do we create karma every second

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Lombardi4
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Do we create karma every second

Post by Lombardi4 »

Do we create karma every single moment while awake (and as a wilde guess, asleep)?
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Jechbi
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Re: Do we create karma every second

Post by Jechbi »

The real question is, are we creating kamma in this very moment right now, and if so, what kind?
Rain soddens what is kept wrapped up,
But never soddens what is open;
Uncover, then, what is concealed,
Lest it be soddened by the rain.
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kc2dpt
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Re: Do we create karma every second

Post by kc2dpt »

I would think "no".
Welcome back, Stefan. :)
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Be heedful and you will accomplish your goal.
Lombardi4
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Re: Do we create karma every second

Post by Lombardi4 »

OK, thanks.
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tiltbillings
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Re: Do we create karma every second

Post by tiltbillings »

Stefan wrote:Do we create karma every single moment while awake (and as a wilde guess, asleep)?
Every time you make a choice you make kamma.
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12

This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
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DNS
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Re: Do we create karma every second

Post by DNS »

tiltbillings wrote: Every time you make a choice you make kamma.
Which is almost all the time. For example, doing 'nothing' is also a choice.
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Guy
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Re: Do we create karma every second

Post by Guy »

I am in no way qualified to answer this question, but it seems to me that not every action is a kammic action, it is only those actions which have a specific intention behind them which create kamma. For example, if you accidentally step on and kill an insect you didn't see, that would not be creating any kamma. However, if you get out a can of poison and intentionally start hunting and killing all the insects in your home, that would be a kammic action.
Four types of letting go:

1) Giving; expecting nothing back in return
2) Throwing things away
3) Contentment; wanting to be here, not wanting to be anywhere else
4) "Teflon Mind"; having a mind which doesn't accumulate things

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Individual
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Re: Do we create karma every second

Post by Individual »

Guy, let's say that you're driving and you unintentionally pull out in front of oncoming traffic, would that be a karmic action?

...As another example, let's say you're boiling some spaghetti, a droplet of water hits your arm. As a reflex, out of pain, you jerk back your arm, which then hits the cooking pan's handle, which catapults scalding water onto your face. Would this be a karmic action?

...Or let's say that you're a smoker in the 1920's and don't intend to get cancer. Would such smoking be karmic action and would lung cancer be vipaka?

It is important to remember that "intention" did not begin with this life, but the wheel of rebirth itself is supported by intention.
The best things in life aren't things.

The Diamond Sutra
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Dhammanando
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Re: Do we create karma every second

Post by Dhammanando »

Hi Stefan,
Stefan wrote:Do we create karma every single moment while awake (and as a wilde guess, asleep)?
Not every moment. During sleep there is just an uninterrupted succession of existence-continuum consciousnesses (bhavanga-citta). These are resultant consciousnesses (vipāka-citta) that are identical to the resultant consciousness with which our present life began. A resultant consciousness does not create any new kamma.

While awake no kamma is created during sense-door processes such as seeing, hearing etc., for these too consist of resultant consciousnesses. It is during the mind-door processes that follow a sense-door process that kamma is created, either through the arising of one or another of the ten unwholesome courses of action (akusala kammapaṭha), or one or another of the eight great sense-sphere wholesome consciousnesses, or (in the case of samatha cultivators), one of the refined material sphere or immaterial sphere wholesome consciousnesses.

Best wishes,
Dhammanando Bhikkhu
Rūpehi bhikkhave arūpā santatarā.
Arūpehi nirodho santataro ti.


“Bhikkhus, the formless is more peaceful than the form realms.
Cessation is more peaceful than the formless realms.”
(Santatarasutta, Iti 73)
Snowmelt
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Re: Do we create karma every second

Post by Snowmelt »

TheDhamma wrote:
tiltbillings wrote: Every time you make a choice you make kamma.
Which is almost all the time. For example, doing 'nothing' is also a choice.
Only if you mentally make a choice. If there is no mental "choice activity", then there is no choice. The result of not making a choice is also doing nothing, potentially.
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tiltbillings
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Re: Do we create karma every second

Post by tiltbillings »

Only if you mentally make a choice.
Well, yeah, by definition.
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12

This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
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acinteyyo
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Re: Do we create karma every second

Post by acinteyyo »

Greetings,
I try not to think too much about kamma and its consequences. I know that there are wholesome and unwholesome consequences with respect to the sila's or ethical behavior in general and that's enough for me. my nickname "acinteyya" means (roughly): "What should not be thought; inconceivability; something beyond the borders of thinking"
The buddha said:
There are the 4 inconceivabilities:(A.VI.77)
1. sphere of control* of the buddha (buddha-visaya)
2. sphere of control* of absorption/samādhi (jhāna-visaya)
3. sphere of action* of kamma (kamma-visaya)
4. speculation about/on* the world (lokacintā) (S.56.41)
(*sorry don't know if these are the right words)

When I was thinking about such things, I got into trouble with doubts. I guess because it is beyond thinking. :shrug:
it probably leads to insanity, if someone can't let go(A.VI.77)
:namaste:
Last edited by acinteyyo on Tue Jun 02, 2009 11:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Thag 1.20. Ajita - I do not fear death; nor do I long for life. I’ll lay down this body, aware and mindful.
Lombardi4
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Re: Do we create karma every second

Post by Lombardi4 »

Thank you!

So Bhante, I take it that the making of karma and experiencing of vipaka do not take place at the same time?
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Dhammanando
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Re: Do we create karma every second

Post by Dhammanando »

Stefan wrote:So Bhante, I take it that the making of karma and experiencing of vipaka do not take place at the same time?
Right.
Rūpehi bhikkhave arūpā santatarā.
Arūpehi nirodho santataro ti.


“Bhikkhus, the formless is more peaceful than the form realms.
Cessation is more peaceful than the formless realms.”
(Santatarasutta, Iti 73)
Lombardi4
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Re: Do we create karma every second

Post by Lombardi4 »

So there are moments where I make new karma and during all the other moments I experience vipaka. I.e., there is no moment without one of these not occuring?
Last edited by Lombardi4 on Tue Jun 02, 2009 12:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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