Yes, I agree. The point is that if you do bad stuff then bad stuff will happen.Goofaholix wrote:To me the whole point of the teaching on kamma is not so we can speculate about why this person or that person experienced good or bad in their lives, but so that we can be aware that what we are doing now will have future results.
It doesn't matter whether it's the skewed version from the skeptics website, or something that sounds nicer, you can't do anything about the past but you can do something about the present and this will affect your future.
You may mean this:Goofaholix wrote: Some time ago I saw a scripture quoted that basically said such speculation is a waste of time, I wish I had made not of the reference, maybe somebody knows an can post it.
AN 4.77 Acintita Sutta: Unconjecturable
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
As you say, this supports thinking in terms of avoiding bad kamma to guard against possible future bad stuff."There are these four unconjecturables that are not to be conjectured about, that would bring madness & vexation to anyone who conjectured about them. Which four?
...
"The [precise working out of the] results of kamma...
However, it's sometimes used, with what I consider to be faulty logic, in the following manner:
"Since we can't know the precise working out of the results of kamma then it's not possible that [...] can be a result of kamma and anyone who states that [...] could be result of kamma misunderstands the Buddha's teaching."
By that standard, Venerable Nyanatiloka, who I quoted above http://dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=3667#p53344" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; misunderstands the Dhamma...
So, don't try to figure out why this bad stuff is happing to you, but recognise that it is due to causes and conditions and that what happens in the future depends on the choices you make now.Of all those circumstances and conditions constituting the destiny of a being, none, according to the Buddha's Teaching, can come into existence without a previous cause and the presence of a number of necessary conditions. Just as, for example, from a rotten mango seed a healthy mango tree with healthy and sweet fruits never will come, just so the evil volitional actions, or evil kamma, produced in former births, are the seeds, or root-causes, of an evil destiny in a later birth. It is a necessary postulate of thinking that the good and bad destiny of a being, as well as its latent character, cannot be the product of mere chance, but must of necessity have its causes in a previous birth.
Metta
Mike