Karma, Reincarnation, and Blaming

View original on archive.org. This was written by Catherine.

This isn’t so much a post as what I hope is a jumping off point for conversation. And it’s less about Buddhism or Paganism per se as it is about some attitudes that seem to be fairly prevalent around the intersection of the communities.

I think I’m going to put this in the form of statements that I’ve heard, that seem to me to be thematically linked – and some of which seem to have some, ah, lineal descent from early popular awareness of Buddhism in the US some decades ago. I find all of these statements problematical, at least for some applications. Some of them also seem to be pretty common. And while I think many of them can be slapped down (and some of them supported) on doctrinal grounds, I’m more interested in personal reactions and understandings.

You create your own reality. You chose this life. You earned the life you were born into. You chose your parents. Things always happen for a reason. We shouldn’t interfere with someone else’s karma. Things always turn out as they should.

What do you think of them? Do you hold any of them? Why? How do they affect your dealings with others?