Karma and Rebirth in the Hindu and the Buddhist Systems of Thought

Introduction

The Hindu and Buddhist notions of karma are quite similar, whereas Hinduism makes a further distinction between different types of karma, such as present karma, latent karma, and future karma. In the comprehending of both thought schemes, the law of karma describes the attachment between activities and the producing forces, as pursues: healthy actions lead to healthy states while unhealthy actions lead to unwholesome states, individually as well as collectively

To really realise this doctrine and what it really means for Buddhists, and for Hindus as well, we need to gaze first at one basic premise of Indian devout life. That is the doctrine of reincarnation, known in India as Samsara (MacKenzie, 63-174). Samsara is the cycle of killings and rebirths in which every living being is "trapped". The phrase Samsara means to "wander". We are wanderers and we don't understand where we came from or where we are heading. Indians see this process as a burdensome one, as we have dwelled and will live millions and millions of lives, without a evident end. The aim of Indian beliefs is to end this cycle. This is what Buddhism hunts for, flexibility from Samsara.

According to Hinduism, the concept of complete annihilation of the soul after death is inconsistent with the notion of a lesson alignment in the universe. If everything finishes with death, then there is no meaning to life. Nor is the outlook that the soul is created at birth and then becomes eternal at death reasonable, for anything that has a starting will also have an end. Further, this outlook does not explain the obvious inequalities among people. Moreover, all too often the virtuous bear and the vicious prosper. One cannot ascribe these injustices to the will of God or to some inscrutable destiny, because such a concept belies any belief in God's love for His beings. These glaring dissimilarities will not be considered the meagre results of chance occurrence; for if such were the case, there would be no inducement for lesson or material improvement. Then, heredity and environment, whereas they interpret the personal and mental characteristics of an individual partially, do not interpret inequalities satisfactorily. Nor does the doctrine of eternal happiness in heaven, or eternal pain in torment, response this question. Everlasting life in terms of time is self-contradictory (Geshe, 54-69).

The dwellers in paradise, endowed with subtle or spiritual bodies, are still subject to embodiment and therefore will not be immortal. The concept of eternal damnation for the errors of man's short earthly career contradicts fairness and reason. The inequalities and sufferings of life will not be set right by readjustments after death, because what occurs after death cannot be verified. The situation on the two edges of the grave are distinct, and the dead not ever arrive back to testify to their afterlife conditions.

Hinduism: Rebirth And The Law Of Karma

Hinduism argues that the origin of pain and inequalities must be searched not in ...