[Originally posted by her in the Modern Church of Satan forum]:
The idea that “karma” is some mystical force of retribution which rewards you with good if you do good and with bad if you do bad actually somehow developed over time during India’s post-Brahmanism “Hinduification” stage. This was a period of time circa ~500BC to ~300BC.
That was a time when Buddhism has just emerged as a reactionary movement during India’s age of Enlightenment which was similar to the age of Enlightenment that took place around the ~1700′s in Europe/England.
We can tell that this era was the time where a divergent meaning was evolved for the word “karma” because Buddhism proper – in so far as written dhamma expounded by Buddha goes – still retains the older meaning of the word which it shared with Brahmanism at one time.
The root word in “karma” is “KR” meaning an “Act,” or “Do.” From this we get the word “KAR” which means “Work,” or “Labor.” It is still a word we use in my own language ((khmer)) which still means a “job” or “work.”
Karma in Sanskrit and Kamma in Pali originally before the Hindus gave it a mystical meaning, meant “To Build.” A “karman” was a “Builder” or “Architect.”
In Brahmanism ((the older vedas)) and also in the Tipitaka of Buddhism there is a Deva/devatta ((being of light)) whose name uses this word which still retains its original meaning. He is called in Sanskrit “Vishvakarman” which means Great Architect or Supreme Builder: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vishvakarman
Other core aspects of Buddhism also uses words with practical architectural meanings.
For example the word “TiPitaka.” Ti in Pali means Three, while Pitaka means “Basket.” The TiPitaka is the name given to the 25,000 page “scriptural text” of Buddhism.
During the Buddha’s time ((~500BC)) when you were building a temple you would first find a site to construct the thing on. Then you would gather your workers and place them in a line and give them Baskets. The workers would dig a ditch in the ground to lay the foundation of the temple, and they would convey the dirt with the baskets in their in their line. When it was time to lay the stones, the Baskets were used to haul the stones.
The word used as one who follows Buddha: Upasaka for males and Upasika for females both means One Who Serves/Attends. Upasa meaning to Serve/Attend; the suffix -aka is the male form of the English -Er; or -Ist; and -ika is the female form. This was the word used to refer to a worker who attended and served on a construction site.
The word “Dharma” ((Sanskrit)) or Dhamma in Pali originally had two meanings: 1) A Foundation upon which something is built on or according to; & 2) a constitution or paper which desribes what and how something was to be built.
In olden times a Dharma would be called a “Trestleboard” by a Mason. Today we would refer to a dharma as a “Blueprint.” Dharma still retains its essential quality today meaning the WAY/LAW/RULE.
So when we put all these architectural concepts together we get a picture of a construction site ((karmatana)) where workers ((upasakas)) haul loads of dirt and stones with their “Pitikas.” These Upasakas are following the instructions ((sasana)) of their Master Architect ((karman)) drawn out or drafted on a “dharma.”
Then we can say that such workers ((upasakas)) are building or working ((karmati)) to CAUSALLY MANIFEST “something.” This something would be the End Result of there labor, which would in this case be a building/temple.
So we have causal work/action ((causal referring to the material world of experience)) put into Manifesting an End Result. But the workers are only following the dharma of their employer/master.
So with this picture we can hypothesize that IF the karman ((master builder)) is retarded that the End Product ((the Temple in our case)) would come out retarded looking; even if the workers ((causal action)) worked their assess off in a precise manner.
But we can also say that if the dharma ((way/law/rule/blueprint)) is retarded; that the End Result will also come out jalopy; even if the master and his workers are precise.
But we can also say that even if the master builder and his blueprint is exact and perfect, that if the workers ((one’s actions)) is retarded and don’t know what they are doing, that the temple will also be stupid looking.
“Retarded” is a bad word to use as it doesn’t really describe anything of value.
The Buddha in this context uses the words ((in Pali)) Kosala and Akosala.
Kosala is a word the Buddha made up that really did not exist before him. In Sanskrit this word is Kaushalya. Originally as the Buddha used it it means “Skilled,” “Constructive,” or “Productive.” Most times when translated into English this word is wrongly rendered as “good.” The Buddha never uses such emotive and morally valuated words; which is why he made up his own words.
Akosala means Retarded in this case. It actually means A(not)-Kosala(Skilled) or Unskilled, Nonconstructive, Unproductive, Idiotic, Aimless. This word is wrongly translated into English as “evil,” or “Bad.” The word “Papa” means “bad/miserable” which the Buddha never uses in this context.
So in Pali the Buddha speaks of two kinds of karmas: 1) Kamma-Kosala & 2) Kamma-Akosala.
Kamma-Kosala would thus mean “Skillful Building/Craft” whereas Kamma-Akosala would mean “Unskilled Building/Craft.”
So when you use kamma kosala you causally end up with a Building that looks right and proper as you desired or intended it to be. But if you use kamma akosala in life you end up manifesting jalopy end results. Or in other words: Stupid people engineer stupid results.
The Hindus went crazy with the idea of Karma during the era of the emergence of Buddhist thought. Before 500BC a religion based on old Vedas and old Upanishads called Brahmanism dominated India. This religion was more similar to the religion of the Jews. They has temples overseen by Brahmins who wore white loin clothes. These Brahmins were the special Middle-men between the Gods and Mankind.
Reincarnation back then was not yet grafted into the Vedas. It was believed that when you die, your Atman migrate to the Loka ((realm/abode/world)) of the God you offered animal sacrifices too.
I said they were like Jews because the Brahmins sold the people special animals which were to be sacrificed to gods at Temples. This offering of animals to your favorite god back then was called a HIMSA Offering or a Sacrificial HIMSA. Himsa meaning to “kill/offer.” Just like how the Jews slaughtered sheep and goats to their invisible friends the Elohim.
When Jainism and Buddhism were born they rejected the Vedas, vedic gods, and thus Himsa offerings. Hense the word: AHIMSA. Ahimsa back then – before Hindus and the New Age Movement and Vegetarians – was just a reactionary or Dialectical doctrine which posits that because Vedic gods were not real, that killing animals did absolutely nothing of practical or constructive value, because you were Himsa-ing to non-existent gods!
So for about 200 years Brahmanism was ideologically fighting with the Shramanic Tradition’s spiritual offspring Jainism and Buddhism which had all of these ideas that made more sense. Many people started to adopt heretical Jain and Buddhist ideas. The Brahmins feared that their ancient religion and tradition would soon die if something wasn’t done. So to counter Jainism and Buddhism, new Upanishads, parts of the Veda, and the Bhagavad Gita were written which absorbed a lot Shramanic, Jain, and Buddhism heresy but restated and reinterpreted. This new Brahmanism is what is today referred to as “Hinduism” which is an exonym.
So this was when Karma started to gradually take on its stupid mystical meaning. This was because the new Hindus now had adopted the reinterpreted doctrine of Ahimsa. To the Hindus Ahimsa was some spiritual idea that an evolved person is compassionate with all sentient beings and tries not to hurt or kill them.
Well Ahimsa put the old Brahamin gods out of business! Because nobody was sacrifiing animals to them. Vishnu and Brahma were left with nothing to do. So to give the gods something to do, hindu gurus and sectarian propagandists made karma the job of the gods.
Under the new Hindu regime, people accumulated good karma points and bad karma points which is magically marked on their eternal atman ((soul)). And if you worshiped a god, or chanted special mantras associated with one of the gods – such as Om namo Shivaya Om – that god washes your bad karma points clean.
Some of the Hindu gurus went crazy and made up mantras and told their idiot Hindu followers that if they chant the mantra it would wash a million years of bad karma from them. Or they invented things like Kriya-yoga and say that if you practice it, it’ll wash a billion years of bad karma and make you into a god or illumined being of light. I think Paramahansa Yogananda ((SRF)) made such an outrageous claim?
In conclusion, there was a time when Karma was rational and sensible when it was a word which tried to describe the mechanics of how one skillfully or unskillfully manifests things in life. But then the Hindus came and fuct everything up. Well, no, the Hindus just messed up the game in India. I would say Madam Blavantsky messed up the game for the Occident. Then the new agers and wiccans just ran off with the idea and turned it into this three fold law of retribution. It’s amazing how this hindu meme has crept into Satanism. I suppose if it kept the Hindu gods employed, it would give Satan a job as well?
