The Pacific Desperado

American Karma The Pacific Desperado

Ever since the start of the Twenty-first Century, a sense of foreboding has pervaded Western culture. Many people feel that, in Biblical terms, the sins of our past are about to catch up with us. According to this line of thought, we are fast approaching the hour when the righteous shall go up and everybody else will go down. Whether or not one is persuaded by such arguments, prospects of Global Warming and nuclear holocaust do give us ample cause for worry--to say nothing of the fact that no matter what happens to our own and other species on this planet, each of us is eventually going to die. Does the theory of karma, which has both collective and individual aspects, have anything to say about our personal destinies and our planet's future?

In order to understand karma, we also need to understand other Buddhist teachings, including (but not limited to) interdependent co-arising, the nature of suffering, its cessation, and attachment--and its cessation. These teachings are briefly surveyed in this short piece. However, we also need to learn how to put them into practice--for that, a Buddhist teacher and a group of other practitioners is required.