Topics Include: 1) Review of the concept of karma and its relationship to the taking of life. Understanding the consequences of our actions. The teaching of Bikkhu Bodhi. 2) The variables of subject, object, intention and intensity of the act in the determination of karmic weight or consequences. 3) Understanding karma as a moral ledger, the pervasiveness of killing and death in our lives, and how we all carry karmic consequences in our lives. 4) Responding to questions about karmic consequences in our daily life decisions: having thoughts about killing; contemplating suicide, the question of abortion. 5) The foundation of the Dharma: ahimsa, do no harm to one’s self or to others. 6) The fundamental principle of the protection and reverence for life. The fundamental principles of the Vedic traditions upon which the moral order of Buddhism was built. 7) Understanding the karmic ledger as a moral and ethical system designed to nurture the sustenance of life for all sentient beings. Learning how to live as part of nature. 8) Appreciating the inherent justice embedded in a system of karmic reward and punishment. 9) Contrasting Buddhism with the Abrahamic traditions of Christianity and Islam. 10) Finding a sense of freedom, confidence and peace by living in the flow of nature.
March 6, 2021
55 min.