palLABS: laboratory of the universal particular: "palLABS: laboratory of the universal particular
philosophy + spacetime. quality + tea. push + boundaries. containers + emotions. meticulous + neon. introduction + sleep. hindsight + semiotics. foreground + needs. scratch + thermocol. needs + windshield. 73 + alien. spine + instead. etc."
Furthermore, I clicked one of the links within...(he he, notice I said within, not inside...
and lo and behold, I found another interesting site...It is called Urban Dharma. I will probably stop by again at both spots...
But, what really caught my attention was the article there about Hurricanes and Karma...
Here is sort of an intro to the essay:
Was the Tsunami Caused by Karma? - A Buddhist View -- by Kusala Bhikshu
The world is filled with so much pain and suffering and now a Tsunami kills over 170,000 people. Why did so many people have to die, was it their karma?
I was watching the news, listening to a famous American Buddhist scholar say the death and destruction caused by the Tsunami, "Was karma." A simple answer and a great sound bite to a complex question, but to say the reason behind this tragic event was simply karma appears glib and indifferent.
I've never found the cause of anything in Buddhism to be just one thing. Saying the reason for a complex chain of events is the result of one action-- whether it's God, sin or karma-- doesn't seem like a viable option for a Buddhist. Buddhist cosmology is non-theistic and lacks a first cause. I admit some Buddhists feel karma can replace God as a first cause, because Buddhism has a moral code and lacks a divine law giver... But is it fair to say that a Tsunami is the moral consequence of unskillful intention, speech and action?
The Buddha was clear on this. We lack a realistic world view because of lust, greed, hatred and delusion. Science can add some clarity and meaning, but the Buddha warned us about this world of ours (samsara) being unsatisfactory, it's the place where birth, death and change occur. We experience pain because we have a body/mind, and suffer because of desire and impermanence.
Sickness, injury, aging and death are simply the signs of flux in an insufferable world.
Early Buddhism gives us something called the five Niyamas, or the five aspects of cosmic order. These Niyamas can deepen our understanding and give meaning to why things happen. Niyama is a Pali term (language of early Buddhism) for cosmic order. The Niyamas show how certain conditions, laws of nature, work at different levels of cause and effect.
read the rest of the article here
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