The Ultimate Activist
April 23, 2009 Question: I saw the video (Chicken a la CArte) that you posted. As a mom and as a person living in a country where such picture is an everyday reality it is hard for me to try to imagine those little children begging in the streets as paying their karma. I am a dedicated activist towards the right to health and the right to food. I firmly think we should advocate for those whose voices are unheard but, if picturing them as paying their own karma, won´t that be putting the fault on their own (children) and thus stop mobilizing civil society to work for social justice?
Response: Our understanding of karma does not diminish our compassion or our wish to alleviate suffering. If anything it increases it because we understand that those who make the wrong choice often do not understand what is truly happening. They do not understand cause and effect. The children in the movie do not remember what they did in a past life that leads to such suffering in this one. I do not remember what I did in my past lifetimes that will lead to similar and worse consequences.
But I do know that I have no right to judge another. Instead I need to awaken and help everyone I can.
The first vow of a bodhisattva is "Sentient beings are innumerable, I vow to help them all." This vow means that we do not vow to just help people end their suffering in this lifetime. We vow to help all beings attain lasting liberation from suffering regardless of how many lifetimes it takes.
The Buddha spent innumerable lifetimes striving to fulfill this vow. After he attained enlightenment, he could have left his worldly body behind and entered parinirvana. Instead he chose to teach all those who wished to learn how they could also free themselves from suffering.
The Buddha had three robes to protect him against the weather. He slept under the trees and ate one meal a day. He taught whoever asked, regardless of caste, economic position, or gender. One of his students had been a serial killer, another an untouchable. For forty-nine years he crisscrossed India and Nepal, walking everywhere regardless of the cold or heat, with the single goal of alleviating suffering.
Many would call the Buddha the ultimate activist.
Reader Comments (2)
This is something I don't understand about karma. If we can't remember, then how are we supposed to learn from it? This is particularly pertinent to young children who have no concept of karma. I can see how adults can reason, if if they can't remember, that suffering can be caused from karma accumulated in a past life, but not young children.
It seems something akin to a parent remembering something the child did when he/she was 3 or 4 and then punishing the child for that offense at age 20, by then the child/20 yr old has completely forgotten the incident and is wondering what the punishment is for. There is no learning, only suffering. I think this is particularly true of children who suffer horrors and do not survive, they do not have the opportunity to mature and learn of the law of karma. They simply suffer and die, no learning involved. No lesson learned in order to avoid the same mistakes that caused the suffering from a previous life.
I understand the impersonal aspect (as in no judge meating out punishment), but I don't understand the "value" of it when it comes to children suffering and dying. I could better get a grip on it perhaps if there were some learning involved, but in cases such as I've described, there is no learning, only suffering and death. It seems cruel, not impersonal in those cases.
I mean no disrespect. Quite the opposite. I mention it because I believe you know FAR more about the matter than I and I mention it also in hopes that you can help me understand better.
Thank you!
One interesting question leads to another. I have responded to this in the April 27th entry.
Thank you!