Revision

Project #2

“What Goes Around Comes Around”

The phrase, "what goes around comes around," is a very widely used phrase used not only by parents to children, but as a somewhat threat towards someone who has done you wrong, or hurt you in any way. Despite the length of the phrase, "what goes around comes around," basically falls deeply into the term of Karma.
Karma is one of those words we don't translate. Its basic meaning is simple enough, action, but because of the weight the Buddha's teachings give to the role of action, the Sanskrit word karma packs in so many implications that the English word action can't carry its entire luggage. This is why we've simply airlifted the original word into our vocabulary.
But when we try unpacking the connotations the word carries now that has arrived in everyday usage, we find that most of its luggage has gotten mixed up in transit. In the eyes of most Americans, karma functions like fate bad fate. At that, an inexplicable, unchangeable force coming out of our past, for which we are somehow vaguely responsible and powerless to fight. "I guess it's just my karma," I've heard people sigh when bad fortune strikes with such force that they see no alternative to resign acceptance. The fatalism implicit in this statement is one reason why so many of us are repelled by the concept of karma, for it sounds like the kind of callous myth-making that can justify almost any kind of suffering or injustice in the status quo: "If he's poor, it's because of his karma." "If she's been raped, it's because of her karma." From this it seems a short step to saying that he or she deserves to suffer, and so doesn't deserve our help. I believe that we need beliefs like karma, I can’t even begin to imagine how we would act if there was no religious or cosmic justice for how we act. We as humans already go about our lives doing what we please knowing that there are consequences for our actions and still do what we want. The word karma leads the phrase “what goes around comes around” which is also followed by the related phrases “what goes up must come down”, “live by the sword die by the blade” and, “ If you make the bed be prepared to sleep in it”. In my opinion they are all tied up into the golden rule which states “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. I believe karma in the world of today has a very simple definition to us, and we don’t rely as strongly on it as other cultures do. For example, a female singer Alicia Keys sang a song entitled “Karma” as well as a male artist name Justin Timberlake who sang a song entitled “What Goes Around Comes Around”. This shows that it’s just a saying or a phrase rather than a way of life. From the standpoint of karma, though, where we come from is old karma, over which we have no control. What we are is a nebulous concept at best and pernicious at worst, when we use it to find excuses for acting on unskillful motives. The worth of a tribe lies only in the skillful actions of its individual members. Even when those good people belong to our tribe, their good karma is theirs, not ours. And, of course, every tribe has its bad members, which means that the mythology of the tribe is a fragile thing. To hang onto anything fragile requires a large investment of passion, aversion, and delusion, leading inevitably to more unskillful actions on into the future.
Karma is the concept in Hinduism which explains casualties through a system where beneficial effects are derived from post beneficial actions and harmful effects from post harmful actions. Creating a system of actions and reactions taught a person’s reincarnated life. Karma literally means deed or act and more broadly names the universal principle of cause and effect, action and reaction, which Hindus believes govern all life. I firmly believe that if Americans followed this same principle along with the ones that we already have the United States would be a much better place. I also believe that believing in karma would affect one's moral outlook and one’s sense of responsibility because if people believe that their prosperity and happiness lies in their hands, they would be more likely to do what they feel is right. It is believed that only beings that can distinguish between right and wrong such as adults and humans can accumulate karma. Animals and small children are not responsible and cannot accumulate karma as they are incapable of discriminating between right and wrong.
Karma is not fate. Humans are believed to act with free will creating their own destinies. For example, if an individual sows goodness, he or she will reap goodness. If he or she sows evil, he or she will reap evil. Karma refers to the totality of mankind’s reactions and the concomitant reaction in current and previous lives all of which is determined by the future, however many karmas do not have an immediate effect, some accumulate and return unexpectedly in an individual’s later life. The contrast of karma has believed to lie in intelligent action and dispassionate reaction.
Karma is the action of doing, any kind of intentional action whether mental or physical is regarded as karma. It covers all that’s included in the phrase "thought, word, or deed," generally speaking all good and bad action constitutes karma. There are many quotes and saying that people use when referring to karma some of them being. “How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours”. By Wayne Dyer, “There are the waves and there is the wind, seen and unseen forces. Everyone has these same elements in their lives, the seen and unseen, karma and free will.” By Kuan Yin and, “Who so ever diggeth the pit shall fall therein.” (By: Proverb).
All in all there is one concept that could sum up everything that was just said. To help you make wise decisions and wise actions, you must always remember that whatever you do always try to do well. Always put your best effort in someone or something that you know you are responsible for. Forsake that past and go on with the future. Don’t let what happen before in life that you regret contribute to who you are today. Try to live to that best of your ability! And always remember if you sow bad fruits, your will reap bad fruits, but if you sow good fruits there is always good that comes out of it.

References


“ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karma...... last modified on 15 October 2008, at 04:53.”


“ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karma_in_Hinduism..... last modified on 16 October 2008, at 10:25.”


“ http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/karma.htm .... Copyright © 2008....... ” Last updated: December 13, 2007



“http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/karma.html
Karma by
Thanissaro Bhikkhu……..Revised: Tuesday 2007-08-14”
http://buddhism.kalachakranet.org/karma.html...... BUDDHIST KARMA..... Last updated: December 13, 2007


You've identified a belief system (karma) and juxtaposed it with a common phrase ("what goes around comes around"). This is interesting because I don't think people who use this phrase would necessarily think that they believe in karma. This could easily give you a nice opening line--something about most people not knowing they're part Hindu. The challenge now is to develop your own perspective on karma that goes beyond defining it. You've got several different statements about what karma is, but you've got to get to why this matters. Who cares that some people believe in karma. What’s your perspective on it? What do you want to point out about believing in it? What reasons do people have for believing in it? In what situations do we tell ourselves "what goes around comes around"?Here are a few questions to get you thinking about why believing in karma matters: - how does believing in karma affect one's moral outlook? One’s sense of responsibility?- How strict is karma? If something bad happens to someone, do you assume they did something wrong (in a previous life?)?- Who/what enforces karma? Does one have to believe in a god? In nature? In cosmic balance?- How is believing in karma different from believing in an afterlife where you get punished or rewarded?- would Americans act differently if they believed in karma?- Why do we need beliefs like karma? How would we act if there was no religious or cosmic justice for how we act? Where do atheists get their morals? - Is it true, as Voltaire said, that "If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him?" If we have karma, do we need God?These are just a few ways you can develop your sense of why thinking more deeply about karma is important.As you rewrite, you also need to acknowledge sources. There's a lot of "patch-writing" here--sentences taken from other sources and strung together with no acknowledgement of the original source (in other words, parts of this essay are currently plagiarized).I look forward to seeing the revised draft Posts