karma

That probably would never have happened if it didn't have a cool name like Karma. After all, "good-posting-history whore" doesn't have the same ring to it.

• karmiya = useful
• karmapatha = course of action
• karma-vacana = stating the matter
• karmika = worker

The word karma refers to both the action itself and the resulting effects. This doctrine first appeared in the Upanishads, which accompany the sacred spiritual Hindu texts, the Vedas. The Chandogoya Upanishad states:

"Those whose deeds in former lives were good get desirable lives such as those of Brahmans (priests), Kshatriyas (warriors), or Vaisyas (merchants and farmers). Those whose lives are bad get lives such as those of Candalas, dogs or swines."

And in the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad, it says:

"A man of good acts will become good, a man of bad acts, bad. He becomes pure by pure deeds, bad by bad deeds."

However, the philosophy of karma is a bit more complex. The idea of karma is rooted in that of transmigration, that each life is just a link in a chain of successive lives. The karma in the last life determines the success in the next. This is used to explain the inequality of people in society (the caste system).

The theory of karma instructs that the atman (self), whether a person or an animal or even a god, has existed without a beginning as the location for one's experiences and deeds. Any action which is done during a life produces traces which carry the atman along with them. When an atman dies, after a brief time in heaven or hell, the karmic traces from the past life manifest and determine the three futures of the self: human, animal or god. They also determine the longetivity of the next life and the experiences that self may encounter. After determination is complete, these karmic traces are completely removed, only to be replaced by new ones acquired during the next life. Thus, one cannot improve one's status in a given life, but only through reincarnation, live a better subsequent life. The only way to end this cycle is to perfect oneself until you have reached the highest state of god (Bramha) and leave the cycle of birth-life-death.

These ideas are also part of the doctrine in Buddhism and Jainism. Bhuddists view karma as simply cause and effect. Jains see karma as a substance that also produces the chain of birth and death.

paraphrased from: The Dictionary of Global Culture, Kwame Appiah & Henry Gates, Jr.

Track Listing:

(1) Enchanted (08:31)
(2) Duende (05:23)
(3) Twilight (06:05)
(4) Silence (06:33)
(5) Forgotten Worlds (07:33)
(6) Lamentation (08:32)
(7) Euphoria (Firefly) (05:27)
(8) Remembrance (07:28)
(9) Wisdom (04:48)
(10) Koran (10:06)
(11) 'Til the End of Time (4:36)

All music written by Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber.

Lyrics for "Enchanted", "Wisdom", and "'Til the End of Time" written and performed by Kristy Thirsk.

Lyrics for "Duende" written and performed by Camille Henderson.

Lyrics for "Silence" written and performed by Sarah McLachlan.

Lyrics for "Euphoria (Firefly)|Euphoria]" written and performed by Jacqui Hunt.

All lyrics reprinted by kind permission.

Produced by Delerium and Greg Reely.

Recorded and mixed by Greg Reely.

Assisted by Joe Varkey except "Silence"/"Euphoria" mixed by Mike Plotnikoff, assisted by Gary Winger.

Recorded at Slack/Cryogenics Studio.

Mixed at Hipposonic Studio and The Warehouse Studio, Vancouver, B.C.

Digitally assembled by Craig Waddell.

Mastered by Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound Inc., New York, New York.

All songs published by Esoteria/Nettoverboard Publishing except: "Enchanted","Wisdom", and "'Til the End of Time" published by Esoteria/Nettoverboard Publishing, Cherub Music/NTWK Publishing. "Duende" published by Esoteria Publishing/Meant To Be Songs/Nettoverboard Publishing. "Silence" published by Esoteria/Nettoverboard Publishing, Tyde Music/Sony/ATV Tunes. "Forgotten Worlds" published by Esoteria/Nettoverboard Publishing, Beggars Banquet Music/Momentum Music. "Euphoria" published by Esoteria/Nettoverboard Publishing, Sony/ATV Tunes.

Sample in "Duende" from "Ritual Music of the Kayapo-Xikrin, Brazil" (SE40433), appears courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings.

Sample in "Forgotten Worlds" from "Persian Love Song" by Dead Can Dance, appears courtesy of 4AD.

Sample in "Remembrance" from "Desert Song" by Dead Can Dance, appears courtesy of 4AD.

"Twilight", "Enchanted", and "Duende" feature samples from the album "Heart of the Forest" performed by the Baka Forest Pygmies, under license from Rykodisc Ltd.

Delerium Thanks: Pauline Fasoli, Kathy Doherty, Kevin Doran, Ian Moss, Jason Keating, Stephen Smith, Morna Edmundson, Diane Loomer, Bruce Hoffman and the Chor Leoni Men's Choir.

Cover design: Carylann Loeppky
Photos: Carylann Loeppky and Crystal Heald
Model: Melanie Scruton

(P) 1997 Nettwerk Records Inc. (C) 1997 Nettwerk Records, Inc. Manufactured and Marketed by Nettwerk Records Inc., 632 Broadway, Suite 301 New York, NY, U.S.A., 10012. Tel: (212) 477-8198 - Fax: (212) 477-6874 - E-Mail: info@nettwerk.com Compuserve: 74777,547 - NettWeb: www.nettwerk.com - For more information contact any of the above addresses.

All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws.

Thanks to www.delerium.com for this information.

GreySoul hasn't been around for a bit, otherwise I'd /msg him about this.

Duties prescribed in the revealed scriptures (sruti); fruitive actions, for which there is always a reaction, good or bad.

Here are some more sanskrit compounds which feature karma:

• akarma
• Karma-bandhanah
• Karmatmaka
• karma-yoga
• karmis
• subha-karma
• ugra-karma
• vikarma

This is a difficult concept for Westerners to wrap their brains around, since we are conditioned from birth to think of everything in terms of winning and losing. The "karmic goal" is not to win or lose, but to simply be balanced. Using the point metaphor, you get off the wheel by having zero points; no positive, no negative. If taken further, this presents other interesting philosophical questions, because zero in mathematics is a very tricky a complicated thing.

Once removed from the karmic wheel, the self is able to see though Maya (the veil that shrouds truth) and see the universe as it really is. This is, in one sense, enlightenment. The various yogas are simply paths that can all lead to this ultimate goal.

Jainism has eight different flavors of karma:

Mohaniya (delusion)
Jnana-varaniya (knowledge)
Darasna-varaniya (vision)
Antaraya (natural qualities)
Nama (body)
Ayu (lifespan)
Gotra (social standing)
Vedniya (pleasure and pain of the body)

They are all related to the soul. Jainism refers to destroying one's karmas in order to proceed towards perfect knowledge, power, and bliss, eventually becoming a God. In destroying the first four karmas, one uncovers the natural qualities of one's soul; the last four are related to the body of the soul. Those who destroy all eight karmas are called Siddha.

One can destroy only the first four karmas and still (or already) become a God, being called Arihantra. This is known as attaining keval-jnana. If one then establishes a Jainist religious order, one becomes a Tirthankara, also known as a Jina or Nirgrantha; otherwise one is simply "ordinary-kevali." The founder of Jainism, Mahavira, was a Tirthankara.

On #everything, karma can be given in positive or negative chunks by adding "++" or "--" after a word in CowbotNeal's presence. Phrases can be put in parentheses. You cannot give yourself karma. (Well, not in the usual sense, anyway. You can certainly earn it.)

To check the karma of a word or phrase, say "karma foo" in CowbotNeal's presence. You can say "karma me" to check your own karma.

Examples:

• sylvar++
• cops--
• (katyana's homemade chili)++

A list of karma scores (possibly outdated, possibly live) is available at http://yogafrog.blockstackers.com/karma.txt; a quick Perl sort-by-length brings us some interesting tidbits.

Karma Records

Highest karma: jm (1015)
Lowest karma: cops (-1139)
Longest string with a karma rating: prosecutors did not seek indictments for the murder of luke and paul, but could do so later if they are not satisfied with the verdicts in this trial (1)
Longest string with a significant karma rating: george foreman's lean mean fat-reducing grilling machine (27)

Other amusing karma stuff

• obscenely long sentances with which to modify the karma of, in the off chance that someone might eventually read them (1)
• nipples that are erogenous enough to cause an orgasm (3)
• balls deep in a breadmaker (8)

The concept of karma, understood through the perspective of Buddhist thought, is, essentially, a system of cause and effect. Everything done, said, and thought has consequences. These consequences have consequences, and so on, creating an intricate web of inter-related inertia.

A common over-simplification of the matter is to say that 'bad' deeds are 'punished' and 'good' deeds are 'rewarded.' In some sense, this is true: a life filled with good deeds will be karmically 'beneficial' in that little negatively-based karma will accrue. The good karma that is created may very well result in an improvement of circumstance (in this life or the next).

But what is a reward, and what is a punishment? For the sake of this example, let us consider a man who has spent his entire lifetime in a state of mindful compassion. Many people have suffered less because this man has existed. As a consequence, he is reborn at a "higher" level of existence, a better life, sometimes refered (misleadingly) as that of a godlike being.

While such a situation might be pleasant, it is transient, finite, temporary, and an illusion like every other perception. But while existing in such a fashion, a being would be very unlikely to perceive of him/herself as suffering (duhka) and would cling to the fabric of such an existence so strongly that samsara (the cycle of life, death and rebirth) would be an invisible, inescapable prison. Eventually, when it is too late, he/she will suffer from the realization that death is inevitable, that all the pleasure and good fortune will be lost, that transitory pleasures have no substance in the end, it is too late. The opportunity to follow the Eightfold Path is lost.

In the Buddhist perspective, the following of the Eightfold Path (right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration) is the only way to be free of samsara, the nature of which is duhka, and to enter a state of nirvana (enlightment during life), and eventually paranirvana (enlightened state after death). Therefore, karma, whether good or bad, is undesirable because it is the force that propels future lives.

A useful metaphor for understanding how karma works is to imagine the balls on a pool table. When one ball strikes another ball, the first stops while the second begins moving. Accordingly, when one life ends, the karma from that life creates the momentum for another life that must deal with the past karma while creating karma anew. There is no reincarnated soul, but rather it is the sum of a person's actions that is carried forward into the next life, resulting in an improvement or deterioration of the person's life circumstances.

Of course, according to Buddhism, the "Middle Path," the ideal rebirth is as a human in modest circumstances. Anything more and a being would be too distracted by pleasure to practice Buddhism; anything less and the ignorance and/or suffering would be insurmountable. By following the Eightfold Path (over one or many lifetimes), a human being can achieve perfect balance, extinguishing previous karma while creating as little new karma as possible, eventually removing oneself entirely from the cycle of suffering.

Kar"ma (?), n. [Skr.] Buddhism

One's acts considered as fixing one's lot in the future existence. Theos. The doctrine of fate as the inflexible result of cause and effect; the theory of inevitable consequence.

© Webster 1913.