Does karma "infest" inanimate objects?

A forum for discussion of Buddhist ethics.
Post Reply
KiwiNFLFan
Posts: 218
Joined: Thu Oct 05, 2017 10:15 am

Does karma "infest" inanimate objects?

Post by KiwiNFLFan »

Is it possible for karma to "infest" or "adhere" to inanimate objects? For example, someone buys a computer that he is told is stolen property, and then uses that computer to produce Dharma materials and other products. Would everything that is produced by the computer then be "tainted" with the karma of breaching the second precept, due to the computer it was produced on (and would the Dharma materials, by virtue of being about Dharma, cancel out the bad karma)?

Or is it only the intention of the person that matters? If, say a poor student buys a computer from a pawnbroker that is known to trade in stolen goods because it is all he can afford, but his intentions are pure, does the origin of the computer have any bearing on what he produces on it (for example, would the bad karma of using a stolen computer cause him to fail his classes)?
User avatar
LastLegend
Posts: 5408
Joined: Sat Mar 19, 2011 3:46 pm
Location: Northern Virginia

Re: Does karma "infest" inanimate objects?

Post by LastLegend »

No.

Karma would be like your family is giving you a headache and your mind has taken a trip to hell.
It’s eye blinking.
SteRo
Posts: 649
Joined: Fri Sep 13, 2019 12:29 pm

Re: Does karma "infest" inanimate objects?

Post by SteRo »

That's similar to the question of whether eating meat that is based on other's killing entails negative karmic consequences ... which might also be discussed endlessly based on countless speculations ... unless one refers to the Buddha of course. But some alms received by the monks of the Buddha might also have been acquired by the alms giver through theft. I don't think one should bother about things the Buddha did not expound a problem of.
If one makes a business based on things stolen be others that's of course a different case.
KiwiNFLFan
Posts: 218
Joined: Thu Oct 05, 2017 10:15 am

Re: Does karma "infest" inanimate objects?

Post by KiwiNFLFan »

Thanks for the replies.

I saw a YouTube ad tonight for a lucky bracelet, accompanied by a testimony of a woman who claimed her life made a turn for the better when she bought one. I looked up the shop (which has the audacity to use the title 'Buddha') and found it to be a scam that has left quite a few people dissatisfied and upset (some claim that their credit card was charged more than the price of the bracelet, or that they were charged for two instead of one).

But it got me thinking: are there objects that by wearing or owning them can bring people good karma? The video claimed that the bracelets are blessed by a monk. From my memory, he looked more like a Theravada monk than a Chinese monk (as the lady in the video had to go to Hong Kong to get the bracelet personally).

Do amulets, etc actually bring good karma and protection, or is their purpose simply to cause one to remember the Dharma?
kausalya
Posts: 269
Joined: Tue Jun 26, 2018 4:52 pm

Re: Does karma "infest" inanimate objects?

Post by kausalya »

Mercifully, I shortened my post :D

Monks are true objects of veneration for some people, particularly cultural Buddhists. That would indeed be the source of the blessing, but not everyone might receive it equally strongly... it would depend on your personal understanding of refuge in the Three Jewels. I don't see why remembering the Dharma wouldn't be a bona fide source of good karma in any circumstance.

One sutra or another talks about a woman who believed an old dog's tooth was a relic from the body of the Buddha. Because she had immeasurable faith, she experienced the blessing of a real relic... :buddha2:
"For as long as space remains,
For as long as sentient beings remain,
Until then may I too remain
To dispel the miseries of the world."
(Shantideva)
User avatar
Queequeg
Former staff member
Posts: 14418
Joined: Tue Jul 03, 2012 3:24 pm

Re: Does karma "infest" inanimate objects?

Post by Queequeg »

A traveler asks the gas station attendant, "Where does this road go?"
Attendant replies, "The road don't go nowhere. Where do you want to go?"
There is no suffering to be severed. Ignorance and klesas are indivisible from bodhi. There is no cause of suffering to be abandoned. Since extremes and the false are the Middle and genuine, there is no path to be practiced. Samsara is nirvana. No severance achieved. No suffering nor its cause. No path, no end. There is no transcendent realm; there is only the one true aspect. There is nothing separate from the true aspect.
-Guanding, Perfect and Sudden Contemplation,
User avatar
Queequeg
Former staff member
Posts: 14418
Joined: Tue Jul 03, 2012 3:24 pm

Re: Does karma "infest" inanimate objects?

Post by Queequeg »

KiwiNFLFan wrote: Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:40 am If, say a poor student buys a computer from a pawnbroker that is known to trade in stolen goods because it is all he can afford, but his intentions are pure, does the origin of the computer have any bearing on what he produces on it (for example, would the bad karma of using a stolen computer cause him to fail his classes)?
If you're sticking your head in the sand about some facts, then you're sticking your head in the sand. What're the karmic consequences of that? :shrug:

Doing something pure later doesn't efface past karma. Retribution follows cause. That is the law of cause and effect. Pure acts have their own consequences. If pure acts nonetheless don't add up to the required coursework, then the student will fail.

You don't fail classes because you did or did not do something that is not directly connected. It doesn't work that way. Did you do the coursework? Did you learn what you were expected to learn and demonstrate that as required by the instructor?
There is no suffering to be severed. Ignorance and klesas are indivisible from bodhi. There is no cause of suffering to be abandoned. Since extremes and the false are the Middle and genuine, there is no path to be practiced. Samsara is nirvana. No severance achieved. No suffering nor its cause. No path, no end. There is no transcendent realm; there is only the one true aspect. There is nothing separate from the true aspect.
-Guanding, Perfect and Sudden Contemplation,
kausalya
Posts: 269
Joined: Tue Jun 26, 2018 4:52 pm

Re: Does karma "infest" inanimate objects?

Post by kausalya »

Queequeg wrote: Tue Apr 07, 2020 5:28 pm A traveler asks the gas station attendant, "Where does this road go?"
Attendant replies, "The road don't go nowhere. Where do you want to go?"
Love it. I never used to understand ko-ans like this... :jedi:
"For as long as space remains,
For as long as sentient beings remain,
Until then may I too remain
To dispel the miseries of the world."
(Shantideva)
Malcolm
Posts: 42974
Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2010 2:19 am

Re: Does karma "infest" inanimate objects?

Post by Malcolm »

KiwiNFLFan wrote: Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:40 am Is it possible for karma to "infest" or "adhere" to inanimate objects? For example, someone buys a computer that he is told is stolen property,
Then he is participating in the theft. But if he does not know, then not. The karma does not adhere to the object, it is a function of intention and knowledge.
n8pee
Posts: 128
Joined: Sat Oct 06, 2018 2:08 am
Location: Columbus, OH

Re: Does karma "infest" inanimate objects?

Post by n8pee »

Then he is participating in the theft. But if he does not know, then not. The karma does not adhere to the object, it is a function of intention and knowledge.
I've read stories of masters who receive offerings that may have been obtained through less-than-honest means and their practice is negatively affected. Would this not be in conflict with your statement?
Mirror
Posts: 317
Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2018 9:53 am

Re: Does karma "infest" inanimate objects?

Post by Mirror »

Good virtue can't erase the bad one. The owner before you could use the computer for dharma activities or with this computer the former owner could help others it a great way. What if the former owner was poor programmer with a mortgage and this computer kept him out of poverty. You're partly the cause of the former owner's suffering. If you know, it's from a thief, then get rid of it. If you didn't know, it would be a different case.
Memento mori
Remember that you die
Malcolm
Posts: 42974
Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2010 2:19 am

Re: Does karma "infest" inanimate objects?

Post by Malcolm »

n8pee wrote: Thu Apr 09, 2020 1:23 am
Then he is participating in the theft. But if he does not know, then not. The karma does not adhere to the object, it is a function of intention and knowledge.
I've read stories of masters who receive offerings that may have been obtained through less-than-honest means and their practice is negatively affected. Would this not be in conflict with your statement?
No, not in the slightest. Karma is not something that attaches to material objects.

Stories are stories. One hears all kinds of stories.
KiwiNFLFan
Posts: 218
Joined: Thu Oct 05, 2017 10:15 am

Re: Does karma "infest" inanimate objects?

Post by KiwiNFLFan »

Ok then, so what is the case with so-called lucky charms? Is there a difference between a 'lucky charm' and Buddhist amulets/pendants, etc?

Can wearing an item blessed by a monk or that contains an image of the Buddha bring good karma that can protect you from harm or cause things to work out in your favour?

I have some Thai amulets - I bought one in Chiang Mai and was given others. The Thais believe that these amulets will protect them - some so much so that they do not wear a helmet when riding a motorcycle, believing the amulet will protect them.
Malcolm
Posts: 42974
Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2010 2:19 am

Re: Does karma "infest" inanimate objects?

Post by Malcolm »

KiwiNFLFan wrote: Fri Apr 10, 2020 8:25 am Ok then, so what is the case with so-called lucky charms? Is there a difference between a 'lucky charm' and Buddhist amulets/pendants, etc?

Can wearing an item blessed by a monk or that contains an image of the Buddha bring good karma that can protect you from harm or cause things to work out in your favour?

I have some Thai amulets - I bought one in Chiang Mai and was given others. The Thais believe that these amulets will protect them - some so much so that they do not wear a helmet when riding a motorcycle, believing the amulet will protect them.
I thnk you if asked an emergency room physician in Bangkok, they would shake their heads at that kind if stupidity.

Tibetans used to carry gaus filled with sacred things in order to protect them from bullets and so on. It still didn't stop Chinese machine guns from mowing them down in large numbers in 1959, when the Khampas tried to repell the Chinese invasion of Lhasa.

These kinds of things have a place, but one cannot rely on them at the expense of common sense. For example, during this corona virus many amulets are being distributed on line like this one:
D0FC4DC8-9608-4282-BAA6-F997669DC99B.jpeg
D0FC4DC8-9608-4282-BAA6-F997669DC99B.jpeg (159.17 KiB) Viewed 3807 times
But if you walk into a covid ward without PPE, you are likely to become infected.
Post Reply

Return to “Ethical Conduct”