How are good and bad Karmas determined in Buddhism?
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One important thing that Hindus and Buddhists agree on is the law of Karma. That is, there are certain actions which will lead a person to have a positive experience in future, either in this life or the next, and there are other actions which will lead a person to have a negative experience in future. And Hindus and Buddhists also agree that ultimately the goal of life is not to just do good Karmas so you can have positive experiences in future, but rather to break out of he whole cycle of Karmas and their consequences. Buddhists believe that this can be done through the Eightfold Path, and Hindus believe in other means like knowledge of the supreme being.
But my question is about what determines good Karmas and bad Karmas. Hindus believe that the Vedas (and texts derived from them) tell us exactly what actions constitute good Karma and what actions constitute bad Karma. But Buddhists reject the Vedas, so my question is, how do Buddhists determine what actions are good Karmas and what actions are bad Karmas? Do Buddhist scriptures discuss how to determine this?
Note that I don't think the answer is "The Eightfold Path", because that's about what's required to break the cycle of Karma and consequence, whereas my question is about what's required to get positive experiences through the law of Karma. Also, on a side note, do Buddhists simply classify Karmas into good or bad, or do they subdivide these categories further? Because Hindus believe in a more fine-grained system where different kinds of good Karmas produce different kinds of positive experience.
Asked by Keshav Srinivasan
(477 rep)
Sep 3, 2017, 07:57 AM
Last activity: Sep 4, 2017, 08:37 PM
Last activity: Sep 4, 2017, 08:37 PM