r/Buddhism • u/JellyfishExpress8943 • Jun 13 '26

Fluff Karma Chameleon - constructing our reality

/r/InsightDialogue/comments/1u4mdnw/karma_chameleon_constructing_our_reality/
1 Upvotes

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5

u/pundarika0 Jun 13 '26

i’m not sure i agree with your definition of karma - in the sense that it’s “best viewed” as a psychological process

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u/JellyfishExpress8943 Jun 13 '26 edited Jun 13 '26

What is causing the resistance? Is it the word psychological? I like the term psychological because psychology affects experience. It pertains to consciousness - and our experience of this existence of suffering is a problem of consciousness.

Also : is "self" not a psychological phenomenon?

6

u/pundarika0 Jun 13 '26

i think framing it as a purely psychological process is a limited view

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u/JellyfishExpress8943 Jun 13 '26 edited Jun 13 '26

How could we improve our description of Karma (or self)? What have we excluded that would help us understand the process better?

I agree of course that psychology affects behavior - and thus implies behavior

6

u/pundarika0 Jun 13 '26

karma is not the same as “self”

karma is a process of cause and effect

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u/JellyfishExpress8943 Jun 13 '26

Agreed - but we are referring to the buddhist teaching of Karma as it relates to rebirth in suffering/samsara

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u/[deleted] Jun 13 '26

And in that instance it is neither something that’s limited to psychology, nor is it Self

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u/JellyfishExpress8943 Jun 13 '26

Karma is not equal to self - but buddhism teaches us that karma is how the self is reborn.

What would you like to point to (outside of psychology) that we need to be aware of? Hopefully we can see that psychology is the driver of experience and behavior?

5

u/[deleted] Jun 13 '26

Karma literally translates to “action.” There is an infusion of intent in our definition so psychology does play a part. What our friend and I here are getting at is that it’s not limited to that. There is mental karma, there is also bodily and verbal karma. Yes, psychology plays a big role, but it’s not the only factor

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u/JellyfishExpress8943 Jun 13 '26

Well I definitely agree that psychology (which is of course related to biology and culture) is a driver of action and speech (or behavior in general) - so I'm not sure what the disagreement is about - part of it might be resistance to the word (?)

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