Karma part 1

Hello there,

Long time no see uh?

Since I'm currently travelling, I am once again meeting the nomad category of Western people in Asia. There are many things to say about why we travel, and who travels. What struck me again is to see how a lot of the people I met have integrated some chakrayalam concepts, including karma. 

NB: chakrayalam is the language spoken by new age yogis travlin' around the world. Though it is not restricted to them, it's a weird mixture of pseudo spiritual stuff and relevant remarks on where to find a cheap dentist in Chiang Mai, with hints of sanskrit and mystical references. So with hard work and dedication, I've reached level A2. I cannot use it because I have not been allowed by the Supreme Council of Universal Thruths than Shall Remain Secret Especially to Those Who Respect Nothing, but also, it seems that I don't care and shall risk life bannishment because indeed, I respect nothing.

So, karma. 

I don't intend to refer to any spiritual lineage or whatever. I'm not even sure what I'll describe will make sense for a lot of serious people - you, my devoted readers. But I'm confused by how many people I encounter use this word as some sort of conceptual plaster (concept fourre-tout) that poorly resists its inherent leaks. So here's what I got. 

1. KARMA: A POTENTIALLY FEAR-INDUCING CONCEPT THAT BASICALLY SAYS DEED WITHIN THE FRAME OF CAUSE-CONSEQUENCE

Usually, people use the word karma as an equivalent of destiny, as in "it was my karma dude". That's sometimes used to justify a certain fatalism and an attitude towards life lacking what a lot of Western people value, the will. Just to come back to basic stuff, it's a hindu concept, also actualized by buddhism. It means deed, or action within the frame of cause and consequence. See Wikipedia.   

The childish comprehension can go like that:

Whatever you do, this creates an effect in the world. Also, whatever you do is conditioned by causes (those very causes that put you here and now in this specific frame of mind, with these experiences, worldviews, capacity, etc.). Your actions are only apprehended within the realm of cause and effect. Had you not tried to lure your teacher into marrying you, you wouldn't have to talk to a bunch of French people pretending to be Christ Jr (I know this  example doesn't make any sense for most people but who told you this post would? What specific frame of mind led you to believe that words can only be used for reflexive and/or informative purposes? Hmm? Go check your hidden assumptions and deconstruct your prejudices (I majored in Bad Faith and Postmodernism at University)). Something happens to you because some time ago you made something morally tainted, let's say, purposely made someone suffer, and there was some kind of omniscient levitating hippie keeping records of it. Whether the hippie is real and looks human is a matter of appreciation. Or this morning, you helped your old lady neighbor and then someone let you her seat in the bus. Karma. Things, good or bad, are somehow balancing each other and echoing through time and space, like some sort of divine retribution. 

 

See this example found on the facebook while writing this post:

 

See what I mean? If not, maybe you should learn French first :). 

That's for the obvious part. A division thereof is to say, basically, that you only get what you put out in the world. Nothing happens out of nowhere. And things are irreversible. You leave a trace onto the world, and once things are set into matter, once they are past, you cannot escape their consequences. For instance, if you're an angry old fart, if you entertain the anger, then you will hang out with people like you, you will cling to the perception of things, and as a result, meet your foes. On the contrary, you can follow the clear and heartfelt wishes of the piece of tissue facing me right now and enrich your life daily.

 

We'll go to the objections later, but clearly, this understanding of what happens has one benefit: it uproots the victim or passive mentality, by basically stating that in general, actions have consequences, and do not stem out of nowhere. Life's so unfair, hmmm, well maybe but maybe you could check yourself too. It's especially relevant for anyone out of balance. We all had a friend who is eager to blame the world but him or herself for his or her difficulties. It's actually this law of cause and consequence that is prevalent in the world - but this will be discussed in the next post, Reincarnation (bold title huh?). It also counterbalances an absolute vision of free will by basically stating that there is a certain frame in which free will can be expressed - and that despite all my will, I will not end global poverty on my own, or make you love me (you should, though). Neither can I purely by will stop this or that habit of the self, like an addiction. Even though, I can, with 99,9999% certainty. But there is a very slight margin for which things seem to escape my control. There needs to be a further-reaching comprehension that will breathe life into my resolve.

That's for the gross understanding of things. 

Then one day I had a (long lasting) revelation. There is no other time than now. No other time exists for realzies apart from what currently is, the rest = and we live within the rest - is a construct of the mind. It's not useless or bad, but it just doesn't exist per se. Quite the revelation huh? I'll come to that later (I apologize for the deficient structure of this post but it follows the logic of the drawings otherwise a joke will get lost. May I say that I just discovered this drawing app, and it takes me ages to draw something so please feel forced to appreciate it?). 

 

Of course before we get to this time thing, you might object that the previous vision was too simplistic. There are infinite refinements, because, indeed, reality can be fragmented into numerous convolutions, questions refined into subtle paths and dead ends - the infinitesimal and the macro seemingly echoing each other. 

In the gross understanding of karma, the most abstruse reasonings concern frogs and leetches and how you might reincarnate in them. Because of course, the whole thing is supposed to revolve around the idea of retribution - and what better meanders are there but the future and past, unknownable incarnations? This implies a slight interval in time between the deed and its consequence and/or origin, which, I think, is where the whole mockery starts.

Let me pause here for a moment and tell you about one of my recent adventures in Nepal.

Being deprived of the internet and having been offered the privilege of sneaking into a super conference held at the Radisson Hotel in Kathmandu, in which, I heard, there was free food, and clean toilets, I have shared with 400 other spiritual seekers *cough* the infinitely wise and extremely synchronously  in Chinese translated teaching of Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche on the Prajnaparamita. I hope that this will add to the credibility of mymessage and impress you very much.

Here is a picture I made during the event:

I would say so much about this conference, in which some of the most popular western buddhist monks were lining up (yup, I spoke to Matthieu Ricard, or should I say, Matthieu Anisette? God this joke makes me fear an immediate transformation into a nit). Whether it was this man who shout at me in the morning at the guesthouse because my towel was blocking his view, or this lady who had studied everything with dedication and couldn't get above the fact that contradictions existed within the teachings, or the charming mixture of faces, haircuts, origins of all these people that made me pause my constant ranting, I know I'm boring you with the details so... 

Here's another picture I made during the event:

Anyway.

As you might imagine, I was the girl constantly sighing and raising eyebrows during the conference. The main reason for it was obviously that I can not share the spotlight with any other human being #thegenuineidiocyofsomepeopleinthisgenerationwhothinktheygotitallfiguredout. Also, I do not believe that enlightenement exists as this thing that people should aspire to. But anyway. A remark made me hopping mad. The venerable and quite funny speaker told the people, in short: so you know you guys, and me, and most people will never get to know this thing, this deep understanding call vipassana - the deep view, the thing that is supposed to be awakened by the Prajnaparamita. We're just random dudes and the only thing we could do is to try our best, sincerely, including, giving offerings to the temple, a flower, a candle, a bow. This might not bring much, but it will help you accumulate merit.

The "accumulation of merit". Accountancy and spirituality, or How To Accumulate Merit Without Gaining Weight. This made me channel my inner Vincent Dedienne, to say, ben non!. (For those who don't speak French, the joke is in the comedian, who in this video is mocking someone from the French's far right party because of his name, John-Flax, arguing that one should not mix up clothing material with names). Sorry the jokes become way too self referential. 

There are so many ways by which this is wrong. First, it supposes that there is some sort of extra-terrestrial experience which obviously should put us out of our misery. Second, it states that the only way to get there is to not be looking for it (which is sort of true) through the respectful habits of everyday religiosity. But it introduces this stastistic idea that somehow, by doing this, you will get that. And this, my friends, is where the thing loses its precision. Bigotry has never replaced the accuracy of behaviors motivated not by the expectation of another time (removal of my shortcomings / latter retribution), but by a real understanding of why I do this or that. This applies to way too many aspects of life. 

The first time I went to India, I realized that many rituals were actually rather logical. The morning walk under the shade of a banian tree could help you breath fresh, dustless air. Genuflexions or bows helped maintaining a certain flexibility to the joints, and forced you to feel the contact of your body on the ground, feel the tensions, weight, the quality of what you are right now. Frankincense, I heard, was thought to cast germs away. 

Then, right after this, I was pleased to be explained punctiliously by other participants how the female incarnation is lesser than that of the male, in some traditions, as they respectfully whisper here : "tradichionsss". Some lineages even state that being a woman, you cannot reach *enlightenement*. So our participation was at best cute.

Now, to be clear, let me respectfully severe the ties with the tradichionsss because well I'm a woman, and also, no.

This is where the gross understanding of karma becomes ridiculous. The superstitious mind transforms this stuff into - Oh god I should really respect the very intricate rules laid by me by some sort of spiritualauthority (an oxymoron) because otherwise.... Fear of terrible reincarnation. Or, on the opposite, I should really pay my contribution to this or that church because I expect to feel great after this, or to be introduced to this or that secret (the most grotesque aspect of this being displayed during the 20th century by the Scientology movement). Any of this is baseless, and of course, the sad thing is that buddhism, as any institution, compromises the reality of whatever message there is to give for the sake of its own survival. 

Of course helping people and lighting candles can be a good thing. As anything, it's nothing in itself. If what you do is done with an open heart - if basically you do something out of kindness, love, please go for it. The most important thing is what's behind it. But again, do we really need people to pave this way for us? How lost are we if we need to read a PhD thesis on why altruism is good and beneficial? Isn't that obvious? 

An accute reader would recognize, under this type of mentality, the very same arcanes that shape guilt-inducing postures often disguised under being moral - religious. People create in their minds some sort of otherworldly realm whose characteristic are: not here / not now / not accessible to anyone - and you have to strive for it, "do good", otherwise, monssssters, sssufffferrringg, terrrrible reincarnachhhionsss. Instead of just recognizing that life is just better when you stop being a moron and that you do have a responsibility in figuring out what motivates you.

And obviously, if you're a *lame ass*, this is what is going to happen to you:

 

*Are you shocked? Better be. Cursing is bad and I've just bitten my tongue. We'll see in part 2 why :)

Yes, you will reincarnate in a book about sanibroyeurs that has been rated "nutritious" by Survival Magazine. Beware, follow the path, dude. 

So the basic comprehension of karma was quite wide-spread, and still is. It also entailed that you could hardly ever get out of the limited, conditional world of cause-consequence because of all this karma you inherited from previous lives. You were in for a lifetime of suffering, especially if you had been unlucky enough to be born in a lower caste. This developed into a system of thought used to justify social inequalities and religious monopolies, aka basic hinduism. Then Gautama came along and despite the popular held belief of the authorities at the time that basically said "oh no realizing your true nature is just for very special people and like, never happens, or only to already dead people", you could actually break the cycle of samsara (reincarnation) during this lifetime by understanding how this works, and by understanding it, being free from the laws of cause and consequence. This can be somehow linked with what Jesus came to say to his society. All these rules and stuff are okay, but the true thing, guys, is love (which goes beyond the ur-opposition between good and evil) ❤️. You're all sons of god, that which is eternal, all-encompassing and loving. You can all be buddhas. Somehow, because of this "son of" thing / or "can be" thing, it turned out paternalising and authoritarian and became another occasion for institutional capture, #whatasurprise. 

But something was right. There is a way out. There is a real question regarding action based on a clear understanding of things. It has a different creative quality, and it turns out to be revealing of our default mode of action. It offers the possibility to peacefully inhabit the world.