Karma Causation And Retributive Morality

Contributed articles.

This compendium of essays deals with the complex theme of Karma, the cosmic law of ethical causation and moral retribution ... Throughout the text, the philosophical depth and practical implications of karma are placed in the compelling context of karmic residues over lifetimes and their effective transmutation.--Publisher.

This book presents a novel interpretation of major problems of Indian ethics from an applied ethical perspective. It approaches prominent theories like Dharma, Karma and Purusarthas from a critical point of view, so as to render them logically consistent and free from some standard limitations. Ethical theories are meant to provide guidance for life, but quite often many of our celebrated theories appear to be inapplicable or difficult to apply in practical life. Indian ethical theories are of special significance to this problem because they have in them rich potentials of applicability as much as many of them typify inapplicable abstract theories of morals. The book incorporates a wealth of research on ethical theories, keeping in view the spirit of ethics and the demands of the situations; for a reasoned balance between the two is the key to applied ethics. The book argues that ethical theories are objective but defeasible in overriding circumstances where competing values deserve preference. Such justified exceptions are warranted by the very spirit of ethics, which is to promote the good life. The argument from defeasibility and justified violation in the book helps bridging the gap between ethics and its application and makes Indian theories of value appear in fresh light- workable, practically applicable and effective as incentives for morality. With uncommon virtue of contemporized presentation of Indian ethics, this book should be of interest to scholars and researchers working on Indian ethics and moral philosophy, as well as to those interested in Indian culture and value tradition.

“It is impossible to be a good yogi or yogini without also being a morally mature individual,” writes internationally-known Yoga authority and author, Georg Feuerstein. Yoga Morality looks at our present world situation - primarily from the viewpoint of a spiritually-committed person, especially a practitioner of Yoga. It addresses the question: How are we to live consciously, responsibly, authentically, and without fear in the midst of mounting global crises? This book is a hard-hitting critique of the media hype surrounding Yoga, and an exploration of Yogic philosophy and practice to discover what it really means to be a mature and moral person. Topics Include: Moral Law and Cosmic Law; Interconnectedness and the Web of Life; Universal Morality and Personal Virtues; Truthfulness; Compassion; Generosity; Death, Freedom, and Moral Spontaneity

Ouyi Zhixu (1599Ð1655) was an eminent Chinese Buddhist monk who, contrary to his contemporaries, believed karma could be changed. Through vows, divination, repentance rituals, and ascetic acts such as burning and blood writing, he sought to alter what others understood as inevitable and inescapable. Drawing attention to OuyiÕs unique reshaping of religious practice, Living Karma reasserts the significance of an overlooked individual in the modern development of Chinese Buddhism. While Buddhist studies scholarship tends to privilege textual analysis, Living Karma promotes a balanced study of ritual practice and writing, treating OuyiÕs texts as ritual objects and his reading and writing as religious acts. Each chapter addresses a specific religious practiceÑwriting, divination, repentance, vows, and bodily ritualsÑoffering first a diachronic overview of each practice within the history of Chinese Buddhism and then a synchronic analysis of each phenomenon through close readings of OuyiÕs work. The book sheds much-needed light on this little-known figure and his representation of karma, which proved to be a seminal innovation in the religious thought of late imperial China.