<img src="http://sphotos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/c0.0.843.403/p843x403/416775_10152213887315370_1885879688_n.jpg" alt="Photo : How people treat you is their karma<br /><br /><br /><br />
How you react is yours." width="436" height="302" />

 

16a - Destiny, Karma and the Law of Attraction

The Law of Destiny

The law of destiny determines what forces influence our lives to ensure we encounter the life experiences that we require for our continued development. Destiny is essentially a series of opportunities that enable us to learn lessons, acquire new abilities, develop our consciousness and help others.

Destiny is commonly regarded as fate; a fixed timeline of events that is inevitable and unchangeable. Although the words are often used interchangeably, fate and destiny have quite different meanings:

• Fate is usually seen as "set in stone" and often has negative connotations, e.g. the jury decided his fate. Fate is an agent that predetermines and orders the course of events. It means that events are "meant to be" and are set in motion by an external force or intelligence.
• Destiny is more of a likely outcome and often has a positive feel, e.g. he is destined to become a star. Destiny guides us towards a specific goal, but without our wilful participation we will not achieve our destiny.

Put simply: destiny is opportunity and fate is karma. We are in control of our destiny but have no control over our fate. Destiny cannot be forced on us; if we are forced then it is our fate. Destiny gives us an opportunity to turn a situation to our advantage and accomplish something great through our own efforts. It is designed to give us the best opportunities for the development of our consciousness, but it is only an outline – not an exact script. It doesn't detract from our free-will in any way, because we decide exactly how we want to act in any situation.

The basic outline for our life was planned (pre-destined) before we were born to give us the right opportunities for growth. But we don't have to follow the pre-destined route if we don't want to. A life plan can be compared to a maze, and our life's purpose is to complete the maze. We don't know where we are going or where we will end up, so all we can do is make our way through life using our best judgment. Every wrong turn leads to a dead end and every correct turn leads to progress. A correct turn may not correspond to success in the physical sense, for example: failing to get a promotion may not seem like the best outcome from a financial perspective, but it might actually be the best outcome for the development of your consciousness. We all occasionally make what appear to be bad decisions, but if we learn from those seemingly wrong decisions we eventually discover that they were in fact right decisions. If we deviate from our life's plan we may need to be coaxed back on to the right track, and the further we stray from the optimal path the harder the lessons get. Every choice we make affects our future and therefore our destiny. Right now we are experiencing the destiny (and the karma) that arose from choices we made in the past.

Collective human destiny is largely decided by the planetary hierarchy, especially the Manu and the Maha-Chohan. Individual human destiny is largely decided by our guardian angels, who stand-in for our higher selves (2nd triads or souls) until we become fully conscious and enter the fifth kingdom. The more evolved we are the more input we have in deciding our destiny, and the more important it becomes to our development. Our guardian angels can only guide our destiny to the extent that we allow them. The sensible option is to give them complete control because they are far more advanced than we are and they know what is best for us, but most people are egotistical and think they know better. Mankind is not developed enough to determine its own destiny – that much is evident from the state of the world today.

Henry T Laurency wrote in The Knowledge of Reality: "The great cosmic evolution does not work according to a predetermined plan. Only the final goal is laid down: all monads acquiring omniscience about the whole cosmos... The evolution itself creates the conditions and possibilities of its growth. These conditions, however, depend on the individual character of every being, from atoms to planets, solar systems, etc... The past thereby limits the possibilities of the future. A rigid plan would set aside the law of freedom, according to which every monad has the right to the freedom (depending on insight and ability) it has once acquired and continues to apply lawfully. Evolution feels its way forward along every conceivable path in order to find the one most purposeful for each and all."

The Law of Karma

Karma is a Sanskrit word meaning "action", but is generally understood to mean the consequences of one's actions. The word "karma" is commonly used to indicate bad karma, and the word "merit" is often used to indicate good karma. The law of karma is best described as "cause and effect" because every action (or cause) has a corresponding consequence (or effect). If you plant good causes you will reap good effects, and if you plant bad causes you will reap bad effects.

In each incarnation we acquire some bad karma and some good karma. In each incarnation we suffer the consequences of some of our previous bad karma and reap the benefits of some of our previous good karma. During the early stages of our human evolution we all acquired large amounts of bad karma which must be gradually worked off. Because many people still have much more bad karma than good, seemingly favourable circumstances often have a sting in their tail. This is evident from the tumultuous lives of some celebrities and the people whose lives have been ruined by winning the lottery.

Think of your karma as being two bank accounts – one for good karma and one for bad karma. Good karma can either be "spent" on pleasurable life circumstances or it can be used to "pay off" some of our bad karma. Less-developed people nearly always choose the first option; whilst more-developed people usually choose the second. This explains some of the iniquities of life where honest and hardworking people live in poverty whilst selfish and corrupt people live a life of opulence. When a less-developed person chooses to spend all their good karma in one go they will enjoy wealth, power or fame for few years or perhaps an entire lifetime, but once their good karma is used up they will be relegated to many lives of poverty and suffering. The real sting is that an undeveloped person usually generates more bad karma in a prosperous life than they do in a poverty-stricken life because the money, power or fame goes to their head and makes them more egotistical and unpleasant.

According to some in the Christian Church, wealth and abundance are gifts from God – signs that he is pleased with us and has blessed us. This belief is completely wrong; God does not have favourites and our financial status is of no concern to him. Wealth is the result of good karma or merit; the result of "good investments" we made in previous lives. The Bible describes karma in Ezekiel 18:20: "The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them". Galatians 6:7 simply states: "People reap what they sow". And let's not forget the stories of Saint Peter standing at the pearly gates weighing our good deeds against our bad ones.

Karma exists to protect us and to guide us back on track when we go astray. But karma is often slow to respond and, because of its intimate relationship with destiny, often waits until a future incarnation. The delayed effect of karma explains how non-smokers can end up getting lung cancer. They were probably smokers in a previous incarnation but their good karma or destiny in that incarnation prevented them from suffering the consequences at the time. We never know how long ago we acquired the karma that is manifesting in our lives today, and we never know how or when the karma we create today will manifest its consequences. This is because karma works behind the scenes – we only see the effects in the physical world and have no idea of the causes that are operating out of sight in the subtle worlds. Karma and destiny are woven into the very fabric of our lives to the extent that the average person barely notices their effects.

Wilfully and knowingly transgressing the laws of life generates a lot more negative karma than unintentional or ignorant transgressions. The more developed we are the more responsibility we have, so the consequences of abusing the laws of life are more severe. Although bad karma usually results in suffering it is not a punishment for punishment's sake; nor is it divine retribution. Karma is simply an opportunity to make good – it neither punishes nor rewards; it simply guides. The law of karma is not the cause of suffering; it is merely the agent. 99% of all human suffering originates from the simple fact that we cannot and do not want to control our subtle bodies.

Karma is self-balancing divine justice; it is 100% fair and absolutely infallible. It doesn't matter if a criminal seems to "get away with it", because there is no getting away with it – karma will eventually catch up with him. If we are honest with ourselves, wanting justice is just a nice way of saying that we want revenge. If we suffer as a result of someone else's wrongdoing we want them to suffer in return. But we need to learn that vengeance is not the same as justice, and that an act of vengeance will result in bad karma for ourselves. Even holding onto vindictive thoughts, self pity or grief prolongs our own suffering and generates more bad karma. If something unpleasant happens to us we should realise that we caused it, not the person who was instrumental in manifesting it. This not to say that people who do bad things or cause accidents should not stand trial for their offences. The Lords of Karma always see to it that both people who are involved in an unfortunate incident have a related karmic debt to repay, although not necessarily to each other. As long as both parties reap the appropriate effects it matters not whether their original transgressions were against each other.

Karma is usually played out on the same stage as the original transgressions occurred, i.e. physical crimes usually result in physical punishments. But supposing a Nazi murdered a hundred Jews in World War II, there would be no point in him being murdered in a hundred different lifetimes. In this sort of situation some of the bad karma would need to be worked out between incarnations – in hell (the lowest subplane of the emotional world).

It is not just serious offences such as theft, violence or murder that generate bad karma, even small things like a harsh word or a judgemental thought generate negative energy which contributes to the contamination of the subtle realms. You might not think that one bad thought would have much affect, but think how many negative or harmful thoughts you have each day, multiply it by several billion and you have some idea of the amount of negative energy we put out into the world each and every day! This negative energy accumulates and can manifest itself as hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, floods, plagues, earthquakes, etc. This is known as collective karma because it applies to an entire town, region, country or planet. The effects of collective karma are sometimes allocated individually so that diseases, afflictions or "accidents" can be the result of our allotted portion of mankind's collective karma. Animals are subject to collective karma but not individual karma because they don't have individual souls. They are subject to the collective karma of all the monads in their group soul and of the animal kingdom in general.

Karma is not justice for justice's sake, and it is not necessarily "an eye for an eye". Karma provides situations that will best help us to learn from our mistakes. This may involve experiencing the other side of our original transgression, e.g. a racist white person may be black in their next incarnation, or it may be seemingly unrelated. It is impossible for us to understand the intricacies of karma because it is controlled by intelligences that are far superior to us. Karma is managed by three hierarchic groups of highly developed cosmic beings who record every thought, emotion, word and action that occurs within their respective sphere of responsibility:

• The Devarajas of the Seven Planes administer cosmic karma and destiny within the solar system.
• An intermediate group, associated with our planetary chain, manages the collective karma and future destiny of the human race.
• The Guardians of the Four Directions (four worlds of the Earth) deal with individual human karma, primarily administering the effects of our past karma.

These Lords of Karma are known by a variety of different names, including: the Lipika Lords (Lipika is Sanskrit for scribe), the Angels of the Presence (Christianity), the Book of Life (Christianity), the Recording Angels (Kabbalah), the Assessors of Amenti (Egypt), Devarajas (Hinduism) and the Guardians of the Four Directions (Hinduism).

Administering karma involves allowing the "forces of darkness" to act upon those who transgress the laws of life. Demons and black magicians are the agents who administer bad karma. Karma is the one of the main reasons why "evil" exists – as long as individuals break the laws of life there will always be evil to administer the karmic consequences. Evil can do us no harm if we obey the laws of life. Members of the higher kingdoms who incarnate among humans (e.g. Christ) have no karmic debt yet they are often persecuted and suffer greatly. This is because they become part of the collective human consciousness when they incarnate into a human body, and as such become liable to a share of our collective karma. This is the real truth behind the belief that Christ died for our sins!

The best way to deal with bad karma is to accept our fate and let it work itself out. We should accept the hand that life deals us and go with the flow, because if we resist life and try to wriggle out of our karma we will only make matters worse in the long run. Karma will always catch up with us, and when it does we will have incurred an extra penalty for trying to escape. It is a bit like a prisoner who gets caught trying to break out of jail – he is sure to have his sentence increased. Please don't confuse accepting karma with fatalism, i.e. don't see everything as pre-ordained and give up at the slightest obstacle. We need to use our intuition to guide us when to stand up for ourselves and when to just accept things as they are. If we are honest with ourselves and put our egos to one side we will know. Our egos don't like giving in and accepting the consequences when we can see a way out, but we have to show our egos that we are bigger and braver than they are.

There is a way that we can not only avoid incurring more bad karma but actually free ourselves from the debts we have already incurred, and that is through a life of service – putting the needs of others before our own. Living with less concern for individuality and more concern for unity shows that we are evolving and the Lords of Karma will show us some grace. A little self sacrifice now will save us a lot of suffering in the future. Flagellants believe that mistreating their physical bodies pays off karma and pleases god, but they couldn't be more wrong. Rather than working off their karmic debt they are actually generating more bad karma because they are causing suffering to another living being (the physical being).

Flagellants often reincarnate with the physical defects that they themselves caused in their previous life. For example, those who drag themselves around on the floor and refuse to use their legs may be born with a physical disability or be paralysed in their next life. Karma is only made good by bearing the trials of life in an honourable and accepting way.

Bad karma can affect our physical lives in a variety of ways, including: disease, disability, ugliness, abuse, miscarriages of justice, lack of intelligence, poverty, low social standing, etc. We should never blame our parents for a disease or disability that we inherited from them because our own karma and destiny determine such matters. Children should never say to their parents "I didn't ask to be born", because they did – no one is forced to incarnate against their will.

Whilst it is generally true that those who suffer deserve to suffer, it is a great mistake to think that we should not show compassion and help them out. We must do everything we can to alleviate all suffering because every good deed contributes to a better world for everyone. Relieving another person's suffering not only helps them; it generates good karma for us and sends out good vibrations into the world. Sitting back and letting people suffer is selfish and vindictive, and will result in bad karma. This does not mean that we should give to every beggar who asks us for money, because many of them will spend the money on drugs or alcohol. We need to let our intuition guide us to help only those people who are willing to help themselves.

We all make mistakes and do stupid things from time to time – even enlightened people. These out of character aberrations are the karmic effects of their action from previous incarnations. We must all clear our karmic debt before we graduate from the human kingdom, so it is not uncommon for highly advanced people to have difficult lives or suffer from ill health. We must continue to reincarnate in the human kingdom until our karmic debt has been fully repaid, which shows we have learnt all the lessons karma had to teach us in this kingdom. We enter the fifth kingdom with a clean karmic slate but we do not escape the law of karma because it applies to every being in existence. The effects of karma in the higher kingdoms are far more subtle than they are in the human kingdom because there is no suffering (as we see it) in the higher kingdoms – that alone should be sufficient motivation for us to actively begin working at our own evolution.

The Law of Attraction

The phrase "like attracts like" sums up the law of attraction. Our minds are like magnets that attract whatever we give our continued attention to. Everything that comes into our lives is attracted by the thoughts and images we hold in our minds. Our thoughts influence our lives, so whatever we think about most will eventually manifest. It doesn't matter whether our thoughts are positive, negative or neutral; the law of attraction operates blindly and will respond to them. However, the law of attraction can be strengthened, weakened or postponed by laws of karma and destiny, so not everyone who dreams of winning the lottery or becoming a rock star will achieve success.

The law of attraction is currently being exploited as a "get rich quick scheme" or a means of "manifesting your desires". We always get what we wish for, although usually not as soon as we would like or quite as we expected. Every granted wish must be paid for out of our reserve of merit (good karma); otherwise it will add to our already large karmic debt. This consequence is overlooked by the ignorant advocates of "cosmic ordering" and the like. Yes it works, but it can be compared to spending all your wages in one day when the money needs to last you all month! Make use of the law of attraction by all means, but don't misuse it.

The best way to utilise the law of attraction is to adopt a positive outlook and just allow life to unfold naturally – trust life rather than resisting it. Don't dwell on your past mistakes or worry about what might happen in the future because that will attract negativity into your life. When you are unconcerned about what life deals you, you will probably find that you achieve success effortlessly. The Christian concept of abundance is related to the law of attraction, but the teaching does not come from God. Do they really think that God wants us to become even more materialistic than we already are? Nobody needs anything in abundance (in excess), we only need a sufficient amount – anything more is greedy and wasteful. The Earth's resources are incapable of providing everyone with an abundant life but they are capable of providing everyone with a sufficient life, so it is up to those who have a lot to share their wealth to those who only have a little. Thankfully many Christians and humanitarians are doing just that.

Remember this: The universe gives you everything you NEED, but you have to pay for everything you WANT!

Source: http://www.esotericscience.org/article16a.htm

 

 

Nimm dir jeden Tag die Zeit, still zu sitzen und auf die Dinge zu lauschen. Achte auf die Melodie des Lebens, welche in dir schwingt.
Buddha, (560 - 480 v. Chr.), auch: Siddhartha Gautama (Pali: Siddhattha Gotama), Stifter der nach ihm Buddhismus genannten Religion

Tötet nicht und verhindert, daß getötet wird. Hütet euch vor Ehebruch und Unzucht. Meidet die Lüge und üble Nachrede, harte Worte und eitles Geschwätz. Verachtet den Geiz und die Gier. Tut Gutes, und haltet fest am rechten Glauben. Die Grundvoraussetzung zur Erleuchtung ist der Wille, sich selber zu erlösen, um dadurch anderen von Nutzen sein zu können.
Buddha, (560 - 480 v. Chr.), auch: Siddhartha Gautama (Pali: Siddhattha Gotama), Stifter der nach ihm Buddhismus genannten Religion

 

 

 

 

 

 

Karma

In comparison to a Buddhist culture, the most obvious cultural difference for most meditators is their view of existence. Many meditators have the impression that their existence is based on a healthy diet and exercise, good medical care, a good education, and good and bad luck, whereas in reality all existence is karma (kamma).

Karma is a very abstract subject, and perhaps the complete detail of all of its facets is somewhat beyond the limitations of human understanding. The creation of karma is caused by intent, and this intent arises because of ignorant attachment. Most people tend to recognize it as cause and effect, but this is a somewhat simple explanation of a very broad subject.

Everything about a being is karma, their shape, form and disposition, and everything that they will experience is karma. Through many existences beings have acted with a mental energy of intent of many types and varying intensities, and have accumulated it through habitual attachment to create further conscious experience. Thus, this karmic energy is the source of existence and without karma a being would cease to exist.

While we may often think in terms of good and bad karma, there are obviously more shades than what usually fits our simple dualistic view of existence. One has only to look around to see the karma that people have inherited. Some of this karma includes a short lifetime, physical disabilities, mental disabilities, sickness, and other forms of suffering. Even our existence in this realm is dependent upon a certain shade of karma, and some beings born in lower realms, like animals, often appear to have an easier life than many human beings on this planet, all due to their karma.

As previously mentioned, we will never be able to see the whole picture because of the limitations of our human existence. However, we should be able to realize that the considerations that people normally attach to, like a healthy diet, exercise, good schools and universities, medical care, good salary, and the right pension plan, are only minor secondary considerations in our existence. People can have all of these and still suffer intolerably, and still end up dead, because karma is the controlling factor.

In their ignorance, people have a tendency to look at specific events or instances. For example, someone once said that he did not believe in karma because at one time he spent a period of being generous with the wish that his business would improve. He said that his business did not improve, so he did not believe in karma. Thus, people often relate karma to some specific event in the world, like becoming rich or being successful, and even though they may benefit in many other ways, they are not satisfied because what they expect is more money or success.

This wrong view stems from attachment to the world, attachment to worldly concerns, rather than recognizing that we have to take care of the mind itself. To use a simple example, imagine that you are setting out on a journey, and as your karma goes with you, you have to carry a heavy load of bricks on your back and some small rocks in your shoes (representing your inheritance, your karma), making your steps somewhat painful and difficult. You can go wherever you please, and you can meet and interact with people. Obviously, this journey is going to be an ordeal, particularly as along the way you will create even more karma. You will find that some people show little interest in you, because you are slow and appear somewhat clumsy, or that you do things in a certain way due to your karma. Sometimes you will even slip and fall down and become injured. Are you going to blame and criticize other people for the way that they react to you? Are you going to get angry with the path because you keep slipping and falling?

This primitive example is like life itself, it is somewhat of an ordeal, but what makes it so are not the conditions in the world in which we make the journey but the karma that we carry with us; namely, the condition of the mind.

Not surprisingly, people who do succeed in developing their mind also find that the world is then completely different for them. The world, however, is exactly the same, but instead of being treated like outcasts they are often treated more like royalty; same place, same cast, different mind, different movie.

Some people may even think that karma is destiny, and in certain limited instances unfortunately it could be considered as such. For example, those born with physical or mental disabilities face severe limitations, for this existence at least. However, nothing is fixed in stone or predestined, and just as no one is born noble or born evil, the condition of the mind is dependent upon what you do with it. Sometimes people like to think that they had good fortune because of some supreme being, and therefore often think the same when something unfortunate occurs. However, whatever we experience is the consciousness that we created ourselves, and while one effect does not specifically relate to a cause, meaning that if we bake a pie for someone then someone will bake a pie for us, the shade of the consciousness is exact because it stems from our own mind and was created there to begin with.

The arising of karma depends upon the opportunity, and therefore there will be instances of some specific karma not arising. We generally tend to think in terms of negative and positive, good and bad, but there can also be instances of painful consciousness preceding some weighty positive karma, so we should not attach to trying to understand all occurrences in terms of good and bad karma. We should, however, understand that whatever arises, we were the supreme beings behind it all, we were the creators.

The somewhat all-encompassing description of all existence being karma may sometimes be difficult to accept, and may appear to be somewhat callous at times, particularly when it involves young children. In some instances, as young children often have little control of what happens to them due to parental control and family decisions, the timing of some karma could be more correctly described as unfortunate rather than being something inherited or payment due, as while we are all destined to die, it does not necessarily mean quickly.

However, even this may sound insensitive and unfeeling when you consider the atrocities and barbarity committed on some small helpless children by people who obviously barely qualified for this realm. Human society has no acceptable explanations for such things, and even the belief systems that people support offer no acceptable answers, because such barbarity is beyond humanity.

Such things come into being due to the reality of samsara, when you look at such unimaginable occurrences then you begin to see the fearfulness of samsara. There is obviously no supreme being looking after any one of us, and in the reality of samsara there is no concern for the innocence and helplessness of beings. Think of the most dreadful situation imaginable, the last place you would want to end up, and the worst imaginable nightmare; welcome to samsara.

All beings go through many existences, and along the way they create all kinds of karma due to their ignorance, from being animals, demons, hungry ghosts, and devas, you name it; they create some pretty dark karma, and over time this all comes back to them, even when they are born here as cute, lovable little children. This is not the place to relax and get comfortable.

There is also a tendency for some people to think that such things only happen to others; like sheep and cattle who see the truck carrying their friends down the road but have no idea what it means. Karma is the essence of samsara, and while at times it may be appear to be non-stop excitement, you can guarantee that as the wheel spins around it will turn into non-stop something else.

Consciousness

All existence in all realms consists of four classes of consciousness:

Akusala: Arising from attachment (lobha), aversion (patigha) and ignorance (moha), and creating unwholesome or bad karma.

Kusala: Arising from generosity (alobha), goodwill (adosa), and wisdom (amoha), and creating wholesome or good karma.

Vipaka: Meaning resultant, consisting of the karmic results of both Akusala and Kusala consciousness.

Kiriya: Functional or karmically ineffective consciousness, as in the case of an Arahant, a fully aware being, or any being who acts with a mind free from karmic influences for a particular action (as in switching on a light).

Thus, for the most part, all beings spend their time creating karma and experiencing karma from one existence to another in a seemingly endless cycle (samsara).  Conceivably, some evolutionary development may also occur within the different forms of existence, and even the development of jhana consciousness may be regarded as such for entry into some of the higher realms. However, whatever the realm, it is still samsara, and the whole show remains governed by ignorant attachment.

The cause and effect process of karma, together with a working knowledge of samsara, was known long before Buddhism came into existence. The Buddha, however, came to understand the whole process and how to break free of it. He understood the root cause of karma, and how to develop karma that brought an end to all karma, in other words how to replace all karmic actions and results with Kiriya consciousness through non-attachment.

The basic level of mind development within human society has been the development of rules; memorizing sets of rules concerned with morality or formulating sets of rules concerned with physical behavior. However, as mind-based ignorance and attachment is always stronger than such rules, even if chiseled in stone, and also stronger than any symbols of such rules that people may wish to carry with them or surround themselves with, then in the end it is not even a close contest; ignorance reigns supreme.

Therefore, such rules can only be useful as a basic guide at best, and the only way to defeat ignorance is to get rid of it, let go of it, and replace it with a clear, unconditioned view of existence.

The first stage is the development of pannya and the understanding of the basic characteristics of the types of consciousness that we come to call existence. The following three stages involve a more detailed view of the different types of consciousness and their conditioned nature, and the gradual change from an existence consisting of attachment and creation, to a new existence of non-attachment and non-creation.

Food

Food is a conditioning factor controlling the flow of karma in our existence. If we fail to eat for a long period then normal consciousness ceases and we experience a vacant mind, or bhavanga consciousness. Some people may be attracted to vegetarian food, not only because it creates a slower karma flow, resulting in a calmer mind, but also because of the ethical considerations to eating meat. However, the disadvantage of purely vegetarian food is its lack of energy when compared to usual food sources. This in turn affects the development of samadhi and pannya, which require energy to develop.

It should also be pointed out that a calm mind is not the objective of vipassana development, otherwise we could probably spend the whole of our lives sleeping and experiencing vacant bhavanga consciousness no longer connected to the senses. A lower energy intake results in lower effort and lower awareness, and this becomes a serious impediment to the development of vipassana.

Being vegetarian has never been a part of Buddhist teachings, and it would be difficult to find any senior vipassana Ajarns within The Sangha who were strictly vegetarian. Even in other religious denominations where vegetarianism is an accepted practice, the most renowned of their teachers have also been meat eaters. Thus, it is a grey area where members of The Sangha acknowledge their lack of perceived ethical perfection, but do so in order to overcome the even greater problem of ignorance. The Buddha himself was aware of the ethical implications of not being vegetarian, however he listed many aspects of ignorance far more unethical and dangerous to society than eating meat. Thus, the aim of Buddhist practice is to be free of samsara, not to make it perfect.

In the progress of vipassana development meditators will come face to face with much of their karma, varying from the incessant arising of thoughts and mental images, a range of feelings from rapture to bodily pain, and even coming to conclusions that they would rather be doing other things.

However, it is after all your mind, and actual progress is determined by dealing with all of these arisings, noting them as thinking, thinking, or feeling, feeling, letting them go on their way and moving the mind back to the breath, and ultimately realizing their nature as inherently suffering, fleeting, and nothing related to a personal form of existence or 'self'. Meditators will have good days and days that are simply a struggle, but whatever they are, they are just days along the path out of samsara.

Source: http://www.dhammaspread.org/Page414.htm

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Canyon Karma

Source: http://phantomphiles.com/lnt.html