In Buddhism there exists a common belief that bad karma causes pain, discomfort, agony, sorrow and bad luck. There is a sort of condescending attitude toward the disabled. It is a common belief that they are the bearers of bad luck. Often, children are abandoned as their parents are ashamed of their disability. 

Just as Hindus, Buddhists believe that showing kindness, helping the disabled can improve one's own karma. While kindness ensures bridging the gap between the abled and the disabled, it doesn't promote equality. 

Buddhism and attitudes towards disability

The actions you partake in as well as emotions that have been invested, imprints itself upon one's Aham (concept of self). That is the basis of all suffering. When one stops feeding Aham, there is nothing tethering that person to this materialistic word. 


State University of New York at Buffalo

Karma is a philosophical concept where karma is the cumulative of all the actions one performs in a given timeframe. Its adherents view it as a universal causal law by which good or bad actions determine the future modes of one's existence. 

Just as your genetic code that is passed down as a memory for generations, codes for your phenotype, Karma is the memory of the sum of all the actions performed within a given timeframe that gets etched upon one's Aatma/Dravya/Aham.

Karma

Pattanaik, Devdutt (2017), Devlok with Devdutt Pattanaik, Penguin Random House Publishing

Devlok with Devdutt Pattanaik

Accumulated over lifetimes, the memory of one's actions is etched upon one's soul as one travels through the cyclical process of birth, death and rebirth. 

It defines the quality of life one leads in this birth, the difficulties one faces, one's survivability, one's success and failures, as well as defines the kind of energies to which one is exposed.

Karma in Hinduism

Consider your Aatma/Dravya to be a balloon and the Karma, a weighted block attached to it. One's birth in Narak-lok (Hell), Bhu-lok (Earth), Swarg-lok (Heaven) or Siddha-lok (abode of Tirthankars, the gurus and philosophers) depends on the amount of weight attached to your Aatma. The lighter you are and devoid of karma, the higher the chances of one attaining Siddha-lok.

[Remember, in Jainism, loka/lok refers to the quality of life and the energies one faces in this birth, not the physical space. The quality improves drastically as one moves from Narak-lok to Siddha-lok. In fact, to reach Siddha-lok, one should be devoid of karma and have achieved Aatma-gyan or self-realization].



Karma in Jainism

Karma in Buddhism

Dhyana’s earliest references can be found in the period between the Vedas (written 4000 years ago) and Puranas (2000 years ago).

In order to attain enlightenment, the two sides of the same coin, Dhyana (to close your eyes and look inwards) and Darshan (to open your eyes and observe the world), both are necessary for the sustenance of lifestyles that fall under the branch of Sanatana Dharma. 

In simplified terms, Dyana equates to Buddhism, an ascetic lifestyle and to look within oneself, while Darshan equates to Hinduism, a domestic lifestyle and acknowledging the society’s point of view. 

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