Chinese Earthquake

""Then, in Christian mysticism there is "those who live by the sword shall die by the sword." I recall a Buddhist writing saying that, basically those who do harm to others, get that harm returned to them. ""

In Christianity there is a dicho "Your sins will find you out." Interesting that there is a Buddhist equivalent, though undoubtedly more nuanced. There is also a lovely tale about why good people suffer.... basically the explanation is that there are angels whose job it is to test people's faith / willpower etc and there is no reason beyond it. (This is the Book of Job.) Parts get tedious, but it is a beautiful story.... and one of the few where women win the day.

I see no reason that the cause is not "all of the above." Our response should undoubtedly be the same no matter the true cause... to pray for the survivors and for the departed that they might all find rest and comfort.

i don't know if karma is related to compassion
i do believe at this point (cuz i like learnin!) that countries do have karma...
that is out of my hands
compassion however is not, which is why i spent 4 hours of my day of today down at the chinese american league helping pack boxes to send to china, becasue as i stated before the people ultimately responsible probably didn't get more than a hangnail.......
k

"The punishment for refusing to participate in politics is to be governed by those who do."

-- Plato

"We can dislike plenty of things that are going on here, but if we take no action, we make no change."

To begin we surely are not a democracy, the whole idea of one person one vote simply doesnt happen. I do vote, I am active in my community as well. Mostly socially, feeding the homeless, things like that. But the fact of the matter is "participating" in our government only does so much. Aside from something massive like fight club where every blue collar worker organized it would be quite difficult to make massive change. The oligarchs are going to do what they will. It has always happened this way and this is the way it will always happen. I'm sure you will disagree with me saying that we can all make the change if we participate, but I do not believe that is the case. Perhaps one day, but not this day. Because even if every person in the US went out and voted in this election, it still wouldnt change the way things are run, people have been oppressed for thousands of years, and until we eliminate money all together, people are going to continue to be oppressed, as downer as it sounds that is the truth. Now if everyone just stopped one day and didnt do anything, and went out into their neighborhoods and planted gardens we might make a difference... but even that isn't realistic because most of the population would run out of food within 3 days if we all just stopped.

"The only solution, is total destruction"
-Bob Marley

I simply am trying to say that not all of the worlds problems are being caused by big governments (truly a lot of them are) but behind those big governments are individuals who run them (and corporations like comcast who provide us with the internet to chat on tribe). I don't feel prepared to say that by simply being politically active we may change our Karma and the world. Surely being active in our government is ONE way to make change, but it is not the root of the problem, nor the solution, just another part.