Indian Logic Forum

JBE · Guest 100.00 points

On-line Conference on "Revisioning Karma"
organised by the Journal of Buddhist Ethics
17-22 OCTOBER 2005

Honorary Chairman and Convener:
Dale Wright (Occidental College, Los Angeles)

WELCOME - everyone - to the JBE online conference "Revisioning Karma."

Karma is a concept defined in the recently published dictionaries of virtually every written language in the world, and increasingly active in the daily moral discourse of people in all these cultures. Given this development, it is imperative that we cultivate a deeper understanding of karma--what it has been and how it has functioned in Asian cultures throughout its historical life, what it is in contemporary Asia and in its current global extensions, and perhaps most importantly, what it could become in the wide-open future before us. This conference intends to begin this task of thinking on the past, present, and future of the concept karma. It aspires to open serious questioning in the ethical and moral dimensions of culture where the idea of karma has taken root. We assume that this is only a beginning, and that if we are successful, we will have raised at least a few of the crucial questions that future debate will strive to settle. Please join us in this task.

Conference Papers

Critical questions towards a naturalized concept of karma in Buddhism by Dale Wright
Groundwork for a Metaphysic of Buddhist Morals: A New Analysis of puГ±Г±a and kusala, in light of sukka by Martin Adam
Merit Transfer in Mahayana Buddhism by Barbra Clayton
Reflections on Kant and Karma by Bradford Cokelet
Karma, Rebirth, and Mental Causation by Christian Coseru
Is the Buddhist Doctrine of Karma Cognitively Meaningful? by James Deitrick
Valuing Karma: A Critical Concept for Orienting Interdependence with Wisdom, Attentive Mastery and Moral Clarity by Peter Hershock
Karma, Rebirth, and the Problem of Evil by Whitley Kaufman
Karma, Character, and Consequentialism by Damien Keown
Karma in the later texts of the Pali Canon by Jessica Main
Questioning Karma: Buddhism and the Phenomenology of the Ethical by Eric Nelson
Dark and Bright Karma: A New Reading by Abraham Velez
The Reactionary Role of Karma in 20th Century Japan by Brian Victoria

SarmaVVS · Guest 100.00 points

Karma вЂ“ The Sanatana Dharma View

Karma is a Sanskrit word (Kamma in Pali) and an important concept of religions born in India, meaning 'action or actвЂќ. The law of Karma originated in the Vedic system of religion, known as Sanatana Dharma (perennial faith). In Sanatana Dharma (now popularly called Hinduism) and, later in Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism, it is the sum of a person's actions, regarded as the basis for creating that person's present and future states of existence. As a term, it can at the latest be traced back to the early Upanishads. It is usual to talk of various types of karma while analyzing the state of a personвЂ™s life today:

1. prarabdha karma, that effects of the portion of past (or accrued or sanchita karma) that is to be experienced in this life;
2. sanchita (or accrued) karma, the sum total of past karmas yet to be resolved including agami (to be experienced in future) and
3. kriyamana karma, the karma that the person is currently doing and will bear fruit in the future.

Bhagavadgita

The well known Hindu Scripture Bhagavadgita (part of the Mahabharata) stresses on Karma-Yoga. Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856-1920) was one of the greatest freedom fighters India had produced. He published in 1914, in Marathi вЂњSrimad Bhagavadgita Rahasya вЂ“ The Science of Karma YogaвЂќ. He took his inspiration from the Mahabharata. According to Tilak, the basic question of Arjuna was to justify his participation in the fight and to interpret the oft-repeated dictum вЂ“ Ahimsa Paramo Dharma. GitaвЂ™s main teaching, according to Tilak, is to teach Arjuna to perform his svadharma, which is his doing his prescribed karma of fighting the war. Tilak identifies various types of karma, or activities that are prescribed for various individuals in society.

Plamen · Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2005 7:58 am Post subject: Signing up for the Conference

There is no signup information available for the Conference, but I was told on my channels that the would-be participants should sign up for the JBE mailing list:

http://listserv.cofc.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?SUBED1=jbe-c&A=1

ramesam · Guest 100.00 points

Dear Prof. Wright,
I invite your kind attention to two of my write ups at the e-Journal of Indology.net on Infirmities in Karma Theory and Biology of Belief in sections 004 and 011 respectively. I'll like your kind advice if I can participate in the conference based on their relevance to the subject of the discussions.

Thanks and regards,
ramesam