Reincarnation and karma in Buddhism?

Question

Hi,

I was wondering whether Karma and Reincarnation in Buddhism are the same??

Also, I wanted to know what would be good arguments for Karma and Reincarnation respectively if they are not the same? I have to write a 15-pg paper and I can't seem to find anything.

Thank you.!!

Answer 1

If your having problems finding things have a look at http://www.khanti.org it some good buddhist videos that you can watch online

Answer 2

Karma simply means the accumulation of good and bad things that have developed up to this point in time, and the good and bad things that will develop in your future because of your karma accumulated up to this point in time. Basically you've reaped, and now you will sow.

Reincarnation is just a theory that your consciousness will continue in a living being after your body has died.

A simplistic attitude is that your karma will determine whether you're born healthy, into a rich family (hah!), in a rich country, if you win a lottery etc. A more mature attitude is that the way you behave and think and perceive will be a result of your past karma, and has nothing to do with your health or wealth or things like that.

If your karma was so good that you achieved enlightenment, you may escape the cycle of reincarnation and cease existing in a body all together.

The fact karma and reincarnation aren't the same is that belief in either isn't reliant on the other. I don't necessarily believe in any afterlife, but I do believe in karma in this life at least. Others say you may be reborn in a completely random way and this has nothing to do with your karma, which explains why I'd think someone with good karma can still be born seriously disabled- it's their attitude to their disability that affects whether they're in a good position in life.

Answer 3

They are two different things, however they are related. Karma is derived from a word that literarly means "action" it refers to all of our actions, positive and negative actions. The "rules of karma" pretty much say that bad actions will yield bad experiences in the future or positive actions may yield positive experiences and it is thought that all our bad actions will chain us to infinite reincarnations until we can break free from the cycle by reaching nirvana

Reincarnation is just the idea that we are reborn when we die.

Karma on the other hand deals more with what results our actions have and when applied to reincarnation karma helps determine what we are reborn as