Vegetarians, do you believe in reincarnation and karma?

Question

If so do you believe people who mindlessly eat meat will have to suffer similar fates in future lives for the pain and suffering they ignored in order to satisfy their desires?

This is not to say that all people eat meat without knowing the larger ramification or don't do so in a more ethical way than the masses. But nevertheless for every action their is an equal an opposite reaction. The real question is how will these reactions manifest themselves.

Answer 1

Well I know you know that I believe in Karma and reincarnation because I've stated several times that I want to come back as a tree.  I get thumbed down for that all the time. But Oh Well.  

On to your question.  I believe karma is based on one's over-all deeds and the full understanding of the ramification of your actions.  Most people are truly blinded to the wrongs being committed against other sentiment  beings  by their dominion-ists and specie-est beliefs.  It feels normal for them and it's not a sin, transgression or violation in their eyes.  

I believe one' s own conscience has a bearing on your Karma. If eating meat is not  burdening  on your  conscience and you live an upright moral life in all other aspects it probably won't affect your karma enough for to notice it in a next life.  That's just what  ( i)  think now. I'm not so sure about other Buddhists.  My thing is this.  If I don't feel bound by the punishments of other religions besides my own why should anyone else feel or be bound by mine?   I think it's a bit excessive and fantastic to think that someone will come back as a dairy cow simply because he or she was not a vegan.  I've also taken into consideration that some people have so many plant based allergies that it might be a bit difficult for them. I know a guy on the job who has celiac allergy and diverticulitis.  For people like him it may be only possible to reduce animal products to a minimum. I doubt Karma would get them for that.

Answer 2

Yes I believe in reincarnation and Karma. How could you not. But I do eat meat sometimes.Do you actually believe that you only get a few short years to live . compared to the millions of years the world has been here.

Answer 3

When I WAS a Vegetarian (for 16 years) I did NOT believe in any of those things!

I believe that  there are FAR worse things where you will receive negative repercussions than eating meat!

Answer 4

I'm a vegetarian and I don't believe in reincarnation, karma, fate, or anything else supernatural. It's simply not possible.

Answer 5

Yes. Everything effects everything.

"Whatsoever you do unto another, it shall be done unto you."

Answer 6

yea i do

Answer 7

I am a believer in reincarnation... I do not believe in karma but I still wish to live my life with a moral code, granted it is my moral code... XD

I do believe that one day meat-eaters will be sorry but whether that is karma or not I am not completely sure.

Answer 8

Absolutely. Yes, I believe in reincarnation and karma. It is the only thing that makes any sense of our human experience, from sudden infant crib death to the holocaust. from babies born on crack to those who are born with dreadful diseases, to those  souls who are born into beautiful bodies, or who are talented, or precocious geniuses etc. Hence all the injunctions from each of the religious traditions to live loving, compassionate, ethical lives -- but in most instances they don't quite tell it like it is. The teaching about Karma is that we have cycled through 8.4 million species in order to have reached the human birth and in each of them karma (as you said the law of action/reaction) sets in. Given that we cannot possibly pay off all of the stored karmas in each life, the acts both good and evil accrue in a storehouse of karma called Sanchit Karmas. The karmas we have contracted to pay off in this lifetime are called Pralabd karmas and those that we accrue daily are called Kryaman Karmas. And of course we

cannot return to God until the soul has been cleansed of its karmic indebtedness. Which is where the doctrine of vicarious atonement for sin originates, and the need for a living Master (or Christ Consciousness) to take on that burden of karmic indebtedness for us in order to free the soul for its return. The difficulty with most people in the Western world is that we are functioning with Cliff Notes on God's law and intention and only have the watered down version of seemingly arbitrary do's and don'ts without the foundational understanding of the how and the why of it all. It doesn't much matter whether  someone believes in karma or not. Facts are facts and God's laws are laws and not belief systems.  You don't have to believe in gravity for it to function as it does. A person who steps off of a tall building is going to hit the ground hard whether or not they understand gravity. So yes, all of the excesses, all of the cruelty to our younger brothers and sisters in animal form (among others) will be paid for eventually -- one lifetime or another. The people reporting on their  Near Death Experience, having gone through a life review, all seem to have a more loving; more compassionate intentional life and lifestyle afterwards. So yes, it seems pretty clear that there is more to this business of human existence than we may have previously thought. God is not mocked. There is a comeuppance and none of us will want to pay the Piper when the bill comes due.

Answer 9

Well, I am a vegetarian, but I don't believe in reincarnation or karma. I believe in nothing supernatural and only in chance. Which I suppose some people misunderstand and think of as karma...

Answer 10

Yes, I believe in reincarnation and karma and I'm not sure about meat eaters suffering pain and misfortune, but I"m not taking any chances!  Karma is supposed to be payback and the soul knows and understands what the payback is for, so it's hard to tell.

Answer 11

No, I don't believe in reincarnation and karma.

Answer 12

I am not a Buddhist but do have a Buddhist teacher, I do not believe in re-birth or in Karma. I do hold many Buddhist views of the world and Buddhist values. I do what I do because I believe in fairness and equality for all living things and that we have obligations to other living things and non living systems because of our interdependence or Oneness.

It is difficult for people to understand that Oneness because in order to do so you have to accept ethics that limit materialism and techno-scientific advances. Materialism and techno-scientific advances are still trying to conquer nature rather than accept and co-exist.

Values are essential to co-existing because they influence your thoughts and behaviour. Ignorance, greed, seeking material possessions/technological solutions are all desires which disconnect you from accepting and co-existing/an equal part of nature.

Re-birth and karma are still external carrots and sticks, prescribing how to behave in order to receive/avoid reward or punishment.

Humans are not superior to other life forms. Humans reward themselves with economic growth, with commodity accumulation on a finite planet. Materialism, science, technology are still trying to conquer nature not recognize and accept Oneness. Power is concentrated with the few by materialism, technology and science, which is detrimental to human beings and to other living things and non living systems.  

Rebirth and Karma (carrots and sticks) are the punishments and rewards which mean we are swayed away from the sacredness of the natural world, the Oneness/Deep Ecology

Spirituality is our inner sense of connection and inter-relatedness to the Oneness (or Deep Ecology or something larger depending on your view). When we integrate our beliefs, values and actions we become more careful of the ripples we make that span out and cause changes in other parts of the natural world/system. Integrated beliefs give us power to 'be' in an ethical way without needing carrots or sticks, and without needing prescribed ethics/rules on how to act each day.

I do not believe in reincarnation and karma, I chose instead to strive for Equanimity,(Evenness of mind; that calm temper or firmness of mind which is not easily elated or depressed; patience; calmness; composure; as, to bear misfortunes with equanimity).

Then my beliefs and actions will become more in harmony with the laws of nature and impermanence. The world will not conform to what I may want it to be. Everything passes. All living things want the same as I do, to satisfy their needs essential to life, to avoid suffering and pain.  I strive for compassion for all living things, see them as equal, their needs as equal and so can try to tread as lightly as I can. I do not need reincarnation nor karma to be the carrots and sticks for my actions. My internal motivations, my mind, is gradually becoming more in harmony with the laws of nature and impermanence. Compassion means that my actions are integrated with my  beliefs of fairness and equality for all living things and that I recognize my obligations to other living things and non living systems because of our interdependence or Oneness.