Mind States & Karma (Off-shoot from Ghosty thread)

[rex]

Yascara raised some interesting questions here.

As to your own argumentation, "mental states", no matter whether mine or yours, don't have substance.
How could something that has no substance bring things into existence,
e.g. karma. How would one particular state of mine bring the principle of cause and effect into existence.

Okay I'll bite : ) Isn't this 'Buddhism 101'? Buddha said that we are all dreamlike and life is illusory but there is the danger of confusing the insights of absolute truth and misapplying them to the relative world.

Sure in theory on the absolute level a chair doesn't have any substance, but if this were so in our lived experience we would fall through it when trying to sit down.

Similarly with mind states; they are experienced as real in our relative existance and have causative power as described in the Twelve Links of Interdependent Origin.

Ignorance of our fundamental nature brings the principle of cause and effect into existance and sets the wheel of samsara turning.

 

Edit: tpyos

Edited May 29, 2014 by rex