VERSION|0.5.1|NAME|Alun|DATE|1371037887|CONTENT|I know this is Hinduism, but it shares some common beliefs with Buddhism, of which I know bit more, including the reincarnation/karma stuff.

Reincarnation - nuff said. On karma, it is at basis a fairly sensible idea that got distorted when tacked on to the reincarnation bit, and really I think most (all?) of the bad consequences of the belief stems from that. The buddha said that you don&#039;t have to believe any of the tenets of buddhism, don&#039;t have to believe in reincarnation, but if you nonetheless live your life according to the basic principles (compassion, moderation, etc) you will benefit even without reincarnation or nirvana being true. I think, to a reasonable extent, he is probably right. If you act as if what goes around comes around, you will probably be better off. Fewer enemies for a start, and the principle of reciprocal altruism means others are more likely to do you favours.

Where it went off the rails is by adding in reincarnation, there came the belief that if someone innocent was suffering now, they must be paying for bad karma from a previous lifetime, and this can lead to blaming the victim.|EMAIL|alunap@mac.com|IP-ADDRESS|170.148.198.157|MODERATIONFLAG|