The Concept of Karma in the Philosophy of Hindu Tantrism Part II

Author(s):  
Sergey V. Pakhomov ◽  

The tantric interpretation of karma is in many ways in line with general Indian be­liefs. Karma is a complex causal mechanism that enslaves souls, which itself, in turn, is based on the activities of these souls. The actions of the soul arise from karmic impulses, which prepare it for a certain experience. Tantra knows the vari­ous classifications of karma (as valuable as neutral) and karmic fruits, as well as bodies into which souls enter under the influence of karma. Karma is “sleeping” and “waking up”. The Supreme God controls karma for his own purposes, provid­ing the souls with their well-deserved living conditions; the unfolding of the world itself correlates with an increase in karmic activity. In Kashmir Śaivism, karma be­comes one of the three main types of enslavement of individuals (kārma-mala) and a direct source of saṃsāra. “Karma is the cause of saṃsāra” (Abhinavagupta). Karma is a part of the universal restrictive mechanism, niyati (Utpaladeva). The distinction between an action that carries karmic consequences (karma) and an action that doesn’t carry such consequences (kriyā) can also be considered a tantric contribution to the concept of karma. Representatives of the Nātha school under­stand karma as a part of the physical body and distinguish five types of karma

Author(s):  
Sergey V. Pakhomov ◽  

The tantric interpretation of karma is in many ways in line with general Indian be­liefs. Karma is a complex causal mechanism that enslaves souls, which itself, in turn, is based on the activities of these souls. The actions of the soul arise from karmic impulses, which prepare it for a certain experience. Tantra knows the vari­ous classifications of karma (as valuable as neutral) and karmic fruits, as well as bodies into which souls enter under the influence of karma. Karma is “sleeping” and “waking up”. The Supreme God controls karma for his own purposes, provid­ing the souls with their well-deserved living conditions; the unfolding of the world itself correlates with an increase in karmic activity. In Kashmir Śaivism, karma be­comes one of the three main types of enslavement of individuals (kārma-mala) and a direct source of saṃsāra. “Karma is the cause of saṃsāra” (Abhinavagupta). Karma is a part of the universal restrictive mechanism, niyati (Utpaladeva). The distinction between an action that carries karmic consequences (karma) and an ac­tion that doesn’t carry such consequences (kriyā) can also be considered a tantric contribution to the concept of karma. Representatives of the Nātha school under­stand karma as a part of the physical body and distinguish five types of karma.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-109
Author(s):  
Clara Bellamy

This article discusses how Zapatista women have built themselves as transformative political subjects that disrupt the racist, classist, and patriarchal nation-state. It underscores the importance of reflecting on Zapatista women, on their struggle for particular demands specified in the Revolutionary Women’s Law, especially the collective struggle for obtaining rights such as to land, to participate politically, and to organize themselves in the armed struggle. Instead of entering into debate over whether Zapatista women are feminists or not, this article recognizes how, besides transforming living conditions, the Zapatistas have organized politically and gone from a process of invisibility, silence, and obedience to one of recognition, speech, and command. In this sense, the struggle of Zapatista women is an example of theoretical and practical ruptures within the history of class, gender, and race struggled in Mexico and the world.


Cubic Journal ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 150-165
Author(s):  
James Stevens ◽  

Nearing the end of the second decade of the twenty-first century many craftspeople and makers are waking up to the inevitable reality that our next human evolution may not be the same, that this time it could be different. Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum refers to what we are beginning to experience as the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Schwab 2017, 01). Schwab and his colleagues believe that this revolution could be much more powerful and will occur in a shorter period than the preceding industrial and digital revolutions. This revolution will cause a profound change in how we practice, labour and orient ourselves in the world. Rapidly evolving technologies will proliferate the use of robotics and personalised robots (co-bots) that can sense our presence and safely work alongside us. Digital algorithms are already becoming more reliable predictors of complex questions in medicine and economics than their human counterparts. Therefore, the gap between what a computer can learn and solve and what a robot can do will quickly close in the craft traditions. This article will engage in the discourse of posthumanism and cybernetics and how these debates relate to craft and making. Intentionally this work is not a proud manifesto of positions, strategies, and guidelines required for greatness. Alternatively, it is a humble attempt to reorient makers to the necessary discourse required to navigate the inevitable changes they will face in their disciplines. Thus, the article seeks to transfer posthumanist literary understanding to intellectually position craft in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Šárka KROČOVÁ

The natural environment has its specific patterns that a human must take into account during realisation of any technical infrastructure of the world countries. Underestimating the dangers that can arise from natural phenomena has often serious consequences. Forsome constructions of technical infrastructure, especially their line constructions, there will be a high number of operational accidentswith extremely negative impact on the supplied regions with energy or drinking water. Other types of technical infrastructure forexample in nuclear power have a potential to create a natural emergency threaten the environment not only in the country of theirdislocation but also in the long term to change living conditions in entire regions.The following article deals with this issue in a suffcient basic range suggests chat ways and means to recognize the threat of danger andthen based on risk analysis to eliminate the consequences to an acceptable level.


Author(s):  
Patricia W. Cheng ◽  
Hongjing Lu

This chapter illustrates the representational nature of causal understanding of the world and examines its implications for causal learning. The vastness of the search space of causal relations, given the representational aspect of the problem, implies that powerful constraints are essential for arriving at adaptive causal relations. The chapter reviews (1) why causal invariance—the sameness of how a causal mechanism operates across contexts—is an essential constraint for causal learning in intuitive reasoning, (2) a psychological causal-learning theory that assumes causal invariance as a defeasible default, (3) some ways in which the computational role of causal invariance in causal learning can become obscured, and (4) the roles of causal invariance as a general aspiration, a default assumption, a criterion for hypothesis revision, and a domain-specific description. The chapter also reviews a puzzling discrepancy in the human and non-human causal and associative learning literatures and offers a potential explanation.


Author(s):  
Sharon Nanyongo Njie ◽  
Ikedinachi Ayodele Power Wogu ◽  
Uchenna Kingsley Ogbuehi ◽  
Sanjay Misra ◽  
Oluwakemi Deborah Udoh

While most governments subscribe to boosting global energy supplies since it paves the way for improved economies, which translates to better living conditions and gainful employments which in turn boost government operations, the rising global demand for energy from all human endeavors have activated unparalleled consequences on the environment, resulting to harmful repercussions for government operations and processes all over the world. Hence, scholars argue that the rising demand for global energy by industrialized nations have further increased the vulnerability of governments' operations and processes, especially in countries where these energy sources abound. Consequently, governments, multinationals, and various interest groups are divided on how best to address the quandaries resulting from rising global demand for energy and its effect on the environment and government operations. Recommendations that would enhance government operations were proposed.


Author(s):  
Thomas Schmidinger

When the so-called “Islamic State” (IS) attacked Iraq’s Nineveh Governorate, the region’s religious minorities became victims of genocide and displacement. This chapter focuses on the region of Sinjar (Kurdish: Şingal) and the displacement of the Yazidi (Kurdish: Êzîdî) along with other religious minorities living there. The displacement of these groups directly resulted from their vulnerability as religious minorities. IS targeted them as religious minorities, and their current problems as internally displaced persons (IDPs) also resulted from their status as relatively small communities without a historically strong political lobby or military force. This chapter analyzes the living conditions and political framework in which these IDPs and refugees must survive and presents their personal perspectives from inside and outside of Iraq. Interviews were centered on the following questions: What conditions prevent Yazidi, Christians, and other groups from returning to Sinjar? What are their perspectives on building a future in the region? What would they need in order to return and rebuild their homes? And how do the displaced adherents of the different religious groups interpret the 2014 genocide within a longer history of perceived genocidal acts against religious minorities in the area?


Curationis ◽  
1981 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mavis Arthur

HEALTH EDUCATION — THE NEED TO MAKE IT WORK It is increasingly apparent that the major health problems in the world today — ranging from malnutrition and communicable diseases; many forms of mental ill-health and cardiac conditions; accidents and alcoholism, are primarily attributable to unsatisfactory living conditions, lack of knowledge and harmful practices on the part of individuals, families and communities. Advances in the field of science and technology can do no more towards the promotion of the health of the population unless it is accompanied by fundamental changes in the way of life and behaviour patterns of the people themselves.


1951 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 226-226

On September 26, 1950, the Austrian cabinet voted to permit the country's cost of living to rise to an approximation of the world level, and to make a compensating increase of ten to fourteen percent in wage levels. Three days later the United States representative (Keyes) charged, with the support of the French and United Kingdom commissioners (Bethouart and Caccia), that the resulting riots in Vienna had been inspired by the Soviet Union which had a) transported rioters in trucks about Vienna, b) refused to permit Viennese police in the Soviet sector to be used to quell the rioting, c) prevented police from removing workers of a Soviet controlled plant from railway yards which they had occupied. These charges were denied by the Soviet commissioner (Tsinev) as slanderous allegations of the western representatives whose countries had been responsible for the riots because of the deterioration of living conditions in Austria as the result of the Marshall Plan.


2000 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard A Easterlin

By many measures a revolution in living conditions is sweeping the world. Most people today are better fed, clothed, and house than their predecessors two centuries ago. They are healthier, live longer, and are better educated. Women's lives are less centered on reproduction, and political democracy has gained a foothold. Current international differences in a number of standard of living indicators are significantly correlated. Historically, however, these improvements often started at quite different times, suggesting that the determinants of change in different aspects of the standard of living are varied.


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