Many will think it's a simple matter that Casey will gather negative karma for killing her daughter, Caylee. Well, it's not that simple. The gathering of karmic debt that will have to be repaid in this life and future lives doesn't rest on that one action. Everyone who played a role in the matter will be adding or taking away from their karmic debts. Here is a list of those who were involved with the case and karma they gathered.
CAYLEE ANTHONY
She will gather good karma for she was a victim of an act of anger that she can't be held accountable for creating due to her young age.
CASEY ANTHONY
She will gather no good karma. All of her actions will produce negative karma for years and future lives.
A. The act of planning the death of her child will produce negative karma.
B. For the act of killing her child she will gather negative karma.
C. Casey's happiness that she experienced after killing her daughter will produce negative karma.
D. Any emotional, physical and mental suffering that has been produced from the act of killing Caylee that was and is experienced by anyone, no matter if relative, friend, or stranger results in negative karma for Casey.
E. Caylee was unable to live out her life. She didn't get to have a career/existence in which she could have possibly done lots of good for the others. If this is true, then all the suffering created because she can't do that good will produce bad karma for Casey.
F. Even if Caylee was heading down the same path as Casey, that of someone who longed for instant gratification and happiness in sex, drugs, boozing and partying, Casey's killing of Caylee prevented her from that lifestyle. Ultimately negative karma as Caylee must go through the trauma of being reborn and experiencing this is delayed as is her enlightenment.
G. If Casey inspires others to kill their kids because she got away with it that will produce negative karma.
H. All the victims of the lies that Casey told will reap good karma but Casey will gather negative karma for the suffering those lies caused.
CASEY'S PARENT'S [GEORGE & CINDY]
They will gather good karma due to the suffering that Casey caused.
The perjury that Cindy committed in order to save her daughter will create negative karma no matter what the intention.
THE DEFENSE TEAM [JOSE BAEZ, CHENEY MASON, DOROTHY CLAY SIMS, ET AL]
They will gather negative karma for all suffering caused by what they presented and said in their case which was not true.
If Casey kills again they will collect negative karma for allowing her to walk free.
CASEY'S BROTHER [LEE]
Good karma for all his efforts in trying to find Caylee's killer.
If it's true that he molested Casey then negative karma will come from that.
THE JURY
A. For allowing a killer to walk -- negative karma.
B. If Casey kills again -- negative karma.
C. If they seek fame and money for allowing a killer to go free that's considered negative karma.
THE JUDGE [BELVIN PERRY]
No karma at all he simply presided over the proceedings unless any of his rulings allowed Casey to be found guilty.
THE PROSECUTING TEAM [JEFF ASHTON, LINDA DRANE BURDICK, ET AL]
Good karma for doing their best to keep a killer off the streets.
THE MEDIA
Bad karma if they found joy in reporting on the killing because of high ratings.
ROY KRONK
Good karma for finding the body and trying to tell the police about it.
ZENAIDA GONZALEZ
Good karma for being a victim of Casey's lies.
The toll of karma will be impacting those involved for this lifetime and for all time to come. Karma is not swayed by excuses. As the Buddha says, Karma is infallible.
Back in 2008 I wrote a blog in four parts entitled The Justice of Karma. I've summarized it here.
Karma is one of the very few universal laws that reign over each and every one of us without exception. Christian, Muslim, Jewish, atheist, agnostic, etc., we are all going to reap what we sow, maybe not in this lifetime but in a future life here on earth or in one of the other realms. Karma is the law of action, and it is no respecter of any man or woman, paying no heed to looks, social or economic status. It watches over every move we make, keeps track, and dishes out rewards or punishments.
To understand the concept of karma we first must look at the Four Noble Truths. They make up what is the basis of all Buddhist teaching.
Noble Truth 1 – The truth of suffering. It focuses on two types of suffering. This is the suffering of sentient beings and the suffering of the environment.
Meditation on these two concepts of suffering helps us develop a drive to get out of cyclic existence, which is known as samsara. Samsara is Sanskrit for "continuous movement" which refers to our constant rebirths. When one meditates on this concept, they develop a mind of renunciation.
There are three types of suffering:
1 - The suffering of suffering, which is the process that we experience mentally, physically, and spiritually as we experience suffering. Think about this. How do you feel when you get mad? It's just not the anger that makes you feel bad. You feel bad because you feel this anger.
2 - The suffering of change. When things change we experience a form of suffering. For example, you want a Mercedes Benz, you work day and night to get it. Finally you've saved enough money and you buy that car. You pay for it and drive it off the lot. Suddenly it's not a new car. It's getting older by the minute. You have to worry about maintenance, insurance, license plates, ever rising gas prices, and eventually it will have to be replaced. What happens if you get the Benz and it's not what you want? You go to work, think about all the money you're going to make that day, but by the end of the day you're bone tired. You go home, think you're going to relax, but the next day the cycle starts all over again.
3 - Pervasive Suffering. This arises from us having a physical body. And because we have a physical body we have what is called five aggregates. They are: form, feelings and emotions, discrimination [which is our perception of objects outside of us], compositional factors [our mind being directed towards objects], and consciousness. Consciousness is not our conscience telling us to do right or wrong; rather this consciousness is our awareness of the outside world and we develop this awareness through our senses of hearing, taste, touch, smell, sight, feeling, etc.
All forms of suffering that we experience and give rise to in this realm of existence comes from our interaction with the five aggregates. Here's an example. You're very thirsty and uncomfortable because of that thirst. You walk down the road and on the side you see a big icy bucket filled with bottles of root beer. You open a bottle and quickly drink that root beer, satisfying your thirst. Problem is, that root beer tastes so good you can't stop drinking it. So suddenly you go from being thirsty to being bloated. Somebody else comes along and they're thirsty too, but you say no this is my root beer and you run them off. While your back is turned, another person comes along and steals your remaining root beer. You give chase, but can't catch them. And now you're thirsty again.
Through our cyclic existence in this lifetime, in the human realm, and any life we have experienced in the past, or will experience in the future, we all go through four stages of cyclic existence. Going through these stages creates suffering as well. These stages are birth, sickness, aging, and death.
Noble Truth 2 – the origin of suffering. Suffering stems from two things: delusion and karma. In reality, delusion is the root of all suffering. Because you must have thinking or thought prior to any action. Now some may say, I breathe, that's action, but I don't think about it. In reality, you do, but it's simply that your mind is doing it without you realizing it.
Noble Truth 3 - The next truth is an end to suffering. And yes, this suffering can end, you can do it, I can do it, we all can do it. To understand the concept of karma we first must look at the Four Noble Truths. They make up what is the basis of all Buddhist teaching.
Noble Truth 1 – The truth of suffering. It focuses on two types of suffering. This is the suffering of sentient beings and the suffering of the environment.
Meditation on these two concepts of suffering helps us develop a drive to get out of cyclic existence, which is known as samsara. Samsara is Sanskrit for "continuous movement" which refers to our constant rebirths. When one meditates on this concept, they develop a mind of renunciation.
There are three types of suffering:
1 - The suffering of suffering, which is the process that we experience mentally, physically, and spiritually as we experience suffering. Think about this. How do you feel when you get mad? It's just not the anger that makes you feel bad. You feel bad because you feel this anger.
2 - The suffering of change. When things change we experience a form of suffering. For example, you want a Mercedes Benz, you work day and night to get it. Finally you've saved enough money and you buy that car. You pay for it and drive it off the lot. Suddenly it's not a new car. It's getting older by the minute. You have to worry about maintenance, insurance, license plates, ever rising gas prices, and eventually it will have to be replaced. What happens if you get the Benz and it's not what you want? You go to work, think about all the money you're going to make that day, but by the end of the day you're bone tired. You go home, think you're going to relax, but the next day the cycle starts all over again.
3 - Pervasive Suffering. This arises from us having a physical body. And because we have a physical body we have what is called five aggregates. They are: form, feelings and emotions, discrimination [which is our perception of objects outside of us], compositional factors [our mind being directed towards objects], and consciousness. Consciousness is not our conscience telling us to do right or wrong; rather this consciousness is our awareness of the outside world and we develop this awareness through our senses of hearing, taste, touch, smell, sight, feeling, etc.
All forms of suffering that we experience and give rise to in this realm of existence comes from our interaction with the five aggregates. Here's an example. You're very thirsty and uncomfortable because of that thirst. You walk down the road and on the side you see a big icy bucket filled with bottles of root beer. You open a bottle and quickly drink that root beer, satisfying your thirst. Problem is, that root beer tastes so good you can't stop drinking it. So suddenly you go from being thirsty to being bloated. Somebody else comes along and they're thirsty too, but you say no this is my root beer and you run them off. While your back is turned, another person comes along and steals your remaining root beer. You give chase, but can't catch them. And now you're thirsty again.
Through our cyclic existence in this lifetime, in the human realm, and any life we have experienced in the past, or will experience in the future, we all go through four stages of cyclic existence. Going through these stages creates suffering as well. These stages are birth, sickness, aging, and death.
Noble Truth 2 – the origin of suffering. Suffering stems from two things: delusion and karma. In reality, delusion is the root of all suffering. Because you must have thinking or thought prior to any action. Now some may say, I breathe, that's action, but I don't think about it. In reality, you do, but it's simply that your mind is doing it without you realizing it.
How do we develop the third Noble Truth? By not only saying yes, I understand the first two truths but comprehending them and living them. If you do so, you develop certain characteristics that follow.
1. Develop cessation – those things that matter to own or avoid simply fall away. You start to question desires, develop intelligence and understanding over ignorance and anger.
2. Peace – you are at peace with the world, yourself, and your path.
3. Benefit & pleasure – you begin to do things that bring benefit and pleasure to others without ever questioning what you should do.
4. Definite arousal – you see that the first two Noble Truths are the foundation of suffering and you know that as hard as you try, in time you will slip and fall back into negative karma and you don't want to do this cyclic existence any longer.
Noble Truth 4
There is a path that leads us out of this existence and that the path was taught by the Buddha. It will lead us to enlightenment then to nirvana and finally we will be free of all suffering whether it is physical, spiritual, emotional, and other negative influences.
Will it be achieved in one or many lifetimes? It is not my place to say. Some say yes, it can, and there are many stories within the Tibetan Buddhist tradition that teaches that we can achieve enlightenment in one lifetime. The story of the Tibetan yogi Milarepa is a fine example. But to be honest, there are other stories about those intrepid travelers on the path who have taken hundreds, if not thousands of lifetimes, to get it right. Don't focus on the number of lifetimes it'll take to achieve enlightenment, focus on the fact that you can do it.
5 comments:
Brilliant post! Yes, I often say "the way you do anything is the way you do everything" and live my life by the "Golden Rule" or the concept of things coming back to you threefold. I have a policy when someone acts up and gets angry in my face, to just stand there and stare, say nothing, do not react, let the person have their own aneurysm and look like an idiot. If you leave people who have negative to their own devices, they end up paying in the end--just ask OJ Simpson.
But what if she didn't do it? their are people who leave no body/never found with heavy evidence against them. Here despite remains, their(well imo) was none and were not talking that they were out their for years and years. will i get bad karma for believing that she may be innocent of the act of murder? its not because how she looks or anything, when it comes to that anybody can be suspect despite appearance, it was a feeling i got. i know it may mean nothing, but that was my gut.
Thanks for the brief summary about karma! I very much believe in the idea of karma, but I'm pretty uneducated about it and I'd love to learn more.
I have 1 question, then, about Casey's negative karma, and I am asking this in a manner as emotionally distant from the case as possible: Do you think that the troubles Casey is/will experience during this lifetime as a result of her actions may pay back part of her karmic debt?
Anonymous,
No you will gain no karma whether you think she did it or didn't do it. It has no impact on whether she did or didn't do it it strictly has to do with you.
Melissa,
Anytime karma ripens part of that karmic debt is paid. If she acknowledges that she had something to do with the murder and expresses sincere remorse about her actions then that will pave the way for much of her karmic debt to be repaid. The thing to remember is that karmic debt gained within 1 lifetime oftentimes takes many lifetimes to either repay the negative or reap from the positive.
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