Oh BTW, just because they didn't mention it doesn't mean we do
not agree on karma. I do not know why they did not mention
it.
The article is talking about the fundamentals that both Theravada
and Mahayana holds to be true.
Karma is definitely one of the very very fundamental teachings of
both Theravada and Mahayana, as well as Vajrayana.
There is no true Buddhist sects that does not teach the teachings
of Karma. And all Buddhists true to the original teachings of the
Buddha and all the realised beings will believe in karma.
Maybe I should define fantastics as "unproven" things, unproven
in the strict proof that the Scientific Method demands; not
accepting as "proof", people's testimony.
And like I have said many times before, Buddhism itself is a
scientific method to realise everything that the Buddha has
realised, and karma is not fantastic because it can be experienced
and realised. Just because you haven't seen it doesn't mean it
doesn't exist. (also see Ken Wilber -
Spirituality and the 3 Strands of Deep Science
Ajahn Brahmavamso said in http://www.bswa.org/modules/icontent/index.php?page=105
(excerpt):
Come and See for Yourself
If you had just one person who had been confirmed as medically dead
who could describe to the doctors, as soon as they were revived,
what had been said, and done during that period of death, wouldn't
that be pretty convincing? When I was doing elementary particle
physics there was a theory that required for its proof the
existence of what was called the 'W' particle. At the cyclotron in
Geneva, CERN funded a huge research project, smashing atoms
together with an enormous particle accelerator, to try and find one
of these 'W' particles. They spent literally hundreds of millions
of pounds on this project. They found one, just one 'W' particle. I
don't think they have found another since. But once they found one
'W' particle, the researchers involved in that project were given
Nobel prizes for physics. They had proved the theory by just
finding the one 'W' particle. That's good science. Just one is
enough to prove the theory.
When it comes to things we don't like to believe, they call just
one experience, one clear factual undeniable experience, an
anomaly. Anomaly is a word in science for disconcerting evidence
that we can put in the back of a filing cabinet and not look at
again, because it's threatens our worldview. It undermines what we
want to believe. It is threatening to our dogma. However, an
essential part of the scientific method is that theories have to be
abandoned in favour of the evidence, in respect of the facts. The
point is that the evidence for a mind independent of the brain is
there. But once we admit that evidence, and follow the scientific
method, then many cherished theories, what we call 'sacred cows'
will have to be abandoned.
When we see something that challenges any theory, in science or in
religion, we should not ignore the evidence. We have to change the
theory to fit the facts. That is what we do in Buddhism. All the
Dhamma of the Buddha, everything that he taught, if it does not fit
the experience, then we should not accept it. We should not accept
the Buddha's words in contradiction of experience. That is clearly
stated in the Kālāma Sutta. (AN III, 65) The Buddha said do not
believe because it is written in the books, or even if I say it.
Don't just believe because it is tradition, or because it sounds
right, or because it's comforting to you. Make sure it fits your
experience. The existence of mind, independent of the brain, fits
experience. The facts are there.
Sometimes, however, we cannot trust the experts. You cannot trust
Ajahn Brahm. You cannot trust the scientific journals. Because
people are often biased. Buddhism gives you a scientific method for
your practice. Buddhism says, do the experiment and find out for
your self if what the Buddha said is true or not. Check out your
experience. For example, develop the method to test the truth of
past lives, rebirth and reincarnation. Don't just believe it with
faith, find out for yourself. The Buddha has given a scientific
experiment that you can repeat.
Until you understand the law of kamma, which is part of Buddhism,
kamma is just a theory. Do you believe that there is a God 'up
there' who decides when you can be happy or unhappy? Or is
everything that happens to you just chance? Your happiness and your
suffering in life, your joy, your pain and disappointments, are
they deserved? Are you responsible or is it someone else's fault?
Is it mere chance that we are rich or poor? Is it bad luck when we
are sick and die at a young age? Why? You can find the true answer
for yourself. You can experience the law of kamma through deep
meditation. When the Buddha sat under the Bodhi tree at Bodhgaya,
the two knowledge's he realized just before his Enlightenment were
the knowledge from experience of the truth of rebirth, and the
knowledge from experience of the Law of kamma. This was not theory,
not just more thinking, not something worked out from discussions
around the coffee table this was realization from deep experience
of the nature of mind. You too can have that same experience.
All religions in the world except Buddhism maintain the existence
of a soul. They affirm a real 'self', an 'essence of all being', a
'person', a 'me'. Buddhism says there is no self! Who is right?
What is this 'ghost in the machine'? Is it a soul, is it a being,
or is it a process? What is it? When the Buddha said that there is
no one in here, he never meant that to be just believed, he meant
that to be experienced. The Buddha said, as a scientific fact, that
there is no 'self'. But like any scientific fact, it has to be
experienced each one for themselves, paccattam veditabbo viññūhī.
Many of you chant those Pāli words every day. It is basic
scientific Buddhism. You have to keep an open mind. You don't
believe there is 'no self', you don't believe there is a 'self'
both beliefs are dogmatism. Keep an open mind until you complete
the experiment. The experiment is the practice of sila, samādhi and
pañña, (virtue, meditation and insight). The experiment is Buddhist
practice. Do the same experimental procedures that the Buddha did
under the Bodhi tree. Repeat it and see if you get the same
results. The result is called Enlightenment.
