Why would you care about another life if it is detached from your other lifes?
It might not be your carrot. Total liberation is apparently a pleasurable state. It also has the additional effects of not harming another being through our unresolved kamma through a rebirth.
Another way to show compassion is to move closer to liberation so that the transmitted kamma is of a lighter quality and inclined towards liberation. We regularly wish strangers well and even do good works for them in this lifetime. Sometimes our effects can eminstr past this life at least according to Buddhism.
I hope that helped.
If I understand you correctly, you say that it simply boils down to not wanting to harm any other being which includes “yourself” in the future. Right?
Yes, that’s the essence. I would also state that there isn’t a self that is reborn, but the unresolved actions and intentions that find the opportunity for resolution. Then a new self is born around those.
It’s important to know that Buddhism doesn’t believe in an eternal self.
Thanks for elaborating on it. Anatta was revolutionary at the time. I love it.
In every life you perform actions and thus create consequences. Right now you live a life that is shaped by consequences of your past lives. Due to karmic cycles, the same conditions come into your life, and since you do not care for your past lives and your past actions, you keep repeating the same mistakes. Thus you keep up the cycles and keep being born into Samsara.
But then how do I know my next life won’t just ruin it all? I could be born into such a different culture that I wouldn’t even be aware of my actions and consequence.
I’m quite new to Buddhism so apologies if my question is silly.
So, you’re saying that because you want to escape samsara, you care about your future life - even in the abscence of karma.
By taking karma into consideration, this means that you can shape future beings because of the dependency. Does that mean that karma is a necessary condition for caring about your future self?
The conscious work with your karma is necessary. If you you want to enter Nirvana in the future, you need to start dissolving your karma (your behavior, psychological tendencies, etc.) now.