You said we can go beyond karma. What do you mean?
This refers to getting out of our cyclic existence and attaining liberation. The second of the Four Noble Truths is the origin of suffering. This refers to being under the control of ignorance, anger, and attachment and the karma we create under their influence. So going beyond karma involves going beyond the three poisonous attitudes of ignorance, anger and attachment. To do this, we must realize emptiness (selflessness), for this wisdom understanding the actual mode of existence cuts the misconception of ignorance. When ignorance has been overcome, attachment, anger, and other afflictions, which arise in dependence upon ignorance no longer exist in our mind. Thus we are free from creating the karma that keeps us bound in cyclic existence. Going beyond karma involves developing the determination to attain nirvana or enlightenment and the energy to practice and bring that about.
Can we do it within one lifetime?
If we practice consistently and diligently, nirvana is possible to attain within this lifetime. It may also take many lifetimes. Aim to attain enlightenment in this lifetime, but don't expect to! This means we aspire for enlightenment in one lifetime and generate the joyous effort to create the causes for that. But we aren't selfishly fixated on that goal. That is, we don't impatiently ask, "How come I'm not enlightened yet?" or "How close am I to enlightenment?" Instead, we take joy in the process of going towards enlightenment.
Once I was out in the country riding in my car. There was an empty looking house with a cute angel statuette on the porch, seemingly abandoned.
I am not prone to stealing, but I combed my conscious
and decided that I needed that angel on my porch as a symbol of protection, so I took it. It perched on my porch for about 2 days before it fell to the sidewalk in shatters. Soon after, I noticed that my well loved cat statuette which for long had been guarding my step, had been stolen.. How can I grieve or be angry about it?
