Date:         Fri, 20 Dec 1996 10:54:54 -0500
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Gregory Mitch Daughtry" <gmdaugh@eos.ncsu.edu>
Subject:      Re: What is VW Karma?

Ahhhh....  Grasshopper......  You ask wise question for such a tiny insect.....

VW Karma is called "Vanma."

It does work like a bank account.  You collect it incrementally through purity
of soul and good works.  Waving to fellow brick, loaf, and EV's with equal
fervor will gain you good karma.  Always stopping to offer help to a stranded
bus (or any vehicle for that matter) beside the road will gain you good karma.

Running Chevy wheel covers is bad Karma, definitely.  There is an old Buddhist
teaching that states that you must treat EVERY living creature as though it
were your own mother.  For in an infinite number of previous lives, some time
that creature truly was your mother.  So, your van is without doubt a living
soul, you must treat it with the same love and respect you would your own
mother.  Would you let your mother go around with Chevy wheel covers on her
legs?  I should say not.

The bad news is that, although karma works like a bank account.  That bank
account isn't just your personal one that you are born with.  That account
follows you from life to life.  You can be born with a fat trust fund, or you
could be cursed with negative working capital.  Bhuddist teachings say that
there are higher and lower life forms.  Humans are higher than most life forms
(Personnally I will debate this point).  And because they have the capacity for
autonomous and abstract thought (plus we have those killer opposable thumbs),
they have the ability to do great works and great harm.  Your reward for a
lifetime of bad works will be reincarnation as a mealworm, maybe.  It is very
hard for a mealworm to do good deeds and bank up enough good Karma to become,
say, a goldfish. You can also never take a look at your monthly statement and
see if you are in the red or in the black.  So you must continually work to
increase your Karma with the hope of being reincarnated as a higher being.  The
highest being being a buddha, when one achieves enlightenment.

Karma is not to be confused with Dharma, which is another lesson.

By the way.  Are all of you aware that the 14th Dalai Llama, the spiritual
leader and for thousands of years (the position, not the person) the political
leader of Tibet lives in political exile in India.  The Chinese invasion and
destruction of hundreds of temples and irreplacable bhuddist artifacts of that
land is an abomination!  And it was only a few years ago.  And they still have
preferred trade status.  Please write to your congressman asking him to
pressure China to improve it's human rights policies and to cease the military
occupation of a nation with no concept of violence, even for its own civil
rights.  Free Tibet!

Please don't call me a sanctimonious twit, again.  Although the statement is
true, the sentiment hurts my feelings (and it's bad karma).  %`)

It's FRIDAY!   HAPPY HOLIDAYS!


On Dec 20,  8:58am, Charles \luke\ Lukey wrote:
> Subject: What is VW Karma?
> When I bought my '86 Vanagon GL, it had little star stickers on the center of
> the wheel covers.  One day I peeled one off - to my horror I discovered an
> embossed (gasp) Chevrolet bow tie logo.  Thinking quickly, and with no regard
> to my own safety, I pulled the other wheel covers off and rammed them into
the
> trash can.
>
>  My wife, watching from the window, commented: "Now it looks like hell.  Why
> did you do that?"
>
>  "Karma," I replied, "bad karma to leave a situation like that to fester.
> Volkswagen vehicle requires Volkswagen wheel covers to insure safe
operation."
> Wife stared at me for a long time, finally said nothing and closed the
window.
>
>  It took about two weeks to find original wheel covers and now all is well.
>
>  But to my question.  What is Karma?  I've tossed that phrase off over the
> years without really knowing what it means.  How does one maintain good
Karma?
> How does one eliminate bad Karma?  Is Karma like Luck?  Is Karma like a bank
> account? Can you build up good Karma by helping old ladies across the street
> and use it later when driving home after a few beers?
>
>  More specifically, what is VW Karma?
>
>
> Charles "Luke" Lukey
>  Windup Technology, Inc.
>  Seattle, WA
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>-- End of excerpt from Charles \luke\ Lukey



-- 
- Greg Daughtry -