Karma & Jhana- interplay?

I have this weird theory that karma is actually the currency to purchase jhana. So according to this theory it is actually impossible to attain jhana or enlightenment without a huge amount of positive or good karma.

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If that’s the case how could murderer like angulimala attain arahantship faster than ven ananda who ordained earlier than him ?

Maybe he was a better person in the previous life? Maybe his job was to punish wrongdoers? Could it be? You know that we have lived a million lives prior to this, right?

That’s a good argument
But Angulimala was a poor too so why do you think he had more merits in past life compared to ven Ananda a cousin of Buddha ?

And do you think all we experience are the result of kamma ?

OK maybe I was wrong but how do they know he attained arahatship faster?

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I am not saying you are wrong it’s possible that you are right while I am wrong

It’s just my assumption that ven Ananda ordained earlier based on vinaya

SuttaCentral
Then Bhaddiya the Sakyan chieftain and Anuruddha and Ānanda and Bhagu and Kimbila and Devadatta with Upāli the barber as the seventh, as they had often previously gone out to a ground in a pleasure grove with a fourfold army, so did they (now) go out with a fourfold army. Having gone far, having sent back the army, having passed into other territory, having taken off their ornaments, having tied them up into a bundle with their upper robes, they spoke thus to Upāli the barber: “Come, good Upāli, return, this will be enough for your livelihood.” Then it occurred to Upāli the barber as he was going back: “The Sakyans are fierce. Thinking: ‘This one has made the young men come forth,’ they may even kill me. But if these young Sakyan men will go forth from home into homelessness, why should not I?”

Having loosened the bundle, having hung the goods up on a tree, and having said: “Whoever sees it, it is given (to him), These young Sakyan men saw Upāli the barber coming in the distance; having seen him, then spoke thus to Upāli the barber: “Why have you, good Upāli, returned?”

“Now, it occurred to me, young gentlemen, as I was going back, ‘The Sakyans are fierce … they may even kill me. But if these young Sakyan men will go forth from home into homelessness, why should not I?’ So I, young gentlemen, having loosened the bundle … ‘… let him take it,’ returned again from there.”

“You did well, good Upāli, in that you did not go back. The Sakyans are fierce … they might even have killed you.” Then these young Sakyan men, taking Upāli the barber, approached the Lord; having approached, having greeted the Lord, they sat down at a respectful distance. As they were sitting down at a respectful distance, these young Sakyan men spoke thus to the Lord:

“We, Lord, are Sakyans, we are proud. Lord, this barber, Upāli, has been our attendant for a long time. May the Lord let him go forth first. We will greet him, rise up before him, salute him with joined palms, and do the proper duties. Thus will the Sakyan pride be humbled in us Sakyans.” Then the Lord let Upāli the barber go forth first, and afterwards these young Sakyan men. Then the venerable Bhaddiya within one year realised the threefold knowledge, the venerable Anuruddha obtained deva-sight, the venerable Ānanda realised the fruit of stream attainment, Devadatta acquired ordinary psychic power.

So these 6 sakyan princes ordained with the Buddha including devadatta and ananda

And even if angulimala ordained much earlier ven Ananda still takes longer time to get arahantship as only at h-1 before the first Buddhist council ven Ananda gained arahantship referring to vinaya

SuttaCentral
They then spent the first month doing repairs. Venerable Ānanda thought, It would not be proper for me to go to the assembly tomorrow if I’m still a trainee.” And after spending most of the night with mindfulness directed to the body, early in the morning he bent over to lie down. In the interval between his feet coming off the ground and his head hitting the pillow his mind was freed from the corruptions without grasping.

And Venerable Ānanda went to the assembly as a perfected one.

Thank you for the in depth citation. But may I ask you one thing if you don’t mind? Do you think rich people are always better than poor people? I mean sure it is more comfortable to be born in a rich and respected family. But what about billionaires? You know Forbes magazine? I’m sure you have heard of the richest people in the world, like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, the Walton family, the Rockefellers, the Rothschilds, George Soros, Jack Ma, Warren Buffett, and other billionaires. Even Oprah Winfrey and Donald Trump are billionaires. I think there are about 2500 billionaires in the entire world. Don’t you think it’s weird people have that much money? Why do you think someone needs that much money for? What do they do with that much money? Have you heard of the Jeffrey Epstein case? He owns an island in the Carribbean and sell young girls. Have you heard of this? Have you heard of Beverly Hills? I’m sorry if I appear obtrusive, you don’t have to answer if you’re not comfortable.

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Yes people are rich due to kamma Buddha too was rich and in his past life he was even richer

Of course if people get richer due to rent seeking they will accrue bad kamma what I mean by rich people are people born in a rich family not people who do bad deeds to become rich

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Well, in a way, you are right. One need some good kamma to get jhana or enlightenment.

Consider a hungry person. He cant meditate, cant focus on learning. Or a person without house/shelter and clothes. He will be cold and subject to weather.

There is a need of basic requisites to be fulfilled before someone pursue enlightenment. And this, arguably, is the result of good kamma.

But this is just starting condition. No matter how rich you are, if you dont have the motivation to meditate, you won’t get enlightened.

Also, it is useless to speculate how much good kamma we have, would it be enough, etc. We can’t know that.
So we just need to do our best, and forget about it.

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