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Karma in Buddhism

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Translations of
karma
Englishkarma
Sanskritkarma
(Dev: कर्मन्)
Palikamma
Bengali Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)
BurmeseTemplate:My
(MLCTS: kàɴ)
Chinese業
(Pinyin: yè)
Japanese業 or ごう
(Rōmaji: gou)
Khmerកម្ម
Korean업
(uhb)
Sinhalaකර්ම
(karma)
Tibetanལས།
(Wylie: las;
THL: lé;)
Thaiกรรม
(gam)
Vietnamesenghiệp
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Karma (Sanskrit, also karman, Pāli: kamma) is a Sanskrit term that literally means "action" or "doing". In the Buddhist tradition, karma refers to action driven by intention (cetanā) which leads to future consequences. Those intentions are considered to be the determining factor in the kind of rebirth in samsara, the cycle of rebirth.

A main problem in Buddhist philosophy is how karma and rebirth are possible, when there is no self to be reborn, and how the traces or "seeds" of karma are stored throughout time.

Etymology

Karma (Sanskrit, also karman, Pāli: kamma, Tib. las) is a Sanskrit term that literally means "action" or "doing". The word karma derives from the verbal root kṛ, which means "do, make, perform, accomplish."

Karmaphala (Tib. rgyu 'bras) is the "fruit", "effect" or "result" of karma. A similar term is karmavipaka, the "maturation" or "cooking" of karma:

The remote effects of karmic choices are referred to as the 'maturation' (vipāka) or 'fruit' (phala) of the karmic act."

The metaphor is derived from agriculture:

One sows a seed, there is a time lag during which some mysterious invisible process takes place, and then the plant pops up and can be harvested.

Buddhist understanding of karma

Meanings of karma

The term karma is used by contemporary Buddhist teachers and scholars in two senses:

  • On the specific level, karma refers to those actions which spring from the intention (cetanā) of a sentient being. Karmic actions are compared to a seed that will inevitably ripen into a result or fruition (referred to as vipāka or phala in Sanskrit and Pali).
  • On the general level, contemporary Buddhist teachers frequently use the term karma when referring to the entire process of karmic action and result (Sanskrit: karmaphala).

Centrality to Buddhist thought

The theory of karmic action and result (karmaphala) is one of the foundational concepts of Buddhist philosophy. In the Buddhist view, developing a genuine, experiential understanding of karmic action and result—how all of one's actions will have a corresponding result—is an essential aspect of the Buddhist path.

As one scholar states:

The Buddhist theory of action and result (karmaphala) is fundamental to much of Buddhist doctrine, because it provides a coherent model of the functioning of the world and its beings, which in turn forms the doctrinal basis for the Buddhist explanations of the path of liberation from the world and its result, nirvāṇa.

The renowned translator Étienne Lamotte states:

“The teaching of karma, or action, forms the cornerstone of the whole Buddhist doctrine: action is the ultimate explanation of human existence and of the physical world, and it is in terms of karma that the Buddhist masters have constructed their philosophy.”

Tibetan Buddhist teacher Je Tsongkhapa emphasizes the importance of understanding karma in order to follow the Buddhist path:

“Attaining certain knowledge of the definiteness, or nondeceptiveness, of karma and its effects is called the correct viewpoint of all Buddhists and is praised as the foundation of all virtue.”

Karmic actions are considered to be the engine which drives the cycle of uncontrolled rebirth (samsara) for sentient beings; correspondingly, a complete understanding of karmic action and result enables beings to free themselves from samsara and attain liberation.

The theory of karmic action and result is related to other key concepts in Buddhism, such as dependent origination and the four noble truths.

Karmic action and result (Karmphala)

The Buddhist theory of karmic action and result is referred to using various expressions in both Sanskrit (or Pali) and English. In Sanskrit, this concept is referred to as either:

  • Karmaphala - action and fruition
    • The term phala is commonly translated as "fruition" or "fruit" (Keown, 2000, loc 810-813)
  • Karmavipaka - action and result
    • The term vipaka is translated as "result" or "maturation" (Keown, 2000, loc 810-813)

In English, the following expressions are used to identify this process:

  • Karmic cause and effect (Traleg Rinpoche, 2001, p. 31)
  • Karmic law (Traleg Rinpoche, 2001 p. 31)
  • Law of cause and effect (Dzongsar Khyentse, 2011, p. 76; Sogyal Rinpoche, 2009, p. 96)
  • Law of karma (Harvey, 1990, page 39; Sucitto, 2010, p. 27)
  • Theory of action and result (Kragh, 2006, p. 11)
  • Theory of karma (Geshe Tashi Tsering, 2005, Kindle loc. 1186-1201)
  • The infallible law of cause and effect that governs the universe (Sogyal Rinpoche, 2009, p. 96)
  • The natural law of how things and events come into being (Geshe Tashi Tsering, 2005, Kindle loc. 1186-1201)
  • The principle of the cause and the results of actions (Sucitto, 2010, p. 27)

Interdependent origination

The theory of karmic action and result is part of the broader Buddhist doctrine of causality or interdependent origination (pratītyasamutpāda), which states that all phenomena arise due to multiple causes and conditions. Karmic action and result is a specific application of this greater principle that applies specifically to the intentional actions of sentient beings.

The Dalai Lama explains:

Karma is one particular instance of the natural causal laws that operate throughout the universe where, according to Buddhism, things and events come into being purely as a result of the combination of causes and conditions.
Karma, then, is an instance of the general law of causality. What makes karma unique is that it involves intentional action, and therefore an agent. The natural causal processes operating in the world cannot be termed karmic where there is no agent involved. In order for a causal process to be a karmic one, it must involve an individual whose intention would lead to a particular action. It is this specific type of causal mechanism which is known as karma.

Geshe Tashi Tsering states:

Cause and effect is present in the natural world, but is it karma? Imagine that today is a beautiful day; the weather is nice, the sun is shining, the sky is clear. These factors all come into existence due to causes and conditions—the earth’s movement around the sun, the wind, and the absence of clouds. With the movement of the earth or the absence of the clouds, generally there is no intention involved. All of this is natural. We become involved with a natural process through our volition—that is when happiness or suffering happens. It does not occur within the process itself. Whenever there is intention, karma is operating. That is the deciding factor.

Whatever we do has a result

According to the theory of karmic action and result, every action that a sentient being performs will bring about a corresponding result. Sogyal Rinpoche explains:

In simple terms, what does karma mean? It means that whatever we do, with our body, speech, or mind, will have a corresponding result. Each action, even the smallest, is pregnant with its consequences. It is said by the masters that even a little poison can cause death and even a tiny seed can become a huge tree. And as Buddha said: “Do not overlook negative actions merely because they are small; however small a spark may be, it can burn down a haystack as big as a mountain.” Similarly he said: “Do not overlook tiny good actions, thinking they are of no benefit; even tiny drops of water in the end will fill a huge vessel.” Karma does not decay like external things, or ever become inoperative. It cannot be destroyed “by time, fire, or water.” Its power will never disappear, until it is ripened. Although the results of our actions may not have matured yet, they will inevitably ripen, given the right conditions.

Multiple causes and conditions

As in the principle of dependent origination, within the functioning of karma, every fruition is said to depend upon multiple causes and conditions. Sogyal Rinpoche explains:

The results of our actions are often delayed, even into future lifetimes; we cannot pin down one cause, because any event can be an extremely complicated mixture of many karmas ripening together.

Bhikkhu Thanissaro emphasizes the same point; he states:

...one of the many things the Buddha discovered in the course of his awakening was that causality is not linear. The experience of the present is shaped both by actions in the present and by actions in the past. Actions in the present shape both the present and the future. The results of past and present actions continually interact. Thus there is always room for new input into the system, which gives scope for free will.

Seed and fruit

The process of karmic action and result is often compared to a seed and its fruit. For example, Peter Harvey states:

Karma is often likened to a seed, and the two words for karmic result, vipaka and phala, respectively mean 'ripening' and 'fruit'. An action is thus like a seed which will sooner or later, as part of its natural maturation process, result in certain fruits accruing to the doer of the action.
What determines the nature of the karmic 'seed' is the will or intention behind the act: 'It is will (cetana), O monks, that I call karma; having willed, one acts through body, speech, and mind' (A.III.415). It is the psychological impulse behind an action that is 'karma', that which sets going a chain of causes culminating in karmic fruit. Actions, then, must be intentional if they are to generate karmic fruits .

Ken McLeod states:

Karma, then, describes how our actions evolve into experience, internally and externally. Each action is a seed which grows or evolves into our experience of the world. Every action either starts a new growth process or reinforces an old one as described by the four results. Small wonder that we place so much emphasis on mindfulness and attention. What we do in each moment is very important!

Positive and negative actions

According to the theory of karmic action and result, our karmic actions are the principal cause of our happiness or suffering. From the Buddhist point of view, a positive or wholesome action is one that will lead to greater happiness for ourselves and others, and a negative or unwholesome action is one that will lead to greater suffering for ourselves or others.

Ringu Tulku explains:

We create in three different ways, through actions that are positive, negative, or neutral. When we feel kindness and love and with this attitude do good things, which are beneficial to both ourselves and others, this is positive action. When we commit harmful deeds out of equally harmful intentions, this is negative action. Finally, when our motivation is indifferent and our deeds are neither harmful or beneficial, this is neutral action. The results we experience will accord with the quality of our actions.

The key factor that determines whether an action is wholesome or unwholesome (positive or negative) is the motivation behind the action. The Dalai Lama states:

For instance, based on a motive, I am now speaking and thereby accumulating a verbal action or karma. With gestures of my hands, I am also accumulating physical karma. Whether these actions become good or bad is mainly based on my motivation. If I speak from a good motivation out of sincerity, respect, and love for others, my actions are good, virtuous. If I act from a motivation of pride, hatred, criticism, and so forth, then my verbal and physical actions become non-virtuous.

Traditional Buddhist texts identify three root wholesome mental factors and three root unwholesome mental factors. Damien Keown explains:

What, then, makes an action good or bad? From the Buddha’s definition it can be seen to be largely a matter of intention and choice. The psychological springs of motivation are described in Buddhism as ‘roots’, and there are said to be three good roots and three bad roots. Actions motivated by greed, hatred, and delusion are bad (akusala, Sanskrit: akuśala) while actions motivated by their opposites — non-attachment, benevolence, and understanding – are good (kusala, Sanskrit: kuśala).

Overcoming habitual tendencies

According to Buddhist philosophy, even very strong patterns of behavior or habitual tendencies can be overcome by gaining insight in the workings of karmic action and result. Ringu Tulku states:

Understanding how cause and effect operate is the key point of Buddhist ethics. We need to know how negative actions harm ourselves and others, and how positive deeds benefit ourselves and others, in both short-and long-term ways. Of course, because of habitual tendencies, even when we know our actions aren’t beneficial, sometimes we still do them. But the more mindful we are and the more certain we become of how karma works, the more our old habits fall away. It’s extremely important to understand how our actions are connected with their results. It’s like knowing that if you put your hand in a fire, your hand will get burned. It is not a moral issue of right versus wrong but a matter of understanding cause and effect. From the Buddhist point of view, positive and negative deeds are not a moral issue; they are based on recognizing that positive actions bring benefit, and negative actions bring harm.

Ajahn Sucitto emphasizes the importance of gaining insights through direct experience; he states:

in Buddhism the foundation is the understanding that we can learn from contemplating and considering our direct experience. Through noticing the results of our thoughts, attitudes, and actions, we learn what gives the best results—hence a path gets established beneath our own feet.

Right view (understanding action and result)

Understanding karmic action and result (karmaphala) is considered essential to the development of right view, a key aspect of the Buddhist path.

The Tibetan Buddhist teacher Tsongkhapa emphasizes the importance of understanding karma in order to follow the Buddhist path; he states:

Attaining certain knowledge of the definiteness, or nondeceptiveness, of karma and its effects is called the correct viewpoint of all Buddhists and is praised as the foundation of all virtue.

Ajahn Sucitto emphasizes the importance of understanding karma on an experiential level; he states:

The point of right view is to start learning very directly and thoroughly about cause and effect on an experiential, rather than abstract or theoretical, foundation. And we deepen our ability to learn by applying the other seven path-factors. So one aspect of right view is understanding that to get out of the jungle we need a path. The first step, then, is to establish that path, and in Buddhism the foundation for that is the understanding that we can learn from contemplating and considering our direct experience. Right view, then, focuses on cause and effect. Through noticing the results of our thoughts, attitudes, and actions, we learn what gives the best results—hence a path gets established beneath our own feet.

Rebirth

See also: Saṃsāra (Buddhism) and Rebirth (Buddhism)

In Buddhist philosophy, the driving force behind rebirth in the six realms of samsara is karma. Sogyal Rinpoche explains:

The kind of birth we will have in the next life is determined, then, by the nature of our actions in this one. And it is important never to forget that the effect of our actions depends entirely upon the intention or motivation behind them, and not upon their scale.

In the Buddhist view, therefore, the type of birth we have in this life is determined by our actions or karma from our previous life; and the circumstances of our future rebirth are determined by our actions in this life. This view does not imply any blame or judgement of beings who are born into difficult circumstances or into the lower realms. From the Buddhist point of view, all beings have been circling in samsara from beginningless time, sometimes in the upper realms, sometimes in the lower realms, so there is no justification for judging beings who are less fortunate than ourselves, since we have all experienced every type of misfortune and good fortune in our previous lifetimes. In the Buddhist view, a proper understanding of samsara will lead one to have compassion for all beings, including ourselves, who are trapped in this cycle of birth and death.

Thubten Chodron explains that a proper understanding of karma and rebirth can help us take responsibility for our present situation, but without blaming ourselves. Thubten Chodron states:

This means taking responsibility for our own situation, which is not the same as blaming ourselves. We don't blame ourselves. It's not that we're bad people because we're in samsara. It's not that we're sinners and we deserve to suffer, or any of that kind of stuff, but it's just when I'm not mindful, when I don't take care of myself, when I don't explore what's reality and what isn't, I continually get myself into messes. In some ways this is very empowering because if we get ourselves into the messes, we're also the ones who can get ourselves out of them. All we have to do is stop creating the causes. It's not a question of perpetuating some external being so that they bestow grace or they move the puppet strings differently. It's a thing of generating our own wisdom and compassion, bringing those to the forefront, and then freeing ourselves. Buddhas and bodhisattvas help, of course. They influence us. They guide us, but we're the ones responsible. This is very similar to modern psychological theory, isn't it? Be responsible for your own jams instead of pointing it off on someone else.
At the same time as we're doing this, we have to have a lot of compassion for ourselves. Compassion is the wish for others to be free of suffering. We also have to have that same wish for ourselves. It's not, "Oh, I'm in samsara because look what a creep I am, and I deserve this." It's, "No. I'm a sentient being. I have the clear light nature of the mind. I can be happy. I can become a Buddha. But I need to treat myself better." So practicing Dharma is a way of treating yourself better.

Thubten Chodron emphasizes that the cause for our rebirth in samsara are the kleshas (disturbing emotions) that lead to the creation of karmic results. If we can overcome our kleshas, then we will no longer generate the karmic results that leads to rebirth in the six realms.

Characteristics

Karma does not imply predestination

The Buddhist theory of karmic action and result does not imply that our lives are predetermined because of our previous karma. In the Buddhist view, our current situation is due to our past karma, but our future depends on the actions that we take from this moment onward. The effects of karma have been compared to the flow of a river; while it may not be possible to stop the river or reverse its direction, it is possible to divert the course of the river in a new direction.

Rupert Gethin states:

From the Buddhist perspective certain experiences in life are indeed the results of previous actions; but our responses to those experiences, whether wished for or unwished for, are not predetermined but represent new actions which in time bear their own fruit in the future. The Buddhist understanding of individual responsibility does not mean that we should never seek or expect another’s assistance in order to better cope with the troubles of life. The belief that one’s broken leg is at one level to be explained as the result of unwholesome actions performed in a previous life does not mean that one should not go to a doctor to have the broken leg set.

Karmic results are not a judgement

In Buddhist philosophy, karmic results are not considered to be a "judgement" imposed by a God or other all-powerful being, but rather the results of a natural process.

Khandro Rinpoche explains:

Buddhism is a nontheistic philosophy. We do not believe in a creator but in the causes and conditions that create certain circumstances that then come to fruition. This is called karma. It has nothing to do with judgement; there is no one keeping track of our karma and sending us up above or down below. Karma is simply the wholeness of a cause, or first action, and its effect, or fruition, which then becomes another cause. In fact, one karmic cause can have many fruitions, all of which can cause thousands more creations. Just as a handful of seed can ripen into a full field of grain, a small amount of karma can generate limitless effects.

Karmic results are nearly impossible to predict with precision

The precise results of a karmic action are considered to be one of the four imponderables.

In the Buddhist view, the relationship between a single action and its results is dependent upon many causes and conditions, and it is not possible for an ordinary being to accurately predict when and how the results for a single action will manifest. Ringu Tulku Rinpoche states:

Sometimes, in order to help us understand how particular actions contribute to particular kinds of result, such as how good actions bring about good results and how bad actions bring about bad results, the Buddha told stories like those we find in the Jataka tales. But things do not happen just because of one particular cause. We do not experience one result for every one thing that we do. Rather, the whole thing—the entire totality of our experience and actions—has an impact on what we become from one moment to the next. Therefore karma is not just what we did in our last life, it is what we have done in this life too, and what we did in all our lives in the past. Everything from the past has made us what we are now—including what we did this morning. Strictly speaking, therefore, from a Buddhist point of view, you cannot say that there is anything in our ordinary experience that is not somehow a result of our karma.

Bhikkhu Thanissaro explains:

Unlike the theory of linear causality — which led the Vedists and Jains to see the relationship between an act and its result as predictable and tit-for-tat — the principle of this/that conditionality makes that relationship inherently complex. The results of kamma experienced at any one point in time come not only from past kamma, but also from present kamma. This means that, although there are general patterns relating habitual acts to corresponding results , there is no set one-for-one, tit-for-tat, relationship between a particular action and its results. Instead, the results are determined by the context of the act, both in terms of actions that preceded or followed it and in terms one’s state of mind at the time of acting or experiencing the result . The feedback loops inherent in this/that conditionality mean that the working out of any particular cause-effect relationship can be very complex indeed. This explains why the Buddha says in AN 4:77 that the results of kamma are imponderable. Only a person who has developed the mental range of a Buddha—another imponderable itself—would be able to trace the intricacies of the kammic network. The basic premise of kamma is simple—that skillful intentions lead to favorable results, and unskillful ones to unfavorable results—but the process by which those results work themselves out is so intricate that it cannot be fully mapped. We can compare this with the Mandelbrot set, a mathematical set generated by a simple equation, but whose graph is so complex that it will probably never be completely explored.

Karmic results can manifest quickly or be delayed for lifetimes

It is believed that the results of karmic actions can manifest quickly, or they can be delayed for years or even lifetimes. A contemporary Buddhist teacher explains:

Karma does not decay like external things, or ever become inoperative. It cannot be destroyed “by time, fire, or water.” Its power will never disappear, until it is ripened. Although the results of our actions may not have matured yet, they will inevitably ripen, given the right conditions.

Twelve Nidanas

Main article: Twelve Nidanas

The twelve links of dependent origination (aka twelve nidanas) are said to provide a detailed example of how karma works—they illustrate how the disturbing emotions (kleshas) lead to the creation of karma, which leads to rebirth in samsara. In this way, the twelve links present the process of karmic action and result in detail.

These twelve links can be understood to operate on an outer or inner level.

  • On the outer level, the twelve links can be seen to operate over several lifetimes; in this case, these links show how our past lives influence our current lifetime, and how our actions in this lifetime influence our future lifetimes.
  • On the inner level, the twelve links can be understood to operate in every moment of existence in an interdependent manner. On this level, the twelve links can be applied to show the effects of one particular action.

By contemplating on the twelve links, one gains greater insight into the workings of karma; this insight enables us to begin to unravel our habitual way of thinking and reacting.

Three types of misunderstanding

Contemporary Buddhist scholar P. A. Payutto identifies three ways of misunderstanding karma (as described in the Pali cannon):

  1. Past-action determinism (Pubbekatahetuvada): The belief that all happiness and suffering, including all future happiness and suffering, arise from previous karma, and human beings can exercise no volition to affect future results.
  2. Theistic determinism (Issaranimmanahetuvada): The belief that all happiness and suffering are caused by the directives of a Supreme Being.
  3. Indeterminism or Accidentalism (Ahetu-appaccaya-vaada): The belief that all happiness and suffering are random, having no cause.

These three misunderstandings are designated as "wrong views", and they are said to lead to inaction and destroy motivation and human effort, and to undermine the concept that a human being can change for the better no matter what his or her past was.

Karma is continually ripening, but it is also continually being generated by present actions, therefore it is possible to exercise free will to shape future karma. P.A. Payutto writes, "the Buddha asserts effort and motivation as the crucial factors in deciding the ethical value of these various teachings on kamma."

Buddha's realization of

According to the Buddhist tradition, the Buddha gained full and complete insight into the workings of karma at the time of his enlightenment. Contemporary scholars Smith and Novak relate:

During the first watch of the night, Gautama saw, one by one, his many thousands of previous lifetimes. During the second watch, his vision widened. It surveyed the death and rebirth of the whole universe of living beings and noted the ubiquitous sway of the law of karma—that good actions lead to happy rebirths, bad actions to miserable ones. During the third watch, Gautama saw what made the whole thing go: the universal law of causal interdependence. He called it dependent arising, and later identified it as the very heart of his message. Thus armed, he made quick work of the last shreds of ignorant clinging that bound him to the wheel of birth and death.

Development of the concept

Vedic religion

The concept of karma originated in the Vedic religion, where it was related to the performance of rituals or the investment in good deeds to ensure the entrance to heaven after death, while other persons go to the underworld.

Early Buddhism

Tillman Vetter notes that in early Buddhism rebirth is ascribed to craving or ignorance. Buswell too notes that Early Buddhism does not identify bodily and mental motion, but desire (or thirst, trsna), as the cause of karmic consequences. Matthews notes that there is no cohesive presentation of karma in the Sutta Pitaka, which may mean that the doctrine was incidental to the main perspective of early Buddhist soteriology. Schmithausen is a notable scholar who has questioned whether karma already played a role in the theory of rebirth of earliest Buddhism. According to Schmithausen, "the karma doctrine may have been incidental to early Buddhist soteriology."

According to Vetter, the Buddha at first sought "the deathless" (amata/amrta), which is concerned with the here and now. Only after this realization did he become acquainted with the doctrine of rebirth. Bronkhorst disagrees, and concludes that the Buddha "introduced a concept of karma that differed considerably from the commonly held views of his time." According to Bronkhorst, not physical and mental activities as such were seen as responsible for rebirth, but intentions and desire.

The doctrine of karma may have been especially important for common people, for whom it was more important to cope with life's immediate demands, such as the problems of pain, injustice, and death. The doctrine of karma met these exigencies, and in time it became an important soteriological aim in its own right.

The Three Knowledges

The understanding of rebirth, and the reappearance in accordance with one's deeds, are the first two knowledges that the Buddha is said to have acquired at his enlightenment. According to the Buddhist tradition, the Buddha gained full and complete insight into the workings of karma at the time of his enlightenment. According to Bronkhorst, these knowledges are later additions to the story, just like the notion of "liberating insight" itself. According to Tilmann Vetter, originally only the practice of dhyana, and the resulting calming of the mind may have constituted the liberating practice of the Buddha.

Later developments

According to Vetter, probably in the first centuries after the Buddha's death the following ideas were introduced or became important:

  1. all evil deeds must be requited or at least be superseded by good deeds before a person can become released,
  2. pleasant and unpleasant feelings in a human existence are the result of former deeds,
  3. evil behavior and its results form a vicious circle from which one can hardly escape,
  4. Gotama could become Buddha because he did good deeds through countless former lives, devoting their result to the aim of enlightenment,
  5. by confession and repentance one can (partly) annul an evil deed,
  6. evil deeds of non-Arhats (as to Arhats see point 1) can be superseded by great merits,
  7. one can and should transfer merit to others, especially for their spiritual development.

Within the Pali suttas

See also: Anatta and moral responsibility

In AN 5.292, the Buddha asserted that it is not possible to avoid experiencing the result of a karmic deed once it's been committed.

In the Anguttara Nikaya, it is stated that karmic results are experienced either in this life (P. diṭṭadhammika) or in a future lives (P. samparāyika). The former may involve a readily observable connection between action and karmic consequence, such as when a thief is captured and tortured by the authorities, but the connection need not necessarily be that obvious and in fact usually is not observable.

The Sammyutta Nikaya makes a basic distinction between past karma (P. purānakamma) which has already been incurred, and karma being created in the present (P. navakamma). Therefore in the present one both creates new karma (P. navakamma) and encounters the result of past karma (P. kammavipāka). Karma in the early canon is also threefold: Mental action (S. manaḥkarman), bodily action (S. kāyakarman) and vocal action (S. vākkarman).

Within Buddhist traditions

Various Buddhist philosophical schools developed with the rise of Abhidharma Buddhism and later developments. They gave various interpretations regarding more refined points of karma. A major problem is the relation between the doctrine of no-self, and the "storage" of the traces of one's deeds, for which various solutions have been offered.

Early Indian Buddhism

Vaibhāṣika-Sarvāstivādin tradition

See also: Vaibhāṣika and Sarvastivada

The Vaibhāśika-Sarvāstivāda was widely influential in India and beyond. Their understanding of karma in the Sarvāstivāda became normative for Buddhism in India and other countries. According to Dennis Hirota,

Sarvastivadins argued that there exists a dharma of "possession" (prapti), which functions with all karmic acts, so that each act or thought, though immediately passing away, creates the "possession" of that act in the continuum of instants we experience as a person. This possession itself is momentary, but continually reproduces a similar possession in the succeeding instant, even though the original act lies in the past. Through such continual regeneration, the act is "possessed" until the actualization of the result.

The Abhidharmahṛdaya by Dharmaśrī was the first systematic exposition of Vaibhāśika-Sarvāstivāda doctrine, and the third chapter, the Karma-varga, deals with the concept of karma systematically.

Another important exposition, the Mahāvibhāṣa, gives three definitions of karma:

  1. action; karma is here supplanted in the text by the synonyms kriya or karitra, both of which mean "activity";
  2. formal vinaya conduct;
  3. human action as the agent of various effects; karma as that which links certain actions with certain effects, is the primary concern of the exposition.

The 4th century philosopher Vasubandhu compiled the Abhidharma-kośa, an extensive compendium which elaborated the positions of the Vaibhāṣika-Sarvāstivādin school on a wide range of issues raised by the early sutras. Chapter four the Kośa is devoted to a study of karma, and chapters two and five contain formulation as to the mechanism of fruition and retribution. This became the main source of understanding of the perspective of early Buddhism for later Mahāyāna philosophers.

Dārṣṭāntika-Sautrāntika

The Dārṣṭāntika-Sautrāntika school pioneered the idea of karmic seeds (S. bija) and "the special modification of the psycho-physical series" (S. saṃtatipaṇāmaviśeṣa) to explain the workings of karma. According to Dennis Hirota,

he Sautrantikas insisted that each act exists only in the present instant and perishes immediately. To explain causation, they taught that with each karmic act a "perfuming" occurs which, though not a dharma or existent factor itself, leaves a residual impression in the succeeding series of mental instants, causing it to undergo a process of subtle evolution eventually leading to the act’s result. Good and bad deeds performed are thus said to leave "seeds" or traces of disposition that will come to fruition.

Theravādin tradition

Canonical texts

In the Theravāda Abhidhamma and commentarial traditions, karma is taken up at length. The Abhidhamma Sangaha of Anuruddhācariya offers a treatment of the topic, with an exhaustive treatment in book five (5.3.7).

The Kathāvatthu, which discusses a number of controverted points related either directly or indirectly to the notion of kamma." This involved debate with the Pudgalavādin school, which postulated the provisional existence of the person (S. pudgala, P. puggala) to account for the ripening of karmic effects over time. The Kathāvatthu also records debate by the Theravādins with the Andhakas (who may have been Mahāsāṃghikas) regarding whether or not old age and death are the result (vipāka) of karma. The Theravāda maintained that they are not—not, apparently because there is no causal relation between the two, but because they wished to reserve the term vipāka strictly for mental results--"subjective phenomena arising through the effects of kamma."

In the canonical Theravāda view of kamma, "the belief that deeds done or ideas seized at the moment of death are particularly significant."

Transfer of merit

The Milindapañha, a paracanonical Theravāda text, offers some interpretations of karma theory at variance with the orthodox position. In particular, Nāgasena allows for the possibility of the transfer of merit to humans and one of the four classes of petas, perhaps in deference to folk belief (see below, The transfer or dedication of merit). Nāgasena makes it clear that demerit cannot be transferred. One scholar asserts that the sharing of merit "can be linked to the Vedic śrāddha, for it was Buddhist practice not to upset existing traditions when well-established custom was not antithetic to Buddhist teaching."

The Petavatthu, which is fully canonical, endorses the transfer of merit even more widely, including the possibility of sharing merit with all petas.

Mahayana tradition

Indian Yogācāra tradition

In the Yogācāra philosophical tradition, one of the two principal Mahāyāna schools, the principle of karma was extended considerably. In the Yogācāra formulation, all experience without exception is said to result from the ripening of karma. Karmic seeds (S. bija) are said to be stored in the "storehouse consciousness" (S. ālayavijñāna) until such time as they ripen into experience. The term vāsāna ("perfuming") is also used, and Yogācārins debated whether vāsāna and bija were essentially the same, the seeds were the effect of the perfuming, or whether the perfuming simply affected the seeds. The seemingly external world is merely a "by-product" (adhipati-phala) of karma. The conditioning of the mind resulting from karma is called saṃskāra.

The Treatise on Action (Karmasiddhiprakaraṇa), also by Vasubandhu, treats the subject of karma in detail from the Yogācāra perspective. According to scholar Dan Lusthaus,

Vasubandhu's Viṃśatikā (Twenty Verses) repeatedly emphasizes in a variety of ways that karma is intersubjective and that the course of each and every stream of consciousness (vijñāna-santāna, i.e., the changing individual) is profoundly influenced by its relations with other consciousness streams.

According to Bronkhorst, whereas in earlier systems it "was not clear how a series of completely mental events (the deed and its traces) could give rise to non-mental, material effects," with the (purported) idealism of the Yogācāra system this is not an issue.

In Mahāyāna traditions, karma is not the sole basis of rebirth. The rebirths of bodhisattvas after the seventh stage (S. bhūmi) are said to be consciously directed for the benefit of others still trapped in saṃsāra. Thus, theirs are not uncontrolled rebirths.

Mādhyamaka philosophy

Nāgārjuna articulated the difficulty in forming a karma theory in his most prominent work, the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā (Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way):

If (the act) lasted till the time of ripening, (the act) would be eternal. If (the act) were terminated, how could the terminated produce a fruit?

The Mūlamadhyamakavṛtty-Akutobhayā, also generally attributed to Nāgārjuna, concludes that it is impossible both for the act to persist somehow and also for it to perish immediately and still have efficacy at a later time.

Tibetan Buddhism

Tsongkhapa (Gelugpa)

Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, argued that the Prāsaṅgika position allowed for the postulation of something called an "act's cessation" (las zhig pal) which persists and is in fact a substance (rdzas or dngos po, S. vastu), and which explains the connection between cause and result. Gorampa, an important philosopher of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism, accused Tsongkhapa of a doctrinal innovation not legitimately grounded in Candrakīrti's work, and one which amounted to little more than a (non-Buddhist) Vaiśeṣika concept. Gelugpa scholars offered defenses of the idea.

Purification of karma

In the Vajrayana tradition, it is believed that the effects of negative past karma can be "purified" through such practices as meditation on Vajrasattva. The performer of the action, after having purified the karma, does not experience the negative results he or she otherwise would have. The Tibetan Book of the Dead contains elaborate karma purification practices to naturally liberate cyclic rebirth action. This includes natural liberation practice with the mind; with the spiritual teacher; with naked perception; with homage to sacred enlighten families for habitual tendencies; with confessional acts, with death signs visual recognition; with death ritual deception for fear; with recollection for consciousness transference; fundamentally with hearing great liberation; and with wearing through the psycho-physical aggregates.

Nyingma

In the Nyingma school, the teaching of karma belongs to the pre-liminary practices of the Longchen Nyingthig, "The Heart-essence of the Vast Expanse". This is a terma or "spiritual discovery", a hidden teaching from Padmasambhava which was revealed by Jigme Lingpa (1729-1798). It is one of the most widely practiced teachings in the Nyingmapa school. The Heart-essence of the Vast Expanse has the follwoing structure:

  • Pre-liminary practices (sngon 'gro):
    • Outer or external pre-liminaries: basic teachings on Buddhismincuding the teachings on karma;
    • Inner pre-liminaries: taking refuge, developing bodhicitta, and Guru Yoga;
  • Main practice (dngos gzhi): generation phase, perfection phase, and the Great Perfection.

Patrul Rinpoche wrote a guide to the pre-liminary practices called The Words of My Perfect Teacher. It describes ten negative actions which are to be avoided, and positive actions to be adopted. Accoridng to Patrul Rinpoche, each negative act produces four kinds of karmic effects:

  1. The fully ripened effect: rebirth in one of the lower realms of samsara;
  2. The effect similar to the cause: rebirth in a human form, in which we have a predisposition for the same negative actions, or undergo the same negative actions being afflicted on us;
  3. The conditioning effect: the negative act shapes our environment;
  4. The proliferating effect: a continuous repetition of former negative actions, which keeps us wandering endlessly in samsara. Positive actions comprise the vow never to commit any of the negative actions. According to Patrul Rinpoche, the quality of our actions determine all the pleasures and miseries that an indivual experiences.

Khenpo Ngawang Pelzang, a qualified Longchen Nyingthig commentator, explained harmful karma’s remedy is to first meet the spiritual friend, then listen to teachings and reflect on them. When karmic obstacles arise, the student may generate confidence in karmic laws; regret past actions and the student may apply other appropriate remedies. Continuing harmful karma may lead to lower rebirth. Lessening past results with meritorious activity results in higher rebirths. Students achieving pure karma will be welcomed to go directly to liberation in any instant. Since harmful actions are rooted in negative emotions and these are rooted in the self belief, some realize no-self to believe and then end both karma and the emotions. Student may then attain the Arhat’s nirvana result, with and without residue, similar to the no more learning path. Bodhisattvas may pray for all karma to ripen upon them to purify its effect most beneficially for the student.

Dzonsar Jamyag Khentse’s Longchen Nyingthig commentary explains that forgetting about death and karma is shown when we complain about everyone else.

East Asian traditions

Zen

Dōgen Kigen argued in his Shobogenzo that karmic latencies are emphatically not empty, going so far as to claim that belief in the emptiness of karma should be characterized as "non-Buddhist," although he also states that the “law of karman has no concrete existence.”

Zen's most famous koan about karma is called Baizhang's Wild Fox (百丈野狐). The story of the koan is about an ancient Zen teacher whose answer to a question presents a wrong view about karma by saying that the person who has a foundation in cultivating the great practice "does not fall into cause and effect." Because of his unskillful answer the teacher reaps the result of living 500 lives as a wild fox. He is then able to appear as a human and ask the same question to Zen teacher Baizhang, who answers, “He is not in the dark about cause and effect.” Hearing this answer the old teacher is freed from the life of a wild fox. The Zen perspective avoids the duality of asserting that an enlightened person is either subject to or free from the law of karma and that the key is not being ignorant about karma.

Tendai

The Japanese Tendai/Pure Land teacher Genshin taught a series of ten reflections for a dying person that emphasized reflecting on the Amida Buddha as a means to purify vast amounts of karma.

Modern interpretations and controversies

Social conditioning

Buddhist modernists often prefer to equate karma with social conditioning, in contradistinction with, as one scholar puts it, "early texts give us little reason to interpret 'conditioning' as the infusion into the psyche of external social norms, or of awakening as simply transcending all psychological conditioning and social roles. Karmic conditioning drifts semantically toward 'cultural conditioning' under the influence of western discourses that elevate the individual over the social, cultural, and institutional. The traditional import of the karmic conditioning process, however, is primarily ethical and soteriological—actions condition circumstances in this and future lives."

Essentially, this understanding limits the scope of the traditional understanding of karmic effects so that it encompasses only saṃskāras—habits, dispositions and tendencies—and not external effects, while at the same time expanding the scope to include social conditioning that does not particularly involve volitional action.

Karma theory & social justice

Some western commentators and Buddhists have taken exception to aspects of karma theory, and have proposed revisions of various kinds. These proposals fall under the rubric of Buddhist modernism.

The "primary critique" of the Buddhist doctrine of karma is that some feel "karma may be socially and politically disempowering in its cultural effect, that without intending to do this, karma may in fact support social passivity or acquiescence in the face of oppression of various kinds." Dale S. Wright, a scholar specializing in Zen Buddhism, has proposed that the doctrine be reformulated for modern people, "separated from elements of supernatural thinking," so that karma is asserted to condition only personal qualities and dispositions rather than rebirth and external occurrences.

Loy argues that the idea of accumulating merit too easily becomes "spirtitual materialism," a view echoed by other Buddhist modernists, and further that karma has been used to rationalize racism, caste, economic oppression, birth handicaps and everything else.

Loy goes on to argue that the view that suffering such as that undergone by Holocaust victims could be attributed in part to the karmic ripenings of those victims is "fundamentalism, which blames the victims and rationalizes their horrific fate," and that this is "something no longer to be tolerated quietly. It is time for modern Buddhists and modern Buddhism to outgrow it" by revising or discarding the teachings on karma.

Other scholars have argued, however, that the teachings on karma do not encourage judgment and blame, given that the victims were not the same people who committed the acts, but rather were just part of the same mindstream-continuum with the past actors, and that the teachings on karma instead provide "a thoroughly satisfying explanation for suffering and loss" in which believers take comfort.

See also

Notes

  1. In common Tibetan common speech, the term las, "karma", is often used to denote the entire process of karma-and-fruit.
  2. MMK (XVII.6), cited in Dargyay, 1986, p.170
  3. Mūlamadhyamakavṛtty-Akutobhayā, sDe dge Tibetan Tripitaka (Tokyo, 1977) pp. 32, 4.5, cited in Dargyay, 1986, p.170.
  4. Ten actions to be avoided:
    1. Taking life
    2. Taking what is not given
    3. Sexual misconduct
    4. Lying
    5. Sowing discord
    6. Harsh speech
    7. Worthless chatter
    8. Covetous
    9. Wishing harm on others
    10. Wrong views.
  5. Ken Jones, The Social Face of Buddhism: An Approach to Political and Social Activism, Wisdom Publications, 1989, quoted in "A Buddhist Ethic Without Karmic Rebirth?" by Winston L. King Journal of Buddhist Ethics Volume 1 1994

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  • Keown, Damien (2000), Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, Kindle Edition
  • Klostermaier, Klaus K. (1986), "Contemporary Conceptions of Karma and Rebirth Among North Indian Vaisnavas", in Neufeldt, Ronald W. (ed.), Karma and Rebirth: Post-classical Developments, Sri Satguru Publications
  • Kopf, Gereon (2001), Beyond Personal Identity: Dōgen, Nishida, and a Phenomenology of No-self, Psychology Press
  • Kragh, Ulrich Timme (2006), Early Buddhist Theories of Action and Result: A Study of Karmaphalasambandha, Candrakirti's Prasannapada, verses 17.1-20, Arbeitskreis für tibetische und buddhistische Studien, Universität Wien, ISBN 3-902501-03-0
  • Lamotte, Etienne (1987), Karmasiddhi Prakarana: The Treatise on Action by Vasubandhu, Asian Humanities Press
  • Lamotte, Etienne (1988), History of Indian Buddhism, Publications de l'Institut Orientaliste de Louvain
  • Lamotte, Etienne (2001), Karmasiddhi Prakarana: The Treatise on Action by Vasubandhu, English translation by Leo M. Pruden, Asian Humanities Press
  • Lichter, David; Epstein, Lawrence (1983), "Irony in Tibetan Notions of the Good Life", in Keyes, Charles F.; Daniel, E. Valentien (eds.), Karma: An Anthropological Inquiry, University of California Press
  • Lopez, Donald S. (2001), The Story of Buddhism, HarperCollins
  • Loy, David R. (2008), Money, Sex, War, Karma: Notes for a Buddhist Revolution, Wisdom, ISBN 0861715586
  • Lusthaus, Dan (2002), Buddhist Phenomenology: A philosophical Investigation of Yogācāra Buddhism and the Ch'eng Wei-shih lun, RoutledgeCurzon, ISBN 0-415-40610-2
  • Macy, Joanna (1991), Mutual Causality in Buddhism and General Systems Theory: The Dharma of Natural Systems, SUNY
  • Matthews, Bruce (1986), "Chapter Seven: Post-Classical Developments in the Concepts of Karma and Rebirth in Theravada Buddhism", in Neufeldt, Ronald W. (ed.), Karma and Rebirth: Post Classical Developments, State University of New York Press, ISBN 0-87395-990-6
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  • McDermott, James P. (1980), "Karma and Rebirth in Early Buddhism", in O'Flaherty, Wendy Doniger (ed.), Karma and Rebirth in Classical Indian Traditions, University of California Press, ISBN 0-520-03923-8
  • McDermott, James Paul (1984), Development in the Early Buddhist Concept of Kamma/Karma, Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, ISBN 81-215-0208-X
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  • Waldron, William S. (2003), The Buddhist Unconscious: The Alaya-vijñana in the context of Indian Buddhist Thought, Routledge
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  • Watson, Burton (1993), The Lotus Sutra, Columbia University Press
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  • Wright, Dale S. (2004), "Critical Questions Towards a Naturalized Concept of Karma in Buddhism", Journal of Buddhist Ethics, Volume 11, 2004

Web-sources

  1. ^ What is Karma? p.2, Ken McLeod
  2. Essential Points on Karma, Jeffrey Kotyk
  3. What is Karma? p.1, Ken McLeod
  4. Understanding Karma, Reginald A. Ray
  5. Bhikkhu Thanissaro, Samsara Divided by Zero, Access To Insight, accessdate=July 26, 2010
  6. Alexander Berzin, Taking the Kalachakra Initiation
  7. ^ Thubten Chodron (1993). The Twelve Links – Part 2 of 5 (PDF)
  8. Basic Questions on Karma and Rebirth, Berzin
  9. Karma - Rigpa wiki
  10. An Introduction to Buddhist ethics, Harvey
  11. Buddhist Phenomenology: A philosophical Investigation of Yogācāra Buddhism and the Ch'eng Wei-shih lun by Dan Lusthaus.

Further reading

Scholarly sources
  • Neufeldt, Ronald W., ed. (1986), Karma and rebirth: Post-classical developments, SUNY
  • Gananath Obeyesekere (2002). Imagining karma: ethical transformation in Amerindian, Buddhist, and Greek rebirth. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-23243-3.
  • Gethin, Rupert (1998). Foundations of Buddhism. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-289223-1.
Journal
Primary sources
  • Dalai Lama (1992). The Meaning of Life, translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins. Wisdom.
  • Geshe Sonam Rinchen (2006). How Karma Works: The Twelve Links of Dependent Arising. Snow Lion
  • Khandro Rinpoche (2003). This Precious Life. Shambala
  • Ringu Tulku (2005). Daring Steps Toward Fearlessness: The Three Vehicles of Tibetan Buddhism. Snow Lion.

External links

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