Post # 11 - Karma and Retribution  Part 2 

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Karma and Retribution Part 2 –Do we accept this doctrine in the way they are described in the texts?

The belief in kamma and reincarnation was prevalent in India before the days of the Buddha. However, it was the Buddha who explained in detail and formulated the doctrine of Kamma and Rebirth as found in the present Buddhist texts. 

The majority view kamma to be about either past lives or future lives and primarily concerned with the negative. They believe that - If you are poor in this life it is because you were mean in your last life, or if you are mean in this life you will be poor in the next life. Only occasionally is it suggested that kamma might have its effect sooner than that. Comments such as: “You can never escape from your kamma” imply the same thing.

Ven. Bhanthe Dhammika in his essay on Kamma and Rebirth posted on the Web states that: ‘Kamma determines the state into which a being is born. It is the chief cause of inequalities in the world. Some are born into happy circumstances, with good health, wealth, mental and physical characteristics, while some others are born into abject misery’.

Bhikkhu Bhodhi  in a talk has stated that -The bridge between the old existence and the new is, the evolving stream of consciousness. It is within this stream of consciousness that the kamma has been created through the exercise of volition; it is this same stream of consciousness, flowing on, that carries the kammic energies into the new existence; and it is again this same stream of consciousness that experiences the fruit.

The Buddha had in many instances said that: "Monks it is volition that I call kamma. For having willed, one then acts by body, speech or mind". What really lies behind all action, the essence of all action, is volition, the power of the will. It is this volition expressing itself as action of body, speech and mind what I call kamma”. Buddha taught that kamma vipāka can manifest in the present life, the next life or in subsequent lives. (ditta-dhamma vedaneeya, uppa-paditha vedaneeya, apparapariya vedaneeya)

He spoke of certain kamma having an immediate result, (ditta-dhamma vedaneeya). Presumably this refers to deeds the effect of which are experienced immediately or shortly after having been done. When you reach out and help a stranger you do not have to wait for the next life to experience the result of such a good deed. Usually the stranger’s expressions of thanks make you feel good.

The Buddha sometimes spoke of kammic consequences that are “neither unpleasant nor pleasant” (adukkham-asukkhaṁ), that is to say, the effects of such actions are ethically neutral. At other times he mentioned actions that are “ethically mixed”. He was insightful enough to know that we are sometimes “in two minds” about the choices we are about to make and motivated by a mixture of positive and negative intentions and thus will have mixed vipāka. 

According to the Buddha, Kamma is one of the universal laws that determine the state of existence and what is experienced by all sentient beings. There are also four other natural laws (Niyamas) that govern these universal processes. These universal laws are Utu Niyama:  physical order due to cause of weather, seasons etc; Bija Niyama: organic physical order - growth of plants and cells, genetic endowments etc; Kamma Niyama: results arising from volitional actions ; Dhamma Niyama: natural processes and those governed by laws of nature – such as  gravity and other natural phenomena; Citta Niyama: order of the mind, a mind determined situations, consciousness, psychic phenomena etc. Therefore everything that happens in the world is not due to kamma alone.

A kammic act is complete when intention, action and a result take place. For example, a person may think about causing injury to someone.  He or she may then act through the body to actually carry out the task. If there was only the intention, but no injury took place, there would be less kamma generated. 

In general, any intentional action through the body, speech or mind, which does harm to oneself and to others, will be unwholesome kamma. Similarly, any intentional action that produces beneficial effect would produce wholesome kamma. 

Kamma operates in a complex and dynamic manner, the result of one action undergoes changes due to subsequent actions. The result of a wholesome kamma may be lessened or neutralized altogether by unwholesome kamma  and vise versa. Similarly, the result of an intense unwholesome kamma of the past may manifest, although the person affected normally leads a virtuous life. 

Only particular types of serious Kamma (Annantariya kamma) such as harming a Buddha, killing an arahant (noble person), killing a parent or causing disharmony among the Sanga (Monastics) will produce inescapable and detrimental results.

This also means that unintentional action is not kamma. Bhikku Bodhi says that if we accidently step on some ants while walking down the street, that is not the kamma of taking life, for there was no intention to kill. If we speak some statement believing it to be true and it turns out to be false, this is not the kamma of lying, for there is no intention of deceiving.

Kamma manifests itself in three ways, through three "doors" of action. These are body, speech and mind. When we act physically the body serves as the instrument for volition. This is bodily kamma. When we speak, expressing our thoughts and intentions, that is verbal kamma, which can be performed either directly through speech or else indirectly through writing or other means of communications. When we think, plan, inwardly desire, without any outward action, that will be mental kamma. What lies behind all these forms of actions is the mind and the chief mental factor which causes the action is the volition.

The ultimate goal of a Buddhist should not be to dedicate himself /herself to acquire only wholesome  kamma in order to be reborn in a better life, but to engage in activities that lead to the complete cessation of suffering, the realization of Nibbana. 

Now in order to summarize what was said in Parts 1 and 2: 

Any kind of intentional action, whether mental, verbal or physical is regarded as Kamma. Inherent in kamma is the potentiality of producing its due effect, which operates in its own field without the intervention of any external, independent ruling agent. 

Kammic results (Kamma vipaka) are experienced. This is a reaction in accordance with the natural law of cause and effect. The result of a particular  kammic action may manifest at any time, either in the present or a future life. Kamma keeps us going through a succession of lives when the appropriate conditions are present. 

Kamma is categorized as wholesome, skillful (kusala) or unwholesome, unskillful (akusala) or neutral. It follows that wholesome kamma will produce a beneficial result and unwholesome kamma will produce a negative or detrimental effect. Neutral kamma will not produce an effect. 

In a dhamma talk, a monk once said that one may simplify this assessment of the type of kamma by naming them as –white kamma (wholesome) giving rise to white vipaka, and similarly black kamma giving rise to black vipaka.  This simple division is helpful when we try to understand kamma that are both black and white and the kamma that are neither black nor white (to be discussed later).  

Thus Kamma based on how they manifest as effects can be categorized into:

•     The Kamma that causes the particular re-becoming, or the rebirth is Janaka Kamma.
•      The Kamma that arises and gives effect in the existence that follows such new re-becoming is  Pervurthi Kamma.

In lining up to give effect to rebirth, first in line is a dominant janaka kamma. This is a strong kamma labeled as a Garuka Kamma. A serious kamma, whose effects are inevitable/unavoidable. eg. Annantariya Kamma as described earlier. The rebirth is in the hell realm for black kamma and rebirth is in a happy or in fine material abodes for white kamma. 

    When a garuka kamma is not present, next in line will be a proximate kamma (asanna kamma)- A kamma that manifests just before death. Most of the time, the proximate kamma is fashioned by the habitual actions through thoughts, words or deeds. These habitual kammas (Archinna Kamma) are those committed in this life or in previous lives.

On the other hand the pervurthi kamma that arises to give effect in the existing life, are those committed in this life, or the previous life or in a life in the past. The result of such kamma may be lessened or neutralized altogether by appropriate new kammas committed after that time.

The sum and substance of what has been said so far is that, our present existence and what we experience now are a bundle of results happening together. They are due to a bundle of kamma both black and white, accumulated up to now from this life and from many previous lives.

It is therefore possible to make right decisions regarding our actions and habitual behavior from now on to benefit from this dhamma knowledge. These right volitions can lessen or neutralize effects of black kamma or catalyze the arising of and enhancing the effects of white kamma contained in the bundle.

Buddha has said that by engaging in right actions based on right view in the noble eightfold path, which are neither black nor white (neutral) kamma, we can enter the noble path and realize the fruits which will neutralize all kamma, black or white that are due to arise in the normal course of events.

I hope that my attempt at collecting and presenting the above material has given you sufficient food for thought and motivation to further study the subject of Kamma and Retribution as taught in Buddha-Dhamma. I hope to discuss in a future Post the topic of Kammassakata Sammaditthi -the right view about Kamma and Retribution focused on Nibbana.

We are now in the position to discuss the escape from the unsatisfactory samsaric cycle. ie. to engage in activities that lead to the complete cessation of suffering, the realization of Nibbana. 

Please see the next post. Post 12 – A Concise Note on Nibbana