Part One
The Fundamentals of Buddhism
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Chapter Eight
Karma
With this chapter, we begin our consideration of two related concepts
common in Buddhism: karma and rebirth. These concepts are closely connected,
but because the subject is a large one, I intend to dedicate two chapters to it--this
and the following one. We have learned that the factors which keep us prisoners in samsara
are the afflictions: ignorance, attachment, and aversion. We discussed this when we
considered the second noble truth, the truth of the cause of suffering (see Chapters 4 and
7).The afflictions are something that every living being in the world has in common with
every other living being, whether human, animal, or a being who dwells in realms that we
cannot normally perceive.
All living beings are alike insofar as they are subject to the
afflictions, yet there are many differences among living beings with which we are all familiar. For
instance, some of us are wealthy while others are poor, some are strong and healthy while
others are weak and diseased, and so forth. There are many differences among human
beings, and there are even greater differences between human beings and animals. These
differences are the result of karma. Ignorance, attachment, and aversion are common to
all living beings, but the particular circumstances in which each living being finds himself
are the effects of his particular karma, which conditions his specific situation.
Karma explains why some living beings are fortunate while others are
less fortunate, why some are happy while others are unhappy. The Buddha clearly stated
that karma accounts for the differences among living beings. We might also recall that
part of the Buddha's experience on the night of his enlightenment consisted of gaining an
understanding of how karma determines the rebirth of living beings--how living beings
migrate from happy to unhappy conditions, and vice versa, as a consequence of
their particular karma. Therefore, it is karma that explains the differing
circumstances in
which individual living beings find themselves.
Having said this much about the function of karma, let us look more
closely at what karma actually is: in other words, let us define it. Perhaps we can
begin by deciding what karma is not. Often people misunderstand the meaning of karma. This
is especially true in the everyday, casual use of the term. You often find people
speaking
resignedly about a particular situation and making use of the idea of karma to reconcile
themselves to it. When people think of karma in this way, it becomes a vehicle of
escape and assumes most of the characteristics of a belief in predestination, or fate.
But this is most certainly not the correct meaning of karma. Perhaps this misunderstanding is a
result of the idea of fate that is common in many cultures. Perhaps it is because of this
popular belief that the concept of karma is often confused with and obscured by the notion of
predestination. But karma is certainly not fate or predestination.
If karma is not fate or predestination, what is it? Let us look at
the meaning of the term itself. Karma means "action," that is to say, the act of
doing this or that. Immediately, we have a clear indication that the real meaning of karma is not fate;
rather, karma is action, and as such, it is dynamic. But karma is more than just action,
because it is not mechanical action, nor is it unconscious or involuntary action. On
the contrary, karma is intentional, conscious, deliberate action motivated by volition, or
will.
How can this intentional action condition our situation for
better or
for worse? It can do so because every action must have a reaction, or an effect. This
truth has been enunciated with respect to the physical universe by the great classical
physicist Newton, who formulated the scientific law that every action must have an equal
and opposite reaction. In the sphere of intentional action and moral responsibility, there
is a counterpart to this law of action and reaction that governs events in the physical
universe--namely, the law that every intentional action must have its effect. For this reason,
Buddhists often speak of intentional action and its ripened consequences or intentional
action and its effect. Thus, when we want to speak about intentional action together with
its ripened consequences, or effects, we use the phrase "the law of
karma."
On the most fundamental level, the law of karma teaches that
particular kinds of actions inevitably lead to similar or appropriate results. Let us take a
simple example to illustrate this point. If we plant the seed of a mango, the tree that grows as a
result will be a mango tree, which will eventually bear mangos. Alternatively, if we plant a
pomegranate seed, the tree that grows as a consequence will be a pomegranate tree, and
its fruit will be pomegranates. "As you sow, so shall you reap": according to
the nature of our actions, we will obtain the corresponding fruit.
In the same way, according to the law of karma, if we perform a
wholesome action, sooner or later we will obtain a wholesome fruit, or result, and if
we perform an unwholesome action, we will inevitably obtain an unwholesome or
unwanted result. This is what we mean when we say, in Buddhism, that particular causes
bring about particular effects that are similar in nature to those causes.
This will become
perfectly clear when we consider specific examples of wholesome and unwholesome actions
and their corresponding effects.
It may be understood from this brief, general introduction that
karma
can be of two kinds: good or wholesome karma, and bad or unwholesome karma. To avoid
misunderstanding these terms, it may be of use to look at the original words used to
refer to so-called good and bad karma--namely, kushala and akushala, respectively. To
understand how these words are used, it is necessary to know their actual meanings:
kushala means "intelligent" or "skillful," whereas akushala means
"unintelligent" or "unskillful." By knowing this, we can see that these terms are used in Buddhism
not in the sense of
good and evil, but in the sense of intelligent and unintelligent, skillful and unskillful,
wholesome and unwholesome.
In what way are actions wholesome and unwholesome?
Actions are
wholesome in the sense that they are beneficial to oneself and others, and hence
motivated not by ignorance, attachment, and aversion but by wisdom, renunciation or
detachment, and love and compassion.
How can we know that a wholesome action will produce
happiness, and
an unwholesome action, unhappiness? The short answer is that time will tell. The
Buddha himself explained that, as long as an unwholesome action does not produce its
fruit of suffering, a foolish person will consider that action good, but when it does
produce its fruit of suffering, then he will realize that the act was unwholesome. In the
same way, as long as a wholesome action does not produce happiness, a foolish person may
think that it was unwholesome; only when it does produce happiness will he realize that
the act was good. Thus we need to judge wholesome and unwholesome actions from the
point of view of their long-term effects. Very simply, sooner or later wholesome
actions result in happiness for oneself and for others, whereas unwholesome actions
result in suffering for oneself and others.
Specifically, the unwholesome actions that are to be avoided are
related to the so-called three doors of action--namely, body, voice, and mind. There are three
unwholesome actions of body, four of speech, and three of mind. The three
unwholesome actions of body are (1) killing, (2) stealing, and (3) sexual misconduct; the
four unwholesome actions of voice are (4) lying, (5) harsh speech, (6) slander, and
(7) malicious gossip; and the three unwholesome actions of mind are (8) greed, (9) anger, and
(10) delusion. By avoiding these ten unwholesome actions, we can avoid their
consequences. The general fruit of these unwholesome actions is suffering, which
can, however, take various forms. The fully ripened fruit of unwholesome actions is
rebirth in the lower realms, or realms of woe--the hell realms, the realm of hungry
ghosts, and the realm of animals. If the weight of unwholesome actions is not sufficient to
result in birth in the lower realms, then it results in unhappiness even
though we are born
as humans.
Here we can see at work the principle alluded to earlier--that of a
cause resulting in a corresponding or appropriate effect. For instance, if we habitually
perform actions that are motivated by ill-will and hatred, such as taking the lives of
others, this will result in rebirth in the hells, where we will be repeatedly tortured and
killed. If the unwholesome action of killing other living beings is not habitual and repeated,
then such actions will result in a shortened life even though we are born as human beings.
Otherwise, actions of this kind can result in separation from loved ones, fear, or even
paranoia. In this case, also, we can clearly see how the effect is similar in nature to the
cause. Killing shortens the life of those who are killed, depriving them of their loved ones
and the like, so if we indulge in killing we will be liable to experience these same
effects.
Similarly, stealing motivated by the afflictions of attachment and
greed can lead to rebirth as a hungry ghost, where we are completely deprived of the things we
want and even denied such essentials as food and shelter. And even if stealing does
not result in rebirth as a hungry ghost, it will result in poverty, dependence on
others
for our livelihood, and so forth. Sexual misconduct, for its part, will result in marital
problems. Thus unwholesome actions produce unwholesome results in the shape of
various forms of suffering, whereas wholesome actions result in wholesome effects,
or
happiness. We can interpret wholesome actions in two ways, negatively and positively:
we can regard wholesome actions as those that simply avoid the unwholesome ones
(killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, and the rest), or we can think of wholesome
actions in terms of generosity, restraint, meditation, reverence, service to others,
transference of merit, rejoicing in the merit of others, listening to the Dharma, teaching
the Dharma, and correction of our own erroneous views.
Here, again, the effects of actions are similar to their causes. For
instance, generosity results in wealth, listening to the Dharma results in wisdom, and so
on. Wholesome actions have effects that are similar in nature to their causes--in
this case, wholesome, or beneficial--just as unwholesome actions have effects that are
unwholesome, like the actions themselves.
Karma, whether wholesome or unwholesome, is modified by the
conditions under which it is accumulated. In other words, a wholesome or unwholesome action
may be more or less weighty depending on the conditions under which it is performed.
The conditions that determine the weight or strength of karma may be divided into
those that refer to the subject, or doer of the action, and those that refer to the object,
or the being toward whom the action is directed. Hence the conditions that determine the
weight of karma apply to the subject as well as the object of actions.
If we take the example of killing, five conditions must be
present
for the action to have complete, unmitigated strength: (a) a living being, (b) consciousness
of the existence of a living being, (c) the intention to kill the living being, (d) the
effort or action of killing the living being, and (e) the consequent death of the living being. Here
we can see conditions that apply to the subject as well as the object of the action of
killing: the subjective conditions are consciousness of the existence of a living being, the
intention to kill, and the action of killing a living being, while the objective conditions
are the presence of a living being and the consequent death of that living being.
Similarly, there are five alternative conditions that modify the
weight of karma: (i) persistence or repetition, (ii) willful intention, (iii)
absence of
regret, (iv) quality, and (v) indebtedness. Again, the five can be divided into subjective and
objective categories. The subjective conditions are actions done with persistence, actions
done
with willful intention and determination, and actions done without regret or
misgivings. If you perform an unwholesome action again and again, with willful intention
and without regret or misgivings, the weight of that action will be increased.
The objective conditions are the quality of the object--that is, the
living being toward whom the action is directed--and indebtedness, or the nature of the
relationship that exists between the object of an action and the subject. In other
words, if we perform a wholesome or unwholesome action toward a living being
with
extraordinary qualities, like an Arhat or the Buddha, the wholesome or unwholesome action will
have greater weight. Finally, the strength of wholesome and unwholesome actions is
greater when they are done toward those to whom we are indebted, like our parents,
teachers, and friends who have benefited us in the past.
The subjective and objective conditions, taken together,
determine
the weight of karma. This is important, because knowing this will help us remember that
karma is not simply a matter of black and white or good and bad. Karma is, of course,
intentional action and moral responsibility, but the working of the law of karma is very
finely balanced so as to justly and naturally match the effect with the cause. It takes into
account all the subjective and objective conditions that influence the precise nature of an
action. This ensures that the effects of an action are similar and equal to the
cause. The effects of karma may become evident either in the short term or
in the long term. Traditionally, karma is divided into three categories determined by
the amount of time needed for its effects to manifest themselves: in this very life, in
the next life, or only after many lives.
When the effects of karma manifest in this life, it is possible to
see them within a relatively short space of time. The effects of this kind of karma can
be easily and directly witnessed by any of us. For instance, when a person refuses to study,
indulges in alcohol or drug abuse, or begins to steal to support his harmful habits, the
effects are evident within a short space of time. They manifest themselves in the loss of
his livelihood and friends, in ill health, and the like.
Although we ourselves cannot see the medium- and long-term effects of
karma, the Buddha and his prominent disciples, who had developed their minds
through the practice of meditation, were able to perceive them. For example, when
Moggallana was attacked by bandits and came to the Buddha streaming with blood, the Buddha
was able to see that the event was the effect of karma that Moggallana had accumulated in
a previous life. Then, it seems, he had taken his aged parents into a forest and,
having beaten them to death, reported that they had been killed by bandits. The effect of
this unwholesome action, done many lifetimes before, manifested itself only in his
life as Moggallana. At the point of death, we have to leave everything behind--our
property and even our loved ones--yet our karma will follow us like a shadow. The Buddha
said that nowhere on earth or in heaven can we escape our karma. When the conditions
are present, dependent on mind and body, the effects of karma will manifest
themselves, just as, dependent on the appropriate conditions, a mango will appear on a
mango tree. We can see that, even in the natural world, certain effects take longer to
appear than others. If we plant watermelon seeds, we obtain the fruit in a shorter period than
if we plant the seeds of a walnut tree. In the same way, the effects of karma manifest
themselves either in the short term or in the medium to long term, depending on the
nature of
the action. In addition to the two principal varieties of karma, wholesome and
unwholesome, we should mention neutral or ineffective karma. Neutral karma is action
that has no moral consequences, either because the very nature of the action is such
as
to have no moral significance, or because the action was done involuntarily and
unintentionally. Examples of this variety of karma include walking eating, sleeping, breathing,
making handicrafts, and so on. Similarly, actions done unintentionally constitute
ineffective karma, because the all-important volitional element is missing. For
instance, if you
step on an insect when completely unaware of its existence, such an act is considered
neutral or ineffective karma.
The benefits of understanding the law of karma are obvious. In
the
first place, such an understanding discourages us from performing unwholesome actions that
have suffering as their inevitable fruit. Once we understand that, throughout our
entire life, each and every intentional act will produce a similar and equal
reaction--once
we understand that, sooner or later, we will have to experience the effects of our
actions, wholesome or unwholesome--we will refrain from unwholesome behavior because
we
will not want to experience the painful results of such actions. Similarly, knowing
that wholesome actions have happiness as their fruit, we will do our best to cultivate such
wholesome actions. Reflecting on the law of karma, of action and reaction in the sphere
of conscious activity, encourages us to abandon unwholesome actions and to practice
wholesome ones. We will look more closely at the specific effects of karma in future lives,
and at exactly how it conditions and determines the nature of rebirth, in the next chapter.
