ལས་ཀྱ་རྣམ་པར་འགྱར་བ་ཞས་བྱ་བའ་ཆས་ཀྱ་གཞང intro.19

intro.19

The second observation concerns the classification of actions into “black” and “white.” One frequently encounters this classification in Abhidharma-style works where, in an extension of the basic color metaphor, karmically efficacious action is divided into four kinds: (1) wholesome (Skt. kuśala, i.e., morally or ethically good), (2) unwholesome (Skt. akuśala, i.e., morally or ethically bad), (3) mixed (i.e., actions and results possessing both morally or ethically good and bad aspects and corresponding resultant experiences), and (4) neutral (Skt. avyākṛta or āniñjya, “undetermined” or “immovable, immobile,” e.g., the actions of an enlightened being, an arhat, etc.). For example, the Saṅgītisutta of the Dīgha Nikāya (DN 33) explains as follows: “Four kinds of kamma: There is (a) black kamma with black result, (b) bright [white] kamma with bright result, (c) black-and-bright kamma with black-and-bright result, (d) kamma that is neither black nor bright, with neither black nor bright result, leading to the destruction of kamma.”¹⁸