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Early Monastic Buddhism v1.c5.s6: Karma

Early Monastic Buddhism v1.c5.s6

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Karma

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The *skandha-santāna* is admitted by the Buddhist as subject to the effects of karma. A being can never get away from the effects of his karma,¹ a law accepted almost universally. The Vedic belief that performance of sacrifices can bring all that a man desires was at a discount in the Upaniṣadic period when *karma* came to be regarded as the inexorable law. The *Bṛ. Up.*, (iii. 2. 13) after discussing the various theories relating to *karma*, concludes “*puṇyo vai puṇyena karmaṇā bhavati pāpāt pāpeneti*” (merits accrue from meritorious acts while demerits from demeritorious acts). Likewise in the *Majjhima Nikāya* (iii. p. 203) we have “Ko nu kho, bho Gotama, hetu ko paccayo yena manussānam yena satam manussabhūtānam dissati hīnappaṇītatā ti?” “*kammassakā, māṇavo, sattā kammadāyādā kammayoni kammabandhu kammapaṭisaraṇā kammam satte vibhajati yad idaṃ hīnappaṇītāyā ti*.” (What is the reason of men being in good and bad circumstances? O māṇava, beings inherit the effect of their own deeds, they are produced by karma, they are dependent on karma, it is karma that divides men into good and bad). The Sutta-nipāta (654, 666) expresses in a similar strain that a being is subject to his karma and that none can evade its effects. Buddhism, however, teaches at the same time that effects of the kamma can be neutralised by one following the Buddhist principles. Kamma is like a bija (seed) growing only in a suitable soil which is lobha or rāga (desire), dosa (hatred) and moha (delusion) and so it is ineffective in the case of a person who is without rāga, dosa and moha;¹ arhats are therefore not subject to kamma. Buddha's pain caused by Devadatta or his illness was not due to kamma.² The Brāhmaṇic philosophical schools hold a similar view. According to them, karma is ineffective for a person who has acquired the highest knowledge (tattvajñāna). Kamma is described as the bija (seed), ātmā the soil, false knowledge as water, karmaphala as sprout and the knowledge of the highest truth as summer-heat.³ For an average being who is not an arhat, kammavipāka is unavoidable whether in this life or the next or the following.⁴ It follows the person like the unavoidable shadow.⁵ Kamma may be both internal and external. It is internal when a person enters into samādhi and remains externally inactive, and it is external when one performs a deed by the movement of his physical limbs. The effects of kamma cannot be counteracted by *iddhi* (miraculous power).¹ Buddha vehemently criticised the teachers like Makkhali Gosāla or Pūraṇa Kassapa who taught *natthi kammam* (acts), *natthi kiriyam* (deeds), *natthi viriyam* (energy), and declared himself as a *kammavādin*, *kiriyavādin* and *viriyavādin*.²

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¹ There are six kinds of *karma* viz.,
(i) Diṭṭhadhammavedaniya-karma.
(ii) Uppajjavedanīya-karma.
(iii) Aparāparavedaniya-karma.
(iv) Yadāsanna-karma.
(v) Upapīḷaka-karma.
(vi) Upatthambhaka-karma. See Hardy's *Manual of Buddhism*, p. 447. Kamma=saṅkhāra, it is one of the links of the Paṭiccasamuppāda, see Childers, sv. Kamma, *Majjhima*, II, p. 220; Cullakammavibhaṅgasutta in *Majjhima*, III, pp. 202 ff., *Aṅguttara*, III, p. 186; *Milindapañha*, p. 65. Cf. *Mahākarmavibhaṅga* edited by S. Lévi. 1932; *Karmasiddhiprakaraṇa* translated into French by Prof. Lamotte in *Mélanges chinois et bouddhiques*, 1936.

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¹ Aṅguttara I, pp. 134-6; 263-4; V, p. 262. 2 See Milindapañha, p.

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¹³⁵ It adds that there may be accidents which are not Kamma-mūlam. Cf. Aṣṭa Major, II, p. 49. 3 Hindu-darśan by Candrakanta Tarkalaṅkāra p. 26. 4 Aṅguttara, III, p. 415. 5 Milindapañha, p.

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⁷² It adds that Kamma before fructification cannot be pointed out, as mangoes before they have sprouted cannot be located on any branch:—abbhocchinnāya santatiyā na sakkā tāni kammāni dassetum: idha vā idha tāni kammāni tiṭṭhantīti.

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¹ *Milindapañha*, p. 189

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² *Digha*, I, p. 132.

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