Karma (Sanskrit, also ''karman'', Pāli: ''kamma'') is a Sanskrit term that literally means "action" or "doing". In the
Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
tradition, ''karma'' refers to action driven by intention (''
cetanā
Cetanā (Sanskrit, Pali; Tibetan Wylie: sems pa) is a Buddhist term commonly translated as "volition", "intention", "directionality", etc. It can be defined as a mental factor that moves or urges the mind in a particular direction, toward a specifi ...
'') 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.
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 metaphor is derived from agriculture:
Buddhist understanding of ''karma''
''Karma'' and ''karmaphala'' are fundamental concepts in Buddhism. The concepts of ''karma'' and ''karmaphala'' explain how intentional actions keep one tied to rebirth in ''samsara'', whereas the Buddhist path, as exemplified in the
Noble Eightfold Path
The Noble Eightfold Path (Pali: ; Sanskrit: ) is an early summary of the path of Buddhist practices leading to liberation from samsara, the painful cycle of rebirth, in the form of nirvana.
The Eightfold Path consists of eight practices: ...
, shows us the way out of ''samsara''.
Rebirth
Rebirth
Rebirth may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Film
* ''Rebirth'' (2011 film), a 2011 Japanese drama film
* ''Rebirth'' (2016 film), a 2016 American thriller film
* ''Rebirth'', a documentary film produced by Project Rebirth
* ''The Re ...
,, is a common belief in all Buddhist traditions. It says that birth and death in the
six realms occur in
successive cycles driven by ignorance (''
avidyā''), desire (''
trsnā''), and hatred (''
dvesa''). The cycle of rebirth is called ''
samsāra''. It is a beginningless and ever-ongoing process. Liberation from ''samsāra'' can be attained by following the
Buddhist Path. This path leads to ''vidyā'', and the stilling of ''trsnā'' and ''dvesa''. Hereby the ongoing process of rebirth is stopped.
Karma
The cycle of rebirth is determined by ''karma'', literally "action". In the
Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
tradition, ''karma'' refers to actions driven by ''intention'' (''
cetanā
Cetanā (Sanskrit, Pali; Tibetan Wylie: sems pa) is a Buddhist term commonly translated as "volition", "intention", "directionality", etc. It can be defined as a mental factor that moves or urges the mind in a particular direction, toward a specifi ...
''), a deed done deliberately through body, speech or mind, which leads to future consequences. The ''Nibbedhika Sutta'',
Anguttara Nikaya 6.63:
According to Peter Harvey,
And according to Gombrich,
According to Gombrich, this was a great innovation, which overturns brahmanical, caste-bound ethics. It is a rejection of caste-bound differences, giving the same possibility to reach liberation to all people, not just Brahmanins:
How this emphasis on intention was to be interpreted became a matter of debate in and between the various Buddhist schools.
Karmaphala
Karma leads to future consequences, ''karma-phala'', "fruit of action". Any given action may cause all sorts of results, but the ''karmic results'' are only those results which are a consequence of both the moral quality of the action, and of the intention behind the action. According to Reichenbach,
The "law of karma" applies
Good moral actions lead to wholesome rebirths, and bad moral actions lead to unwholesome rebirths. The main factor is how they contribute to the well-being of others in a positive or negative sense. Especially ''dāna'', giving to the Buddhist order, became an increasingly important source of positive ''karma''.
How these intentional actions lead to rebirth, and how the idea of rebirth is to be reconciled with the doctrines of
impermanence
Impermanence, also known as the philosophical problem of change, is a philosophical concept addressed in a variety of religions and philosophies. In Eastern philosophy it is notable for its role in the Buddhist three marks of existence. It ...
and
no-self, is a matter of philosophical inquiry in the Buddhist traditions, for which several solutions have been proposed. In early Buddhism no explicit theory of rebirth and karma is worked out, and "the karma doctrine may have been incidental to early Buddhist
soteriology
Soteriology (; el, σωτηρία ' "salvation" from σωτήρ ' "savior, preserver" and λόγος ' "study" or "word") is the study of religious doctrines of salvation. Salvation theory occupies a place of special significance in many religion ...
." In early Buddhism, rebirth is ascribed to craving or ignorance.
In later Buddhism, the basic idea is that ''intentional'' actions, driven by ''
kleshas'' ("disturbing emotions"),
[Thubten Chodron (1993)]
''The Twelve Links – Part 2 of 5 (PDF)''
/ref> ''cetanā
Cetanā (Sanskrit, Pali; Tibetan Wylie: sems pa) is a Buddhist term commonly translated as "volition", "intention", "directionality", etc. It can be defined as a mental factor that moves or urges the mind in a particular direction, toward a specifi ...
'' ("volition"), or ''taṇhā
(Pāli; Sanskrit: tṛ́ṣṇā तृष्णा IPA
IPA commonly refers to:
* India pale ale, a style of beer
* International Phonetic Alphabet, a system of phonetic notation
* Isopropyl alcohol, a chemical compound
IPA may also refer ...
'' ("thirst", "craving") create impressions, tendencies or "seeds" in the mind. These impressions, or "seeds", will ripen into a future result
A result (also called upshot) is the final consequence of a sequence of actions or events expressed qualitatively or quantitatively. Possible results include advantage, disadvantage, gain, injury, loss, value and victory. There may be a range ...
or fruition.[For ''bīja'', see also Yogacara#Karma, seeds and storehouse-consciousness] If we can overcome our ''kleshas'', then we break the chain of causal effects that leads to rebirth in the six realms.[ The '' twelve links of dependent origination'' provides a theoretical framework, explaining how the disturbing emotions lead to rebirth in '' samsara''.
]
Complex process
The Buddha's teaching of karma is not strictly deterministic, but incorporated circumstantial factors, unlike that of the Jains
Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...
. It is not a rigid and mechanical process, but a flexible, fluid and dynamic process, and not all present conditions can be ascribed to karma. There is no set linear relationship between a particular action and its results. The karmic effect of a deed is not determined solely by the deed itself, but also by the nature of the person who commits the deed, and by the circumstances in which it is committed.
Karma is also not the same as "fate" or "predestination".
Karmic results are not a "judgement" imposed by a God or other all-powerful being, but rather the results of a natural process. Certain experiences in life are the results of previous actions, but our responses to those experiences are not predetermined, although they bear their own fruit in the future. Unjust behaviour may lead to unfavorable circumstances which make it easier to commit more unjust behavior, but nevertheless the freedom not to commit unjust behavior remains.
Liberation from ''samsāra''
The real importance of the doctrine of karma and its fruits lies in the recognition of the urgency to put a stop to the whole process. The ''Acintita Sutta'' warns that "the results of kamma" is one of the four incomprehensible subjects, subjects that are beyond all conceptualization and cannot be understood with logical thought or reason.
According to Gombrich, this sutra may have been a warning against the tendency, "probably from the Buddha's day until now", to understand the doctrine of ''karma'' "backwards", to explain unfavorable conditions in this life when no other explanations are available. Gaining a better rebirth may have been, and still is, the central goal for many people. The adoption, by laity, of Buddhist beliefs and practices is seen as a good thing, which brings merit
Merit may refer to:
Religion
* Merit (Christianity)
* Merit (Buddhism)
* Punya (Hinduism)
* Imputed righteousness in Reformed Christianity
Companies and brands
* Merit (cigarette), a brand of cigarettes made by Altria
* Merit Energy Company, ...
and good rebirth, but does not result in Nirvana
( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...
, and liberation from ''samsāra'', the ultimate goal of the Buddha.
Within the Pali suttas
According to the Buddhist tradition, the lord 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.
In AN 5.292, the lord Buddha asserted that it is not possible to avoid experiencing the result of a karmic deed once it has been committed.
In the Anguttara Nikaya, it is stated that karmic results are experienced either in this life (P. ''diṭṭadhammika'') or in 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 Samyutta 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 within Buddhism, giving 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
Origins
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.
Pre-sectarian Buddhism
The concept of karma may have been of minor importance in early Buddhism. Schmithausen has questioned whether karma already played a role in the theory of rebirth of earliest Buddhism, noting that "the karma doctrine may have been incidental to early Buddhist soteriology." Langer notes that originally karma may have been only one of several concepts connected with rebirth. 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 single major systematic exposition" on the subject of karma and "an account has to be put together from the dozens of places where karma is mentioned in the texts," which may mean that the doctrine was incidental to the main perspective of early Buddhist soteriology.
According to Vetter, "the Buddha at first sought, and realized, "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.
Vaibhāṣika-Sarvāstivādin tradition
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,
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:
# action; karma is here supplanted in the text by the synonyms ''kriya'' or ''karitra'', both of which mean "activity";
# formal vinaya conduct;
# 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
Vasubandhu (; Tibetan: དབྱིག་གཉེན་ ; fl. 4th to 5th century CE) was an influential Buddhist monk and scholar from ''Puruṣapura'' in ancient India, modern day Peshawar, Pakistan. He was a philosopher who wrote commentary ...
compiled the '' Abhidharma-kośa'', an extensive compendium which elaborated the positions of the Vaibhāṣika
Sarvāstivāda-Vaibhāṣika ( sa, सर्वास्तिवाद-वैभाषिक) or simply Vaibhāṣika (), refers to an ancient Buddhist tradition of Abhidharma (scholastic Buddhist philosophy), which was very influential in north I ...
-Sarvāstivādin
The ''Sarvāstivāda'' (Sanskrit and Pali: 𑀲𑀩𑁆𑀩𑀢𑁆𑀣𑀺𑀯𑀸𑀤, ) was one of the early Buddhist schools established around the reign of Ashoka (3rd century BCE).Westerhoff, The Golden Age of Indian Buddhist Philosophy ...
school on a wide range of issues raised by the early sutras. Chapter four of the Kośa is devoted to a study of karma, and chapters two and five contain formulations as to the mechanism of fruition and retribution. This became the main source of understanding of the perspective of early Buddhism for later Mahāyāna
''Mahāyāna'' (; "Great Vehicle") is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices. Mahāyāna Buddhism developed in India (c. 1st century BCE onwards) and is considered one of the three main existing br ...
philosophers.
Dārṣṭāntika-Sautrāntika
The Dārṣṭāntika-Sautrāntika
The Sautrāntika or Sutravadin ( sa, सौत्रान्तिक, Suttavāda in Pali; ; ja, 経量部, Kyou Ryou Bu) were an early Buddhist school generally believed to be descended from the Sthavira nikāya by way of their immediate par ...
school pioneered the idea of karmic seeds (S. ''Bīja In Hinduism and Buddhism, the Sanskrit term Bīja () ( Jp. 種子 shuji) (Chinese 种子 zhǒng zǐ), literally seed, is used as a metaphor for the origin or cause of things and cognate with bindu.
Buddhist theory of karmic seeds
Various schools ...
'') and "the special modification of the psycho-physical series" (S. ''saṃtatipaṇāmaviśeṣa'') to explain the workings of karma. According to Dennis Hirota,
Theravādin tradition
Canonical texts
In the Theravāda Abhidhamma
The Theravāda Abhidhamma is a scholastic systematization of the Theravāda school's understanding of the highest Buddhist teachings ( Abhidhamma). These teachings are traditionally believed to have been taught by the Buddha, though modern scholar ...
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
Kathāvatthu (Pāli) (abbreviated Kv, Kvu; ) is a Buddhist scripture, one of the seven books in the Theravada Abhidhamma Pitaka. The text contrasts the orthodox Theravada position on a range of issues to the heterodox views of various interlocuto ...
'', 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 Mahāsāṃghika
The Mahāsāṃghika ( Brahmi: 𑀫𑀳𑀸𑀲𑀸𑀁𑀖𑀺𑀓, "of the Great Sangha", ) was one of the early Buddhist schools. Interest in the origins of the Mahāsāṃghika school lies in the fact that their Vinaya recension appears in ...
s) 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
The ''Milinda Pañha'' () is a Buddhist text which dates from sometime between 100 BC and 200 AD. It purports to record a dialogue between the Indian Buddhist sage Nāgasena, and the 2nd century BC Indo-Greek king Menander I (Pali: ''Milinda' ...
'', a paracanonical Theravāda text, offers some interpretations of karma theory at variance with the orthodox position. In particular, Nāgasena
Nāgasena was a Sarvastivadan Buddhist sage who lived around 150 BC. His answers to questions about Buddhism posed by Menander I (Pali: ''Milinda''), the Indo-Greek king of northwestern India, are recorded in the '' Milinda Pañha'' and the Sa ...
allows for the possibility of the transfer of merit to humans and one of the four classes of petas
Preta ( sa, प्रेत, bo, ཡི་དྭགས་ ''yi dags''), also known as hungry ghost, is the Sanskrit name for a type of supernatural being described in Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Chinese folk religion as undergoing sufferin ...
, perhaps in deference to folk belief. 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
__NOTOC__
The Petavatthu () is a Theravada Buddhist scripture, included in the Minor Collection (''Khuddaka Nikaya'') of the Pali Canon's Sutta Pitaka. It ostensibly reports stories about and conversations among the Buddha and his disciples, an ...
, 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
Yogachara ( sa, योगाचार, IAST: '; literally "yoga practice"; "one whose practice is yoga") is an influential tradition of Buddhist philosophy and psychology emphasizing the study of cognition, perception, and consciousness through t ...
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.[An Introduction to Buddhist ethics]
Harvey Karmic seeds (S. ''bija'') are said to be stored in the "storehouse consciousness" (S. ''ālayavijñāna
The Eight Consciousnesses (Skt. ''aṣṭa vijñānakāyāḥ'') is a classification developed in the tradition of the Yogācāra school of Mahayana Buddhism. They enumerate the five sense consciousnesses, supplemented by the mental consciousne ...
'') 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
Samskara ( IAST: , sometimes spelled ''samskara'') are sacraments in Hinduism and other Indian religions, described in ancient Sanskrit texts, as well as a concept in the karma theory of Indian philosophies. The word literally means "putting t ...
''.
The ''Treatise on Action'' (''Karmasiddhiprakaraṇa''), also by Vasubandhu, treats the subject of karma in detail from the Yogācāra perspective. According to scholar Dan Lusthaus,
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 bodhisattva
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva ( ; sa, 𑀩𑁄𑀥𑀺𑀲𑀢𑁆𑀢𑁆𑀯 (Brahmī), translit=bodhisattva, label=Sanskrit) or bodhisatva is a person who is on the path towards bodhi ('awakening') or Buddhahood.
In the Early Buddhist schools ...
s after the seventh stage (S. ''bhūmi
Bhumi ( sa, भूमि, Bhūmi), also known as Bhudevi and Vasundhara, is a Hindu goddess who is the personification of the Earth. She is a consort of the god Vishnu. According to Vaishnava tradition, she is the second aspect of Vishnu's conso ...
'') are said to be consciously directed for the benefit of others still trapped in . Thus, theirs are not uncontrolled rebirths.
Mādhyamaka philosophy
Nāgārjuna
Nāgārjuna . 150 – c. 250 CE (disputed)was an Indian Mahāyāna Buddhist thinker, scholar-saint and philosopher. He is widely considered one of the most important Buddhist philosophers.Garfield, Jay L. (1995), ''The Fundamental Wisdom of ...
articulated the difficulty in forming a karma theory in his most prominent work, the ''Mūlamadhyamakakārikā
The ''Mūlamadhyamakakārikā'' ( sa, मूलमध्यमककारिका, ''Root Verses on the Middle Way''), abbreviated as ''MMK'', is the foundational text of the Madhyamaka school of Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophy. It was compose ...
'' (Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way):
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
In Tibetan Buddhism, the teachings on karma belong to the preliminary teachings, that turn the mind towards the Buddhist dharma.
In the Vajrayana tradition, negative past karma may be "purified" through such practices as meditation on Vajrasattva
Vajrasattva ( sa, वज्रसत्त्व, Tibetan: རྡོ་རྗེ་སེམས་དཔའ། ''Dorje Sempa'', short form is རྡོར་སེམས། ''Dorsem'', Монгол: Доржсэмбэ) is a bodhisattva in the Maha ...
because they both are the mind's psychological phenomenon. The performer of the action, after having purified the karma, does not experience the negative results he or she otherwise would have. Engaging in the ten negative actions out of selfishness and delusions hurts all involved. Otherwise, loving others, receives love; whereas; people with closed hearts may be prevented from happiness. One good thing about karma is that it can be purified through confession, if the thoughts become positive. Within Guru Yoga seven branch offerings practice, confession is the antidote to aversion.
East Asian traditions
=Zen
=
Dōgen Kigen
Dōgen Zenji (道元禅師; 26 January 1200 – 22 September 1253), also known as Dōgen Kigen (道元希玄), Eihei Dōgen (永平道元), Kōso Jōyō Daishi (高祖承陽大師), or Busshō Dentō Kokushi (仏性伝東国師), was a Ja ...
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
A (; , ; ko, 화두, ; vi, công án) is a story, dialogue, question, or statement which is used in Zen practice to provoke the "great doubt" and to practice or test a student's progress in Zen.
Etymology
The Japanese term is the Sino-J ...
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
, also known as the Tendai Lotus School (天台法華宗 ''Tendai hokke shū,'' sometimes just "''hokke shū''") is a Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition (with significant esoteric elements) officially established in Japan in 806 by the Japanese m ...
/ Pure Land teacher Genshin
, also known as , was the most influential of a number of scholar-monks of the Buddhist Tendai sect active during the tenth and eleventh centuries in Japan. Genshin, who was trained in both esoteric and exoteric teachings, wrote a number of tre ...
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.
=Nichiren Buddhism
=
Nichiren Buddhism teaches that transformation and change through faith and practice changes adverse karma—negative causes made in the past that result in negative results in the present and future—to positive causes for benefits in the future.
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 hich
Ij ( fa, ايج, also Romanized as Īj; also known as Hich and Īch) is a village in Golabar Rural District, in the Central District of Ijrud County, Zanjan Province, Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also ...
/nowiki> 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 ''saṃskāra''s—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 and 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
Buddhist modernism (also referred to as modern Buddhism, modernist Buddhism, and Neo-Buddhism are new movements based on modern era reinterpretations of Buddhism. David McMahan states that modernism in Buddhism is similar to those found in other ...
.
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 "spiritual 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
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...
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
Mindstream (''citta-santāna'') in Buddhist philosophy is the moment-to-moment continuum (Sanskrit: ''saṃtāna'') of sense impressions and mental phenomena, which is also described as continuing from one life to another.
Definition
' (Sanskri ...
-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
;Buddhism
* Paṭṭhāna
* Anantarika-karma
Ānantarya Karma (Sanskrit) or Ānantarika Kamma (Pāli) are the most serious offences in Buddhism that, at death, through the overwhelming karmic strength of any single one of them, bring immediate disaster. Both Buddhists and non-Buddhists mus ...
* Consciousness (Buddhism)
Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience and awareness of internal and external existence. However, the lack of definitions has led to millennia of analyses, explanations and debates by philosophers, theologians, linguisticians, and scient ...
* Development of Karma in Buddhism
* Index of Buddhism-related articles
0–9
* 22 Vows of Ambedkar
A
* Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery
* Abhayamudra
* Abhibhavayatana
* Abhidhajamahāraṭṭhaguru
* Abhidhamma
* Abhidhamma Pitaka
* Abhijatabhivamsa
* Abhijna
* Acala
* Acariya
* Access to Insight
* Achar ( ...
* Karma
Karma (; sa, कर्म}, ; pi, kamma, italic=yes) in Sanskrit means an action, work, or deed, and its effect or consequences. In Indian religions, the term more specifically refers to a principle of cause and effect, often descriptivel ...
* Merit (Buddhism)
Merit ( sa, puṇya, italic=yes, pi, puñña, italic=yes) is a concept considered fundamental to Buddhist ethics. It is a beneficial and protective force which accumulates as a result of good deeds, acts, or thoughts. Merit-making is important ...
* Pratitya-samutpada (Dependent Origination)
* Samsara (Buddhism)
* Secular Buddhism
* Twelve Nidanas
Twelve or 12 may refer to:
* 12 (number)
* December, the twelfth and final month of the year
Years
* 12 BC
* AD 12
* 1912
* 2012
Film
* ''Twelve'' (2010 film), based on the 2002 novel
* ''12'' (2007 film), by Russian director and actor Nikita ...
;Indian religions
* Karma in Hinduism
Karma is a concept of Hinduism which describes a system in which beneficial effects are derived from past beneficial actions and harmful effects from past harmful actions, creating a system of actions and reactions throughout a soul's ( jivatma ...
* Karma in Jainism
Karma is the basic principle within an overarching psycho-cosmology in Jainism. Human moral actions form the basis of the transmigration of the soul ('). The soul is constrained to a cycle of rebirth, trapped within the temporal world ('), u ...
;Other
* Myth of Er
The Myth of Er is a legend that concludes Plato's ''Republic'' (10.614–10.621). The story includes an account of the cosmos and the afterlife that greatly influenced religious, philosophical, and scientific thought for many centuries.
The story ...
(Plato)
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;Scholarly sources
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* Gethin, Rupert (1998). ''Foundations of Buddhism''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. .
;Journal
The Buddha's Bad Karma: A Problem in the History of Theravada Buddhism
Jonathan S. Walters, Numen, Vol. 37, No. 1 (June 1990), pp. 70–95
;Primary sources
* Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current D ...
(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
Mindrolling Jetsün Khandro Rinpoche (birth name Tsering Paldrön; born August 19, 1967) is a lama in Tibetan Buddhism. Born in Kalimpong, India and the daughter of the late Mindrolling Trichen, Khandro Rinpoche was recognized by Rangjung Rigpe D ...
(2003). ''This Precious Life''. Shambala
* Ringu Tulku (2005). ''Daring Steps Toward Fearlessness: The Three Vehicles of Tibetan Buddhism''. Snow Lion.
External links
;General
Buddhist Philosophy, Kamma
Surendranath Dasgupta, 1940
What is Karma?
by Ken McLeod
Essential Points on Karma
by Jeffrey Kotyk
What Is Reincarnation?
by Alexander Berzin
Understanding Karma
by Reginald Ray
Reginald Ray (born 1942) is an American Buddhist academic and teacher.
Ray studied Tibetan Buddhism, traditional shamanic wisdom, and yogic-contemplative practices with the Tibetan refugee and recognized Vajrayana traditional-wisdom holder Chög ...
;Sarvastivada
Alexis sanderson, ''The Sarvastivada and its critics: Anatmavada and the Theory of Karma
;Theravada
by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Misunderstandings of the Law of Kamma
by Prayudh Payutto
Dhammapada Verse 128 Suppabuddhasakya Vatthu
Story about the Buddha and Suppabuddha, father of the Buddha's former wife Yashodhara
;Yogacara
Richard King (1998), ''Vijnaptimatrata and the Abhidharma context of early Yogacara''
Asian Philosophy, Vol. 8 No. 1 Mar.1998.
;Nyingma
Chapter IV of The Great Chariot
{{DEFAULTSORT:Karma In Buddhism