Part I: Basic Principles
B. Kamma & the Ending of Kamma
The Buddha's doctrine of kamma takes the fact of skillful action, which can be
observed on the ordinary sensory level, and gives it an importance that, for a
person pursuing the Buddhist goal, must be accepted on faith. According to this
doctrine, skillful action is not simply one factor out of many contributing to
happiness: it is the primary factor. It does not lead simply to happiness within
the dimensions of time and the present: if developed to the ultimate level of
refinement, it can lead to an Awakening totally released from those dimensions.
These assertions cannot be proven prior to an experience of that Awakening, but
they must be accepted as working hypotheses in the effort to develop the skillfulness
needed for Awakening. This paradox -- which lies at the heart of the act of taking
refuge in the Triple Gem -- explains why the serious pursuit of the Buddhist path
is a sustained act of faith that can become truly firm only with the first glimpse
of Awakening, called stream-entry. It also explains why a strong desire to gain
release from the stress and suffering inherent in conditioned existence is needed
for such a pursuit, for without that desire it is very difficult to break through
this paradox with the necessary leap of faith.
The basic context for the doctrine of kamma was provided by the first two insights
on the night of the Buddha's Awakening -- remembrance of previous lives, and insight
into the death and rebirth of beings throughout the cosmos [§1]. This context
was expressed in terms of personal narrative (the story of the Bodhisatta's own
journey from life to life) and cosmology (general principles underlying the workings
of the cosmos as a whole). The possibility of rebirth accounted for the way in
which kamma could shape experiences in life, such as the situation into which
a young child is born, for which no kammic cause in the present lifetime could
be found. The pattern of death and rebirth for all beings, in which the quality
of the state of rebirth depends on the moral quality of actions performed in previous
lifetimes, presented the possibility that moral standards, instead of being mere
social conventions, were intrinsic to the workings of any and all experience of
the cosmos.
Essential to the Buddha's second insight was his realization of the mind's role
in determining the moral quality of actions. His analysis of the process of developing
a skill showed him that skillfulness depended not so much on the physical performance
of an act as on the mental qualities of perception, attention, and intention that
played a part in it. Of these three qualities, the intention formed the essence
of the act [§10] -- as it constituted the decision to act -- while attention
and perception informed it. Thus the skillfulness of these mental phenomena accounted
for the act's kammic consequences. The less greed, aversion, and delusion motivating
the act, the better its results. Unintentional acts would have kammic consequences
only when they resulted from carelessness in areas where one would reasonably
be held responsible. Intentional actions performed under the influence of right
view -- which on this level means conviction in the principle of kamma [II/E;
III/A; §106] -- led inherently to pleasant states of rebirth, while those
performed under the influence of wrong view led to unpleasant states. Thus the
quality of the views on which one acts -- i.e., the quality of the perception
and attention informing the intention -- is a major factor in shaping experience.
This observation undercuts the radical distinction between mind and material reality
that is taken for granted in our own culture and that was also assumed by many
of the Samana schools of the Buddha's time. From the Buddha's viewpoint, mental
and physical phenomena are two sides of a single coin, with the mental side of
prior importance [§8].
Most descriptions of the Buddha's teachings on kamma tend to stop here, but there
are many passages on kamma in the Canon -- and included in this section -- that
do not fit into the neat picture based merely the first two insights on the night
of the Awakening. The only way to account for these passages is to note the simple
fact that Buddha's teachings on kamma were shaped not only by these two insights,
but also by the third insight and the resulting knowledge of Unbinding. The third
insight explored the possibility of a fourth kind of kamma -- in addition to good,
bad, and a mixture of the two -- that was skillful enough to bring about the ending
of kamma [§§16-17]. At the same time, in the course of developing the
level of skillfulness needed to bring kamma to an end, the Buddha learned a great
deal about the nature of action that forced him to recast his understanding of
kamma in much more subtle terms. The knowledge of Unbinding -- which followed
on the full development of this fourth type of kamma and the realizations that
accompanied it -- acted as the proof that the understandings comprising the three
insights were true. To explore these points will not only help give us a more
complete understanding of the Buddha's teachings on kamma, but will also show
why conviction in the principle of skillful kamma is essential to Buddhist practice.
In his effort to master kamma in such a way as to bring kamma to an end, the Buddha
discovered that he had to abandon the contexts of personal narrative and cosmology
in which the issue of kamma first presented itself. Both these forms of understanding
deal in categories of being and non-being, self and others, but the Buddha found
that it was impossible to bring kamma to an end if one thought in such terms.
For example, narrative and cosmological modes of thinking would lead one to ask
whether the agent who performed an act of kamma was the same as the person experiencing
the result, someone else, both, or neither. If one answered that it was the same
person, then the person experiencing the result would have to identify not only
with the actor, but also with the mode of action, and thus would not be able to
gain release from it. If one answered that it was another person, both oneself
and another, or neither, then the person experiencing the result would see no
need to heighten the skill or understanding of his/her own kamma in the present,
for the experience of pleasure and pain was not his or her own full responsibility.
In either case, the development of the fourth type of kamma would be aborted [§§228-229].
To avoid the drawbacks of the narrative and cosmological mind-sets, the Buddha
pursued an entirely different tack -- what he called "entry into emptiness,"
and what modern philosophy calls radical phenomenology: a focus on the events
of present consciousness, in and of themselves, without reference to questions
of whether there are any entities underlying those events. In the Buddha's case,
he focused simply on the process of kammic cause and result as it played itself
out in the immediate present, in the process of developing the skillfulness of
the mind, without reference to who or what lay behind those processes. On the
most basic level of this mode of awareness, there was no sense even of "existence"
or "non-existence" [§186], but simply the events of stress, its
origination, its cessation, and the path to its cessation, arising and passing
away. It was in this mode that he was able to pursue the fourth type of kamma
to its end, at the same time gaining heightened insight into the nature of action
itself and its many implications, including questions of rebirth, the relationship
of mental to physical events, and the way kamma constructs all experience of the
cosmos.
Because the Buddha gained both understanding of and release from kamma by pursuing
the phenomenological mode of attention, his full-dress systematic analysis of
kamma is also expressed in that mode. This analysis is included in his teachings
on this/that conditionality, dependent co-arising, and the four noble truths:
the three levels of refinement in the type of right view without effluents that
underlay his mastery of the fourth type of kamma. Here we will consider, in turn,
how each of these teachings shaped the Buddha's teachings on kamma, how the knowledge
of Unbinding confirmed those teachings, and how the success of the phenomenological
mode of analysis shaped the Buddha's use of narrative and cosmological modes in
instructing others. We will conclude with a discussion of how these points show
the need for conviction in the principle of kamma as a working hypothesis for
anyone who wants to gain release from suffering and stress.
To begin with this/that conditionality: This principle accounts not only for the
complexity of the kammic process, but also for its being regular without at the
same time being rigidly deterministic. The non-linearity of this/that conditionality
also accounts for the fact that the process can be successfully dismantled by
radical attention to the present moment.
Unlike the theory of linear causality -- which led the Vedists and Jains to see
the relationship between an act and its result as predictable and tit-for-tat
-- the principle of this/that conditionality makes that relationship inherently
complex. The results of kamma experienced at any one point in time come not only
from past kamma, but also from present kamma. This means that, although there
are general patterns relating habitual acts to corresponding results [§9],
there is no set one-for-one, tit-for-tat, relationship between a particular action
and its results. Instead, the results are determined by the context of the act,
both in terms of actions that preceded or followed it [§11] and in terms
one's state of mind at the time of acting or experiencing the result [§13].
As we noted in the Introduction, the feedback loops inherent in this/that conditionality
mean that the working out of any particular cause-effect relationship can be very
complex indeed. This explains why the Buddha says in §12 that the results
of kamma are imponderable. Only a person who has developed the mental range of
a Buddha -- another imponderable itself -- would be able to trace the intricacies
of the kammic network. The basic premise of kamma is simple -- that skillful intentions
lead to favorable results, and unskillful ones to unfavorable results -- but the
process by which those results work themselves out is so intricate that it cannot
be fully mapped. We can compare this with the Mandelbrot set, a mathematical set
generated by a simple equation, but whose graph is so complex (see the front cover
of this book) that it will probably never be completely explored.
Although the precise working out of the kammic process is somewhat unpredictable,
it is not chaotic. The relationship between kammic causes and their effects is
entirely regular: when an action is of the sort that it will be felt in such and
such a way, that is how its result will be experienced [§13]. Skillful intentions
lead to favorable results, unskillful ones to unfavorable results. Thus, when
one participates in the kammic process, one is at the mercy of a pattern that
one's actions put into motion, but that is not entirely under one's present control.
Despite the power of the mind, one cannot reshape the basic laws of cosmic causality
at whim. These laws include the physical laws, within which one's kamma must ripen
and work itself out. This is the point of passage §14, in which the Buddha
explains that present pain can be explained not only by past kamma but also by
a host of other factors; the list of alternative factors he gives comes straight
from the various causes for pain that were recognized in the medical treatises
of his time. If we compare this list with his definition of old kamma in §15,
we see that many if not all of the alternative causes are actually the result
of past actions. The point here is that old kamma does not override other causal
factors operating in the universe -- such as those recognized by the physical
sciences -- but instead finds its expression within them.
However, the fact that the kammic process relies on input from the present moment
means that it is not totally deterministic. Input from the past may place restrictions
on what can be done and known in any particular moment, but the allowance for
new input from the present provides some room for free will. This allowance also
opens the possibility for escape from the cycle of kamma altogether by means of
the fourth type of kamma: the development of heightened skillfulness through the
pursuit of the seven factors for Awakening and the noble eightfold path -- and,
by extension, all of the Wings to Awakening [§§16-17].
The non-linearity of this/that conditionality explains why heightened skillfulness,
when focused on the present moment, can succeed in leading to the end of the kamma
that has formed the experience of the entire cosmos. All non-linear processes
exhibit what is called scale invariance, which means that the behavior of the
process on any one scale is similar to its behavior on smaller or larger scales.
To understand, say, the large-scale pattern of a particular non-linear process,
one need only focus on its behavior on a smaller scale that is easier to observe,
and one will see the same pattern at work. In the case of kamma, one need only
focus on the process of kamma in the immediate present, in the course of developing
heightened skillfulness, and the large-scale issues over the expanses of space
and time will become clear as one gains release from them.
The teaching on dependent co-arising helps to provide more detailed instructions
on this point, showing precisely where the cycle of kamma provides openings for
more skillful present input. In doing so, it both explains the importance of the
act of attention in developing the fourth type of kamma, and acts as a guide for
focusing attention on present experience in appropriate ways [III/H/iii].
Dependent co-arising shows how the cosmos, when viewed in the context of how it
is directly experienced by a person developing skillfulness, is subsumed entirely
under factors that are immediately present to awareness: the five aggregates of
form, feeling, perception, mental fabrication, and consciousness, and the six
sense media [§§212-213]. Included in this description is the Buddha's
ultimate analysis of kamma and rebirth. The nexus of kamma, clinging, becoming,
and birth accounts for the realm in which birth takes place [§220], whereas
the nexus of name-and-form with consciousness accounts for the arising and survival
of the kammically active organism within that realm [§231]. Also included
in dependent co-arising is a detailed analysis of the way in which kamma can --
but does not necessarily have to -- lead to bondage to the cycle of rebirth. Unlike
the Jains, the Buddha taught that this bondage was mental rather than physical.
It was caused not by sticky substances created by the physical violence of an
act, but by the fact that, when there is ignorance of the four noble truths [III/H/i]
(a subtle form of delusion, the most basic root of unskillfulness), the feeling
that results from kamma gives rise to craving (a subtle form of greed and aversion),
clinging, and becoming; and these, in turn, form the conditions for further kamma.
Thus the results of action, in the presence of ignorance, breed the conditions
for more action, creating feedback loops that keep the kammic processes in motion.
For this reason, the Buddha defined the effluents as clinging -- expressed in
some lists as sensuality, in others as sensuality and views -- together with becoming
and the ignorance that underlies them all. If ignorance of the four truths can
be ended, however, feeling does not form a condition for craving or clinging,
and thus there is no becoming to provide a realm for further kamma. Thus the mastery
of the fourth type of kamma requires discernment of the four noble truths.
It is important to note that dependent co-arising makes no statements as to the
existence or lack of existence of any entity to which these events pertain or
to whom they belong [§230]. As we noted above, such terms of analysis as
"being," "non-being," "self," or "other,"
pertain properly to the modes of cosmology and personal narrative, and have no
place in a radically phenomenological analysis. Questions and terms that derive
from the conventions of narrative and the construction of a world view have no
place in the direct awareness of experience in and of itself. This is one reason
why people who have not mastered the path of practice, and who thus function primarily
in terms of a world view or a sense of their own personal story, find the teaching
of dependent co-arising so inscrutable. Even though the Buddha's phenomenological
approach answered his questions as to the nature of kamma, it also reshaped his
questions so that they had little in common with the questions that most people
bring to the practice. As with all insights gained on the phenomenological level,
dependent co-arising is expressed in terms closest to the actual experience of
events. Only when a person has become thoroughly familiar with that level of experience
is the analysis fully intelligible. Thus, although the detailed nature of dependent
co-arising is one of its strengths, it is also one of its weaknesses as a teaching
tool, for the subtlety and complexity of the analysis can be intimidating even
to advanced practitioners.
For this reason, the Buddha most often expressed the right view underlying the
fourth type of kamma in terms of the four noble truths. These truths provide a
more congenial entry point into the phenomenological mode of awareness for they
focus the analysis of kamma directly on the question of stress and suffering:
issues that tie in immediately with the narratives that people make of their own
life experiences. As the Buddha noted in his second insight, his memory of previous
lives included his experience of pleasure and pain in each life, and most people
-- when recounting their own lives -- tend to focus on these issues as well. The
four truths, however, do not stop simply with tales about stress: they approach
it from the problem-solving perspective of a person engaged in developing a skill.
What this means for the meditator trying to master the fourth type of kamma is
that these truths cannot be fully comprehended by passive observation. Only by
participating sensitively in the process of developing skillfulness and gaining
a practical feel for the relationship of cause and effect among the mental factors
that shape that process, can one eradicate the effluents that obstruct the ending
of kamma [II/B; III/E; III/H]. This point is underscored by a fact noted above:
the ignorance and craving that are needed to keep the cycle of kamma in motion
are subtle forms of the roots of unskillfulness. Thus, only through developing
skillfulness to the ultimate degree can the cycle be brought to equilibrium and,
as a result, disband.
The truth of the Buddha's understanding of the processes of kamma -- as informed
by this/that conditionality, dependent co-arising, and the four noble truths --
was proven by the knowledge of Unbinding that followed immediately on his mastery
of the fourth type of kamma. He found that when skillfulness is intentionally
brought to a point of full consummation, as expressed in the direct awareness
of this/that conditionality, it leads to a state of non-action, or non-fashioning,
that forms the threshold to a level of consciousness in which all experience of
the cosmos has fallen away. When one's experience of the cosmos resumes after
the experience of Awakening, one sees clearly that it is composed entirely of
the results of old kamma; with no new kamma being added to the process, all experience
of the cosmos will eventually run out -- or, in the words of the texts [§225],
"will grow cold right here." This discovery proved the basic premise
that kamma not only plays a role in shaping experience of the cosmos, it plays
the primary role. If this were not so, then even when kamma was ended there would
still remain the types of experience that came from other sources. But because
no experience of the cosmos remained when all present kamma disbanded, and none
would resume after all old kamma ran out, kamma would have to be the necessary
factor accounting for all such experience. This fact implies that even the limiting
factors that one encounters in terms of sights, sounds, etc., are actually the
fruit of past kamma in thought, word, and deed -- committed not only in this,
but also in many preceding lifetimes. Thus, even though the Buddha's development
of the fourth type of kamma focused on the present moment, the resulting Awakening
gave insights that encompassed not only the present but also all of time.
Having used the phenomenological mode to solve the problem of kamma and reach
Unbinding, however, the Buddha was not limited to that mode. After his Awakening,
he was free to return at will to the narrative and cosmological modes of thought
and speech, without being caught up in their presuppositions [D.9]. For most people,
he found, even the four noble truths were too alien to form an entry point into
the teaching. Thus he had to use the narrative and cosmological modes of discourse
to bring such people, step by step, to the point where they were ready to comprehend
those truths. What he had learned in the final stage of his Awakening did not
negate the validity of the first and second insights into kamma and rebirth; instead,
it perfected them. The main change that the experience of Awakening made in his
view of personal narrative and cosmology is that it opened them both to the dimension
of release. The drama of kamma in the cosmos is not a closed cycle; the principles
of kamma can be mastered to the point where they open to the way out. The narrative
of a person's course through the cosmos is not doomed to aimless and endlessly
repeated death and rebirth; the person can tread the path of practice to Unbinding
and so bring the narrative to an end. Thus the Buddha used narrative and cosmological
explanations to persuade his listeners to explore the phenomenology of skillful
action so that they too might gain release; his descriptions of the role of action
in shaping the vast expanses of space, time, and existence was designed to focus
the listener's attention on the liberating potential of what he/she was doing
in the here and now. Some of his most poignant teachings are narratives devoted
to just this purpose:
How do you construe this, monks: Which is greater, the tears you have shed while
transmigrating & wandering this long time -- crying & weeping from being
joined with what is displeasing, from being separated from what is pleasing --
or the water in the four great oceans?... This is the greater: The tears you have
shed... Why is that? From an inconceivable beginning, monks, comes transmigration.
A beginning point is not evident, although beings hindered by ignorance and fettered
by craving are transmigrating & wandering on. Long have you thus experienced
stress, experienced pain, experienced loss, swelling the cemeteries -- long enough
to become disenchanted with all fabrications, enough to become dispassionate,
enough to be released.
-- S.XV.3
The cosmological discourses -- such as D.26, D.27, M.129, and M.130 -- are aimed
at a similar point. D.26 describes how the evolution and devolution of the cosmos
derives from the skillful and unskillful kamma of the beings who inhabit it, and
ends with the admonition that one should make an island for oneself, safe from
the process of the ups and downs of the cosmos. This island is nothing other than
the practice of the four frames of reference, which, as we will see in II/B, are
precisely the training aimed at familiarizing oneself with the phenomenology of
skillful action. D.27 shows how kamma accounts for the evolution of human society,
and ends with the statement that the most exalted member of society is the Arahant
who has gained release through highest discernment. M.129 and M.130 give graphic
descriptions of the levels of heaven and hell into which beings may be reborn
after death through the power of good and bad kamma, M.130 ending with a verse
on the need to practice the path to non-clinging to escape the dangers of birth
and death entirely.
Thus the experience of his Awakening gave a new purpose to narrative and cosmology
in the Buddha's eyes: they became tools for persuading his listeners to adopt
the training that would lead them to the phenomenological mode. This accounts
for the ad hoc and fragmentary nature of the narratives and cosmological sketches
in his teachings. They are not meant to be analyzed in a systematic way. It is
a mistake to tease out their implications to see what they may say about such
metaphysical questions as the existence or lack of existence of entities or identities
underlying the process of kamma and rebirth, the relationship between the laws
of kamma and the laws of the physical sciences, or the nature of the mechanism
by which kamma makes its results felt over time [see the discussion of appropriate
questions in II/G]. The search for systematic answers to such issues is not only
invalid or irrelevant from the Buddhist point of view, it is actually counterproductive
in that it blocks one from entering the path to release. And, we should note,
none of the modes of discourse -- narrative, cosmological, or phenomenological
-- is capable of describing or even framing proper questions about what happens
after Awakening, for such issues, which lie beyond the conditions of time and
the present, cannot be properly expressed by the conventions of language and analysis,
which are bound by those conditions. Only a person who has mastered the skill
of release has the mental skills needed to comprehend such matters [A.IV.173,
MFU pp. 31-32]. The Buddha reserved his systematic explanations for the particular
phenomenological mode to be used in viewing the process of kamma in its own terms,
as it is being mastered, so that the actual problem of kamma and its retribution
(as opposed to the theoretical questions about them) will be solved. The right
way to listen to the narratives and cosmological sketches, then, is to see what
they imply about one's own need to master the kammic process on the level of awareness
in and of itself.
From these points it should become clear why kamma, as an article of faith, is
a necessary factor in the path of Buddhist practice. The teaching on kamma, in
its narrative and cosmological forms, provides the context for the practice, giving
it direction and urgency. Because the cosmos is governed by the laws of kamma,
those laws provide the only mechanism by which happiness can be found. But because
good and bad kamma, consisting of good and bad intentions, simply perpetuate the
ups and downs of experience in the cosmos, a way must be found out of the mechanism
of kamma by mastering it in a way that allows it to disband in an attentive state
of non-intention. And, because there is no telling what sudden surprises the results
of one's past kamma may still hold in store, one should try to develop that mastery
as quickly as possible.
In its phenomenological mode, the teaching on kamma accounts for the focus and
the terms of analysis used in the practice. It also accounts for the mental qualities
needed to attain and maintain that level of focus and analysis. In terms of focus,
the principle of scale invariance at work in the complexities of kamma means that
their essential processes can be mastered by focusing total attention on them
right at the mind in the immediate present. This focus accounts for the practice
of frames-of-reference meditation [II/B], in which attention is directed at present
phenomena in and of themselves. These phenomena are then analyzed in terms of
the four noble truths, the phenomenological terms in which appropriate attention
and discernment direct and observe the experience of developing the qualities
of skillful action. The most immediate skillful kamma that can be observed on
this level is the mastery of the very same mental qualities that are supporting
this refined level of focus and analysis: mindfulness, concentration, and discernment,
together with the more basic qualities on which they are based. Thus, these mental
qualities act not only as supports to the focus and analysis, but also as their
object. Ultimately, discernment becomes so refined that the focus and analysis
take as their object the act of focusing and analyzing, in and of themselves.
The cycle of action then short-circuits as it reaches culmination, and Unbinding
occurs. These elements of focus, analysis, and mental qualities, together with
the dynamic of their development to a point of culmination, are covered by the
teachings on the Wings to Awakening, which will be discussed in detail in Parts
II and III. Thus the Wings can be viewed as a direct expression of the role of
skillful kamma in the path to release.
It is entirely possible that a person with no firm conviction in the principle
of kamma can follow parts of the Buddhist path, including mindfulness and concentration
practices, and gain positive results from them. For instance, one can pursue mindfulness
practice for the sense of balance, equanimity, and peace it gives to one's daily
life, or for the sake of bringing the mind to the present for the purpose of spontaneity
and "going with the flow." The full practice of the path, however, is
a skillful diverting of the flow of the mind from its habitual kammic streams
to the stream of Unbinding. As the Buddha said, this practice requires a willingness
to "develop and abandon" to an extreme degree [A.IV.28]. The developing
requires a supreme effort aimed at full and conscious mastery of mindfulness,
concentration, and discernment to the point of non-fashioning and on to release.
A lack of conviction in the principle of kamma would undercut the patience and
commitment, the desire, persistence, intent, and refined powers of discrimination
[II/D] needed to pursue concentration and discernment to the most heightened levels,
beyond what is needed for a general sense of peace or spontaneity. The abandoning
involves uprooting the most deeply buried forms of clinging and attachment that
keep one bound to the cycle of rebirth. Some of these forms of clinging -- such
as views and theories about self-identity -- are so entrenched in the narrative
and cosmological modes in which most people function that only firm conviction
in the benefits to be had by abandoning them will be able to pry them loose. This
is why the Buddha insisted repeatedly -- and we will have occasion to return to
this theme at several points in this book [II/E; III/A] -- that conviction in
the fact of his Awakening necessarily involves conviction in the principle of
kamma, and that both forms of conviction are needed for the full mastery of the
kamma of heightened skillfulness leading to release.
There are many well-known passages in the Canon where the Buddha asks his listeners
not to accept his teachings simply on faith, but these remarks were directed to
people just beginning the practice. Such people need only accept the general principles
of skillful action on a trial basis, focusing on the input that their actions
are putting into the causal system at the present moment, and exploring the connection
between skillful intentions and favorable results. The more complex issues of
kamma come into play at this level only in forcing one to be patient with the
practice. Many times skillful intentions do not produce their favorable results
immediately, aside from the sense of well-being -- sometimes clearly perceptible,
sometimes barely -- that comes with acting skillfully. Were it not for this delay,
the principle of kamma would be self-evident, no one would dare act on unskillful
intentions, and there would be no need to take the principle on faith. As we noted
in the Introduction, the complexity of this/that conditionality is the major cause
for confusion and lack of skill with which most people live their lives. The ability
to master this process takes time.
As one progresses further on the path, however -- and as the process of developing
skillfulness in and of itself comes more and more to take center stage in one's
awareness -- the actual results of one's developing skillfulness should give greater
and greater reason for conviction in the principle of kamma. Except in cases where
people fall into the trap of heedlessness or complacency, these results can spur
and inspire one to hold to the principle of kamma with the increasing levels of
firmness, focus, and refinement needed for Awakening.
Passages from the Pali Canon
§ 8.
Phenomena are preceded by the heart,
ruled by the heart,
made of the heart.
If you speak or act with a corrupted heart,
then suffering follows you --
as the wheel of the cart
follows
the track of the ox that pulls it.
Phenomena are preceded by the heart,
ruled by the heart,
made of the heart.
If you speak or act with a calm, bright heart,
then happiness follows you,
like a shadow
that never leaves.
-- DHP.1-2
§ 9. Beings are the owners of their kamma, heir to their kamma, born of
their kamma, related through their kamma, and have their kamma as their refuge.
Kamma is what creates distinctions among beings in terms of coarseness &
refinement...
There is the case where a certain woman or man is one who takes life -- brutal,
bloody-handed, violent, cruel, merciless to living beings. From performing &
undertaking such kamma, then on the break-up of the body, after death, this
person re-appears in the plane of deprivation, the bad destination, the lower
realms, in hell. Or, if he/she does not reappear in the plane of deprivation...
in hell, but instead returns to the human state, then wherever he/she is reborn,
he/she is short-lived. This is the way leading to short life, namely being one
who takes life...
But there is the case where a certain woman or man, abandoning the taking of
life, abstains from the taking of life, dwelling with rod laid down, knife laid
down, scrupulous, merciful, compassionate for the welfare of all living beings.
From performing & undertaking such kamma, then on the break-up of the body,
after death, this person re-appears in the good destinations, in the heavenly
world. Or, if he/she does not reappear... in the heavenly world, but instead
returns to the human state, then wherever he/she is reborn, he/she is long-lived.
This is the way leading to long life, namely being one who, abandoning the taking
of life, abstains from the taking of life...
Furthermore, there is the case where a certain woman or man has a tendency to
injure living beings with the hand, with a clod, with a stick, or with a knife...
On the break-up of the body, after death, this person re-appears in the plane
of deprivation... in hell. Or, if he/she... instead returns to the human state,
then wherever he/she is reborn, he/she is sickly. This is the way leading to
being sickly, namely being one who has a tendency to injure living beings...
But there is the case where a certain woman or man does not have a tendency
to injure living beings... This is the way leading to being healthy...
Furthermore, there is the case where a certain woman or man has an angry &
irritable nature. Even when lightly criticized, he/she gets offended, provoked,
hostile, & resentful, and displays annoyance, aversion, & bitterness...
This is the way leading to being ugly...
But there is the case where a certain woman or man does not have an angry &
irritable nature. Even when heavily criticized, he/she does not get offended,
provoked, hostile, or resentful, and displays no annoyance, aversion, or bitterness...
This is the way leading to being beautiful...
Furthermore, there is the case where a certain woman or man has an envious nature
-- envying, resenting, & begrudging the fortune, honor, respect, reverence,
salutations, & veneration received by others... This is the way leading
to having little authority...
But there is the case where a certain woman or man does not have an envious
nature -- neither envying, resenting, nor begrudging the fortune, honor, respect,
reverence, salutations, & veneration received by others... This is the way
leading to having great authority...
Furthermore, there is the case where a certain woman or man does not give food,
drink, clothing, vehicles, garlands, scents, ointments, beds, dwellings, or
lamps to priests or contemplatives... This is the way leading to being poor...
But there is the case where a certain woman or man gives food, drink, clothing,
vehicles, garlands, scents, ointments, beds, dwellings, & lamps to priests
& contemplatives... This is the way leading to being wealthy...
Furthermore, there is the case where a certain woman or man is obstinate &
arrogant, not paying homage to those who deserve homage, not rising up for those
in whose presence one should rise up, not offering a seat to those who deserve
a seat, not making way for those for whom one should make way, not honoring,
respecting, revering, or venerating those who should be honored... venerated.
This is the way leading to being reborn in a low birth...
But there is the case where a certain woman or man is not obstinate or arrogant,
who pays homage to those who deserve homage, rises up for those in whose presence
one should rise up, offers a seat to those who deserve a seat, makes way for
those for whom one should make way, honors, respects, reveres, & venerates
those who should be honored... venerated. This is the way leading to being reborn
in a high birth...
Furthermore, there is the case where a certain woman or man, having approached
a priest or contemplative, does not ask, "What, venerable sir, is skillful?
What is unskillful? What is blameworthy? What is blameless? What is to be cultivated?
What is not to be cultivated? What kind of action will lead to my long-term
harm & suffering? What kind of action will lead to my long-term welfare
& happiness?"... This is the way leading to having weak discernment...
But there is the case where a certain woman or man, having approached a priest
or contemplative, asks, "What, venerable sir, is skillful? What is unskillful?
What is blameworthy? What is blameless? What is to be cultivated? What is not
to be cultivated? What kind of action will lead to my long-term harm & suffering?
What kind of action will lead to my long-term welfare & happiness?"...
This is the way leading to having great discernment...
Beings are the owners of their kamma, heir to their kamma, born of their kamma,
related through their kamma, and have their kamma as their refuge. Kamma is
what creates distinctions among beings in terms of coarseness & refinement.
-- M.135
§ 10. 'Kamma should be known. The cause by which kamma comes into play
should be known. The diversity in kamma should be known. The result of kamma
should be known. The cessation of kamma should be known. The path of practice
leading to the cessation of kamma should be known.' Thus it has been said. Why
was it said?
Intention, I tell you, is kamma. Intending, one does kamma by way of body, speech,
& intellect.
And what is the cause by which kamma comes into play? Contact...
And what is the diversity in kamma? There is kamma to be experienced in hell,
kamma to be experienced in the realm of common animals, kamma to be experienced
in the realm of the hungry shades, kamma to be experienced in the human world,
kamma to be experienced in the heavenly worlds. [In the Buddhist cosmology,
sojourns in hell or in heaven, as in the other realms, are not eternal. After
the force of one's kamma leading to rebirth in those levels has worn out, one
is reborn elsewhere.]...
And what is the result of kamma? The result of kamma is of three sorts, I tell
you: that which arises right here & now, that which arises later [in this
lifetime], and that which arises following that...
And what is the cessation of kamma? From the cessation of contact is the cessation
of kamma; and just this noble eightfold path -- right view, right resolve, right
speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right
concentration -- is the path of practice leading to the cessation of kamma.
Now when a disciple of the noble ones discerns kamma in this way, the cause
by which kamma comes into play in this way, the diversity of kamma in this way,
the result of kamma in this way, the cessation of kamma in this way, & the
path of practice leading to the cessation of kamma in this way, then he discerns
this penetrative holy life as the cessation of kamma.
'Kamma should be known. The cause by which kamma comes into play... The diversity
in kamma... The result of kamma... The cessation of kamma... The path of practice
for the cessation of kamma should be known.' Thus it has been said, and this
is why it was said.
-- A.VI.63
§ 11. There are four kinds of person to be found in the world. Which four?
There is the case where a certain person takes life, takes what is not given
(steals), engages in illicit sex, lies, speaks divisively, speaks harshly, engages
in idle chatter; is covetous, has a hostile mind, & holds wrong views. On
the break-up of the body, after death, he reappears in the plane of deprivation,
the bad destination, the lower realms, in hell.
But there is also the case where a certain person takes life... holds wrong
views [yet], on the break-up of the body, after death, he reappears in the good
destinations, in the heavenly world.
And there is the case where a certain person abstains from taking life, abstains
from taking what is not given... is not covetous, does not have a hostile mind,
& holds right views. On the break-up of the body, after death, he reappears
in the good destinations, in the heavenly world.
But there is also the case where a certain person abstains from taking life,
abstains from taking what is not given... is not covetous, does not have a hostile
mind, & holds right views [yet], on the break-up of the body, after death,
he reappears in the plane of deprivation, the bad destination, the lower realms,
in hell...
In the case of the person who takes life...[yet] on the break-up of the body,
after death, reappears in the good destinations, in the heavenly world: either
earlier he performed fine kamma that is to be felt as pleasant, or later he
performed fine kamma that is to be felt as pleasant, or at the time of death
he acquired & adopted right views. Because of that, on the break-up of the
body, after death, he reappears in the good destinations, in the heavenly world.
But as for the results of taking life... holding wrong views, he will feel them
either right here & now, or later [in this lifetime], or following that...
In the case of the person who abstains from taking life... but on the break-up
of the body, after death, reappears in the plane of deprivation, the bad destination,
the lower realms, in hell: either earlier he performed evil kamma that is to
be felt as painful, or later he performed evil kamma that is to be felt as painful,
or at the time of death he acquired & adopted wrong views. Because of that,
on the break-up of the body, after death, he reappears in the plane of deprivation,
the bad destination, the lower realms, in hell. But as for the results of abstaining
from taking life... holding right views, he will feel them either right here
& now, or later [in this lifetime], or following that...
-- M.136
§ 12. These four imponderables are not to be speculated about. Whoever
speculates about them would go mad & experience vexation. Which four? The
Buddha-range of the Buddhas [i.e., the range of powers a Buddha develops as
a result of becoming a Buddha]... The jhana-range of one absorbed in jhana [i.e.,
the range of powers that one may obtain while absorbed in jhana]... The results
of kamma... Speculation about [the first moment, purpose, etc., of] the cosmos
is an imponderable that is not to be speculated about. Whoever speculates about
these things would go mad & experience vexation.
-- A.IV.77
§ 13. The Buddha: 'For anyone who says, "In whatever way a person
makes kamma, that is how it is experienced," there is no living of the
holy life, there is no opportunity for the right ending of stress. But for anyone
who says, "When a person makes kamma to be felt in such & such a way,
that is how its result is experienced," there is the living of the holy
life, there is the opportunity for the right ending of stress.
'There is the case where a trifling evil deed done by a certain individual takes
him to hell. There is the case where the very same sort of trifling deed done
by another individual is experienced in the here & now, and for the most
part barely appears for a moment.
'Now, a trifling evil deed done by what sort of individual takes him to hell?
There is the case where a certain individual is undeveloped in [contemplating]
the body, undeveloped in virtue, undeveloped in mind, undeveloped in discernment:
restricted, small-hearted, dwelling with suffering. A trifling evil act done
by this sort of individual takes him to hell.
'Now, a trifling evil deed done by what sort of individual is experienced in
the here & now, and for the most part barely appears for a moment? There
is the case where a certain individual is developed in [contemplating] the body,
developed in virtue, developed in mind, developed in discernment: unrestricted,
large-hearted, dwelling with the unlimited. A trifling evil act done by this
sort of individual is experienced in the here & now, and for the most part
barely appears for a moment.
'Suppose that a man were to drop a salt crystal into a small amount of water
in a cup. What do you think? Would the water in the cup become salty because
of the salt crystal, and unfit to drink?'
'Yes, lord...'
'Now suppose that a man were to drop a salt crystal into the River Ganges. What
do you think? Would the water in the River Ganges become salty because of the
salt crystal, and unfit to drink?'
'No, lord...'
'In the same way, there is the case where a trifling evil deed done by one individual
[the first] takes him to hell; and there is the case where the very same sort
of trifling deed done by the other individual is experienced in the here &
now, and for the most part barely appears for a moment.'
-- A.III.99
§ 14. Moliyasivaka: There are some priests & contemplatives who are
of this doctrine, this view: Whatever an individual feels -- pleasure, pain,
neither-pleasure-nor-pain -- is entirely caused by what was done before. Now
what does the Ven. Gotama say to that?
The Buddha: There are cases where some feelings arise based on bile [i.e., diseases
and pains that come from a malfunction of the gall bladder]. You yourself should
know how some feelings arise based on bile. Even the world is agreed on how
some feelings arise based on bile. So any priests & contemplatives who are
of the doctrine & view that whatever an individual feels -- pleasure, pain,
neither-pleasure-nor-pain -- is entirely caused by what was done before -- slip
past what they themselves know, slip past what is agreed on by the world. Therefore
I say that those priests & contemplatives are wrong.
There are cases where some feelings arise based on phlegm... based on internal
winds... based on a combination of bodily humors... from the change of the seasons...
from uneven ('out-of-tune') care of the body... from attacks... from the result
of kamma. You yourself should know how some feelings arise from the result of
kamma. Even the world is agreed on how some feelings arise from the result of
kamma. So any priests & contemplatives who are of the doctrine & view
that whatever an individual feels -- pleasure, pain, neither pleasure-nor-pain
-- is entirely caused by what was done before -- slip past what they themselves
know, slip past what is agreed on by the world. Therefore I say that those priests
& contemplatives are wrong.
-- S.XXXVI.21
§ 15. What, monks, is old kamma? The eye is to be seen as old kamma, fabricated
& willed, capable of being felt. The ear... The nose... The tongue... The
body... The intellect is to be seen as old kamma, fabricated & willed, capable
of being felt. This is called old kamma.
And what is new kamma? Whatever kamma one does now with the body, with speech,
or with the intellect. This is called new kamma.
And what is the cessation of kamma? Whoever touches the release that comes from
the cessation of bodily kamma, verbal kamma, & mental kamma. That is called
the cessation of kamma.
And what is the path of practice leading to the cessation of kamma? Just this
noble eightfold path... This is called the path of practice leading to the cessation
of kamma.
-- S.XXXV.145
§ 16. These four types of kamma have been understood, realized, & made
known by me. Which four? There is kamma that is black with black result; kamma
that is white with white result; kamma that is black & white with black
& white result; and kamma that is neither black nor white with neither black
nor white result, leading to the ending of kamma.
And what is kamma that is black with black result? There is the case where a
certain person fabricates an injurious bodily fabrication... an injurious verbal
fabrication... an injurious mental fabrication... He rearises in an injurious
world where he is touched by injurious contacts... He experiences feelings that
are exclusively painful, like those of the beings in hell. This is called kamma
that is black with black result.
And what is kamma that is white with white result? There is the case where a
certain person fabricates an uninjurious bodily fabrication... an uninjurious
verbal fabrication... an uninjurious mental fabrication... He rearises in an
uninjurious world where he is touched by uninjurious contacts... He experiences
feelings that are exclusively pleasant, like those of the Ever-radiant Devas.
This is called kamma that is white with white result.
And what is kamma that is black & white with black & white result? There
is the case where a certain person fabricates a bodily fabrication that is injurious
& uninjurious... a verbal fabrication that is injurious & uninjurious...
a mental fabrication that is injurious & uninjurious... He rearises in an
injurious & uninjurious world where he is touched by injurious & uninjurious
contacts... He experiences injurious & uninjurious feelings, pleasure mingled
with pain, like those of human beings, some devas, and some beings in the lower
realms. This is called kamma that is black & white with black & white
result.
And what is kamma that is neither black nor white with neither black nor white
result, leading to the ending of kamma? The intention right there to abandon
this kamma that is black with black result, the intention right there to abandon
this kamma that is white with white result, the intention right there to abandon
this kamma that is black & white with black & white result. This is
called kamma that is neither black nor white with neither black nor white result,
leading to the ending of kamma.
-- A.IV.232
[A related discourse repeats most of the above, defining black kamma with black
result with the following example: "There is the case of a certain person
who kills living beings, steals what is not given, engages in illicit sex, tells
lies, and drinks fermented & distilled liquors that are the basis for heedlessness,"
and white kamma with white result with the following example: "There is
the case of a certain person who abstains from killing living beings, abstains
from stealing what is not given, abstains from engaging in illicit sex, abstains
from telling lies, and abstains from drinking fermented & distilled liquors
that are the basis for heedlessness."]
-- A.IV.234
§ 17. And what is kamma that is neither black nor white with neither black
nor white result, leading to the ending of kamma? Right view, right resolve,
right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness,
right concentration.
-- A.IV.237
[The discourse immediately following this is identical to this except that it
replaces the above factors of the noble eightfold path with the following seven
factors for Awakening: mindfulness as a factor for Awakening, analysis of qualities...
persistence... rapture... serenity... concentration... equanimity as a factor
for Awakening.]
-- A.IV.238