2.2. The influence of Karma and Rebirth

Prior to the time of the Buddha, the basic idea of karma and rebirth had been expressed in the early Brāhmaṇical-Hindu compositions known as Upaniṣads. Here, though, there was as much emphasis on karma or actions being ritually right as on their being ethically right. In Buddhism, though, the ethical aspect of action is strongly emphasized as the relevant factor in causing karmic results.

At his enlightenment, the Buddha gained direct knowledge of rebirth, karma and the Four Holy Truths. One word used for the cycle of rebirths is saṃsāra, ‘wandering on’, which indicates that the process is seen as a long and often aimless process.^[1] The Buddhist view, in fact is that there is known beginning to the cycle of rebirths and the world: ‘inconceivable is any beginning of this saṃsāra, an earliest point is not discerned of beings who, obstructed by spiritual ignorance and fettered by craving, run and wander on’.^[2] In one early text, the Buddha says that to believe in these principles, and so live a moral life, will lead to a good rebirth if rebirth exists.^[3]

According to the rules of karma, a good cause leads to a good result and a bad cause leads to a bad result. Thus we should always try to do good however trivial it may seem. We should also always try to restrain ourselves from harming anyone however small our actions may appear to be. However, when we try to break free of the chain of karma once and for all, we must also free ourselves from all attachments to the notions of good and bad actions.

According to Buddhist teachings on rebirth, you can be born as one of those animals in your next birth. One of those animals may be your dead mother, father or a loved one. Some Buddhists believe that if a person is reborn as an animal, this is a result of that person’s unskillful actions from a previous life. This suggests that animals are spiritually inferior to humans. Human souls could be reborn as animals if they had behaved badly, with all souls regarded as part of the Supreme Being. Failing to observe the duty to care could lead to bad karma, which increased the likelihood of returning as an animal next time round’.^[4]

Actions can also lead to karmic fruits in a human life. This might be the present life, or a future human life, be this one’s next life, or one that comes after one or more other types of rebirth. Karma works sort of like a bank account. Beings that have caused bad karma are reborn as lesser beings (animals, demons); those who follow the moral precepts and spread good karma will be reborn as higher beings (gods, humans). When lesser beings pay off their “debts”, they can be reborn as humans. Since human beings are in the best position for enlightenment, this is the most desired level. As the Buddha explained in the Śuraṅgama Sūtra, “If he is a person with strength, blessings, and virtue, then once he is in the human realm, he will not have to lose his human rebirth after what is owed him is restored.

But if he lacks blessings, the he will return to the animal to continue repaying his debts.”^[5]

This traditional equanimity-meditation helps us remember the truth of the nature of impermanence and cause and effect: “All beings are owners of their actions, heirs of their actions, born of their actions, related through their actions, and have their actions as their arbitrator. Action is what differentiates beings in terms of baseness & excellence.”^[6] When we kill, we increase and perpetuate the bad karma of the killing karma. This bad karma will come back to us in this life or the next, but certainly has a more immediate effect on the being that we have just killed. Spreading the killing karma affects the whole so much that it collects and perpetuates, eventually leading to wars in the future.

The Buddha said:

“There is the case, student, where a woman or man is a killer of living beings, brutal, bloody-handed, given to killing and slaying, showing no mercy to living beings. Through having adopted and carried out such actions, on the break-up of the body, after death, he reappears in the plane of deprivation, the bad destination, the lower realms, hell. If, on the break-up of the body, after death instead of reappearing in the plane of deprivation, the bad destination, the lower realms, hell he comes to the human state, then he is short-lived wherever reborn. This is the way leading to a short life: to be a killer of living beings, brutal, bloody-handed, given to killing and slaying, showing no mercy to living beings.”^[7]

And “But then there is the case where a woman or man is not one who harms beings with his fists, with clods, with sticks, or with knives. Through having adopted and carried out such actions, on the break-up of the body, after death, he reappears in a good destination... If instead he comes to the human state, then he is healthy wherever reborn. This is the way leading to health: not to be one who harms beings with one’s fists, with clods, with sticks, or with knives.”^[8]

Generally speaking, reincarnation of ordinary sentient being may be divided into two kinds, although it is important to member that each individual is a unique case. There is the ordinary death without anything positive or negative during moment of death. People who experience this kind of death reincarnate with their past karma in complete control, because there has been no special influence during the moment of dead if there is a strong influence of a positive or negative sort that will override past karma. That is the second category reincarnation, in which positive or negative thoughts direct individual mind into a more positive or more negative rebirth.

In cosmological terms, the animals were believed to inhabit a distinct world, separated from humans not by space but by state of mind. Rebirth as an animal was considered to be one of the unhappy rebirths, usually involving more than human suffering. Buddhist commentarial texts depict many sufferings associated with the animal world, even where no human beings are present, they are attacked and eaten by other animals or live in fear of it, they endure extreme changes of environment throughout the year, and they have no security of habitation. Those that live among humans are often slaughtered for their bodies, or taken and forced to work with many beatings until they are slaughtered at the end of their lives. On top of this, they suffer from ignorance, not knowing or understanding what is happening to them with any clarity, and unable to do very much about it, acting primarily on instinct. A person who kills living creatures and has no compassion for them would, on account of that behavior, be reborn in an evil state after death. If he was reborn in an evil state and as a human, he would be short-lived.^[9]

There are three types of action: bodily actions, verbal actions, and mental actions. Since our bodily and verbal actions are always initiated by our mental actions, or intentions, ultimately the six realms are created by our mind. For example, a hell realm is a place that arises as a result of the worst actions, such as murder or extreme mental. As Śāntideva says in Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, “Those who regard themselves as high and others as low will be reborn in the lower realms. If they are later reborn as human beings, they will be servants or of a low class.”^[10]

As a result of regarding ourselves as superior and others as inferior we perform many negative actions that will later ripen as rebirth in the lower realms. Due to this haughty attitude, even when we finally take rebirth again as a human being we shall be of a low social status, living like a servant or slave. Buddhism links karma directly to the motives behind an action.

Motivation usually makes the difference between “good” and “bad” actions, but included in the motivation is also the aspect of ignorance such that a well-intended action from an ignorant mind can subsequently be interpreted as a “bad” action in the sense that it creates unpleasant results for the “actor”. Depending on how we act, we may experience ‘heavenly’ or ‘hellish’ states of mind.^[11]

Master Hsing Yun suggests that some people are reincarnated into one of the six until we get off, until we obtain liberation, Nirvāṇa. We will go up and down in each one of our lives without choice according to the karma that manifest when we die. Buddha calls it the karma that ripens when we die.^[12]

According to Buddhist theory, we are born and reborn countless numbers of times, and it is conceivable that each being has been our parent at one time or another. In this way all beings in the universe share a family relationship.

In Buddhism, according to karma, one who do good action, he will get good fruit. Such as long time ago, Bodhisattva practice pāramitā, he gave his material goods and his body for anyone who needs anything. After he die, he reborn in the heaven realm. If karma is interpreted in a very mechanical manner, it, too, can be seen as a fatalistic teaching. Fatalistic interpretations of karma were advocated by a number of non-Buddhist groups. Buddhists, by interpreting karma through the teaching of Dependent Origination, affirmed free will and the value of religious practice. If the Self is considered to be a permanent and substantial entity, then it cannot change and cannot be affected by the fruits of a person’s actions. If the causal relations that affect a person are not acknowledged, then the causal laws governing karma also cannot be recognized. Consequently, Buddhists applied the Middle Way between annihilationist and eternalist positions and their teachings concerning Dependent Origination to karma and thereby refuted fatalistic theories of karma.^[13]

Buddhist ethics are based on the principle that certain actions (karma) result in certain effects; in short, they are based on the Law of Causality (Paṭiccasamupāda). As has been seen the five precepts (pañcasīla) ensures our security in society. Also, to a great extent, the fact that good actions lead to beneficial results and that bad actions lead to suffering is observable in daily life and we are able to know this experientially.

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

Peter Harvey, An Introduction to Buddhism: Teaching, History and Practices, New Delhi: Foundation Books Pvt. Ltd, 2005: 32.

[2]:

S. II.178.

[3]:

Peter Harvey, Op. Cit. 44.

[4]:

Peter Harvey, Op. Cit. 15.

[5]:

Hsuan Hua, The Shurangama Sutra: Sutra Text and Supplements, Malaysia: Buddhist Text Translation Society, 2003: 231.

[6]:

Joan Halifax, Ira Byock, Being with Dying: Cultivating Compassion and Fearlessness in the Presence of Death, Boston: Shambhala Publications, Inc, 2008: 44. See. Bhikkhu Bodhi, In the Buddha’s Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon, USA: Wisdom Publications, Inc, 2005: 162. See, M. 135.

[7]:

M.I.135.

[8]:

Ibid.

[9]:

David J. Kalupahana, Buddhist Philosophy: A Historical Analysis, Honolulu: Hawaii, 1977: 49.

[10]:

Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, Eight Steps to Happiness: The Buddhist Way of Loving Kindness, USA: Tharpa Publications, 2003: 59–60.

[11]:

Peter Harvey, Op. Cit. 45.

[12]:

Wynand Goosen, Affecting Deep Level Change in the Devine Matrix: Metaphysics, Germany: GRIN Verlag, 2009: 15.

[13]:

Akira Hirakawa, A History of Indian Buddhism: From Śākyamuni to Early Mahāyāna, (trans.) Paul Groner, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1998: 188.