Part 4 - How Pāramītā creates good wholesome Kamma

The Bodhisattva’s Pāramītā is not a concept, but it is a logical practice of principles determining the worth of human action in daily life. In this method the most popular dogma of Kamma is turn of the whole system of Jātaka. Practice of Pāramītā which create good wholesome Kamma. The underlying revelation behind the Jātaka stories is that the Bodhisattva too achieved Buddhahood after he had accumulated enough good Kammas over a period of many births. Some of the benefits of the good Kamma are birth in fortunate circumstances, opportunity to live according to the Dhamma and happiness. On the other hand some of the disadvantages of the bad Kamma are birth in unfortunate circumstances.

Bad unwholesome Kamma are set as three sections as:

Three caused by actions:
i) Killing
ii) Stealing
iii) Sexual misconduct 

Four caused by speech: 
i) Lying
ii) Slander
iii) Harsh speech
iv) Frivolous talk

Three caused by mind:
i) Attachment
ii) Ill will
iii) Ignorance

In Buddhism, the word Kamma is taken as an action motivated by volition, born from

volition, done by volition; that is why Buddha has said—

“cetanāhaṃ, bhikkhave, kammaṃ vadāmi”34. 

Buddhism divides the Kamma into four categories with reference to its time of operation:^[1]

1) Diṭṭhadhammavedanīya—immediately effective kamma which produces fruit in this life.
2) Upapajjavedanīya—subsequently effective kamma which produces fruit in the next life.
3) Aparaparivedanīya—indefinitely effective kamma which produces fruit in any of the future lives.
4) Ahosikamma-ineffective kamma; Buddhism has classified the kamma according to the priority of effect.

i) Janaka kamma—reproductive kamma which conditions rebirth. It’s the last thought which is called reproductive kamma which determines the state of a person in his subsequent good or bad birth.

ii) Upatthambhaka Kamma—Supportive kamma which maintains the results of other kamma. Not strong enough to give result itself. It supports reproductive kamma in the course of one’s lifetime. For example, a good birth will be accompanied with good supportive kamma with good health and happiness. A bad birth will be accompanied with bad supportive kamma with bad health and sufferings.

iii) Upapīraka kamma—obstructive or counter-active kamma which suppresses or modifies the result of other kamma. Unlike the former, this counteractive kamma weakens, interrupts and retards the fruition of reproductive kamma. For example, a person with good birth may have ailments that prevent him to enjoy the bliss. Or an animal may have good counteractive kamma and live a comfortable life.

iv) Upaghātaka kamma—destructive kamma which destroys the force of other kamma. This is strong enough to oppose or neutralize other kammas, waiting for an opportunity to operate. This destructive kamma can be good or bad. For example, Devadatta tried to kill Buddha and caused schism, though has good reproductive kamma resulting in royal birth, supportive kamma with comfort and prosperity in life, counteractive kamma resulted in himself being excommunicated from the Saṅgha and the destructive kamma resulted in a miserable end.

v) Garu kamma—serious kamma which produces its result in this very life or in the next. This is either weighty or serious kamma which can be good or bad. It produces results in this life or in the next for certain. If it is good, it is purely mental as in the case of achievement of Jhāṇa. It can be bad kamma if there are matricides, parricides, murder of arahant, wounding the Buddha and creation of schism in the Saṅgha. For example, Devadatta lost his psychic power and born in evil state because he wounded the Buddha and caused schism in the Saṅgha.

vi) Āsanna kamma—death proximate kamma which one does at the moment before death. If there is no heavy kamma then this determines the next rebirth. This is what one does or remembers immediately before the moment of dying. It plays a part in determining the future birth. Hence many Buddhist countries have customs and traditions to remind the dying person of the good deeds he has done and make him do good acts on his death bed. Sometimes a bad person may die happily and receive good birth if he remembers or does a good act at the last moment.

vii) Āciṇṇa kamma—habitual kamma is any action that one does very often. In the absence of death-proximate kamma this determines the next rebirth. This is what was constantly performed and recollected every day or every week by the dying person. At death moment unless influenced by other circumstances, one usually recalls to mind one’s habitual deeds. For example, an executioner may die yelling because he conducts executions of prisoners sentenced to death for a living.

viii) Katattā kamma—cumulative kamma which is the last in the priority of giving results. This determines the next birth in the absence of habitual kamma. This literally means “because done” . All actions not included above and those actions soon forgotten belong to this category. This is the reserve fund of a particular being throughout his life.

Good and bad Kamma are distinguished by the roots of the actions. Jātaka stories as well as Buddhism shows that any living beings are the products of ignorance conjoined with craving and that the difference between them are the consequences of Past Kamma. Though every being’s Kamma is separated and individual. So long as a man refuses to become submerged in the herd, So long as he resists the pressure that is constantly brought upon him to make him share the mass mind and take on the identity of mass activities. They are the master their own destiny. Kamma is the condition of rebirth. Past Kamma is the condition of present rebirth and present Kamma in combination with past Kamma, condition the future. The present is the offspring of the past, and becomes, in turn, the present of the future. After the death of a human being, the nature of the succeeding life-continuum is determined by the morally wholesome or unwholesome mental impulse that arises in their last conscious moment, which follows it being their rebirth-linking consciousness (Paṭisandhi viññāna).^[2]

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

The Buddha and His teaching, Narada Thera, p. 367f.

[2]:

Buddha is said to have agreed with the cycle of Birth and Rebirth which depended upon the merits and demerits of the Kamma. In ancient India, many religious treatises support the concept of Rebirth. But the teachings of the Buddha on the question of the Rebirth are somewhat different. His teachings do not advocate the transmigration of the soul, but believe in the theory of Rebirth. In Brāhmanical faith, Rebirth is directly connected with the soul, which never dies but leaves a body after death, whereas Buddhism does not believe in the indestructibility of the soul. According to the Abhidhammakośa of Vasuvandhu, there is nothing as a soul, which is indestructible or everlasting. It is only through one’s actions and deeds that one is reborn like lighting a lamp with the other. Thus according to the Buddhist philosophy, Rebirth takes place without transmigration of the soul. Jātakas in Buddhist thought and Art. B. Subrahmanyam, p.28.