Karma, Kamma, Vipaka and Rebirth
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Posted by Lao Long in Religion section |
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Hindu Karma should not be confused with Buddhist Kamma.
Kamma is the emotional impulse that is behind our actions. The mental picture we carry of the world and what we meet in it, results in subtle and not so subtle emotions which initiates our thoughts and motivates our actions. This emotion is kamma. When your mind is perfectly calm, there is no kamma.
In Buddhist terms, kamma or emotion, is considered unskillful. All emotion, (feelings of love or hate*), any outward physical or verbal display, is considered unskillful behaviour, i.e., bad kamma.
The control of one’s emotions is considered as skilful, competent, good and as such, skillful behaviour which, coupled with a pragmatic approach to problem solving, brings happiness and harmony and progress along the Noble path, i.e., good kamma.
(It is a question of being “skillful” with one’s emotions. Expressing the “right amount” at the “right time and place”. Buddhism is not about being cold and unemotional, but rather ‘skillful, wise - a mature personality.)
The behaviour of a person is an _expression of his dispositions.
Kamma is not the result of emotion or action, Vipaka is the result.
(* In the west, the display of emotion is considered good worthy, honest satisfy one’s impulses!However, Freud also considered all emotion as self-centred. In Buddhism, emotion is considered to be
harmful and can lead to conflict with others; eros and even filial love are kammic, only agape love is non-kamma forming !)
The law of Karma
At the centre of all rationality is Karma, the law of Cause and Effect, the Law of the Universe. We mould and change this world by the actions we take. We are forming future circumstances, now. At a personal level, it is widely accepted that good actions produce good effects and bad actions produce bad effects due to their own natural law. There is also a Karmic force or momentum of habit to continue on and do good (or bad) actions thieves get caught eventually!
The Law of Karma is not a law of reward or punishment or one that establishes so-called moral justice. This idea comes from the concept that there is a supreme being, a God who sits in judgement, who is a law-giver and who decides on what is right and wrong.
Buddhists consider that karmic effects, or effects of emotional behavior - vipaka, can be experienced even in a life after death. When the body stops functioning these energies and effects continue on. The thirst to exist, or to continue on, is a tremendous force which shapes lives and even the whole world. This continuity after death is called Re-birth. It is a Re-birth of energy or activity called person and not a reincarnation of an entity called soul.
Motto:
The Gift of Truth, which Leads to Wisdom, is the Greatest of All Gifts”
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