When we speak of the “Law of Karma” to a Westerner, he will,
without much ado, approve of such a law. It makes sense to him “that good deeds
bring merit and evil deeds demerit”; because it conforms with his own Christian
belief of retribution that “Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap.”
But as soon as we go a step further and speak of “Samsara" the Wheel of
life, of “Rebirth”, he may only respond with a sceptical smile; because he is
accustomed to think in terms of one single life on Earth followed by a hereafter
in eternal peace in Heaven or an eternal hereafter in Hell.
Yet if one does acknowledge the Law of Karma as immensely reasonable
and just, one cannot avoid accepting at the same time and eo ipso the axiom of
“Rebirth”. Karma and Rebirth are inseparably bound together, and the one
without the other makes no sense, and is impossible.
To understand KARMA and REBIRTH let us now recall the
Enlightenment of the Buddha under the Holy Bodhi-tree. In the first watch of
that momentous night the Buddha turned his mind towards the recollection and
recognition of his previous modes of existence and his various lets in former lives.
Then he recalled the periods of many a world arising; then the periods of many
a world-destruction—and his first discovery was that he could find no first
beginning of his personal life nor any beginning of the Universe. All he saw
was the endless round of birth and death; the endless chain of his by-gone
personalities in the many worlds he had lived. “All ‘Becoming’ was seen as
without substance, put together, unstable, changeable. Having seen this complete
Becoming of myself, I attained to Peace.
In the middle watch of his Enlightenment he directed his thoughts
towards the perception of the disappearing and reappearing of beings. With his “Celestial
Eye” he beheld beings reappear according to their deeds. “These precious
beings, alas, are given to things evil in deeds, words and thoughts. They
revile the Noble Ones, hold perverted views; and following perverted ways incur
an evil lot. At the dissolution of the body, after death, they depart upon a
sorry journey, downward to loss in the world of the hells. These precious
beings, however are given to the good in deeds, words and thoughts. They do not
revile the Noble Ones; they hold right views; and following righteous courses
earn a happy lot. At the breaking up of the body, after death, they fare forth
upon a happy journey and come to the heaven-world”.
Thus, in his second watch the Buddha became cognizant of “The
Law of Karma”. All beings are reborn according to their evil or good deeds.
In the third and last watch, the Buddha discovered the means
by which the “Wheel of Life”, “the Circle of Rebirth” can be brought to a
standstill and deliverance from Rebirth and all Suffering can be attained by
removing its cause, namely, the “Craving for Becoming” and Attachment to Self
and to Illusion ; the cleaving to existing objects. He became cognizant how
Ignorance of the fact that everything is transient, miserable, and non- self-contained,
leads to our attachment to the idea of Self which creates in us the desire for
further existence, and how the “Craving for Existence”, in the moment of death,
causes us to grasp a new body endowed with consciousness, and thus leads to
Rebirth.
Thus, clinging to existence, this craving for Becoming, is
so intense and powerful that at the moment of death it causes a new being to
come into existence. It should be noted here, that nothing material nor any
“Soul” goes over at the moment of death to the new being; but the new being
comes into existence simply by the force of this clinging to existence. “Just
as a candle is lighted by another one”, in exactly the same way Rebirth takes place.
The desire of Becoming (Bhava Tanha) is the driving force, the moral cause of Rebirth,
while Karma is exactly that which is reborn, reincarnated. In Buddhist
philosophy, Karma is the total sum, the result, the fruits of our deeds,
thoughts and words ; the effects of our will-actions, which not only are reincarnated
but also determine the nature of the new being and the realm into which he will
be reborn. Whatsoever that world is in which he is reborn and his state
therein, depends on his will-actions generated in his previous lives."
In other words, I am the essence of my Karma. My Karma is my
creator, the father of my past, and I the creator of my present and future
Karma. I am master of my own destiny. “By oneself evil is done; by oneself one
suffers; by oneself evil is left undone; by oneself one is purified.” (Dhammapada).
And again, “Not in the sky, not in the midst of the sea, nor anywhere else on
earth is there a spot where a man may be freed from an evil deed ".
Although, I have been born in dependence of my previous
Karma, in this new life of mine I can modify my future Karma and make it a
better and nobler one. Although man creates his own individual Karma, whatever he
does will have its effect on his environment, too. Thus, he at the same time
has a common family-Karma, a racial, a national Karma or a group-Karma. The
good he does will not only benefit himself but all others who live with and
around him, that is, all sentient beings. And vice versa, evil will not be suffered
by himself alone.
An understanding of the Law of Karma gives a man self- reliance.
It makes him complain less about his misfortune and bad circumstances as he is
solely responsible for what happens to him. Karma and Rebirth are the natural
and most reason- able answer to the apparent injustice of human inequalities. It
is the best answer to the apparent social truth, that the invalid, the
ignorant, and the poor can never enjoy perfect freedom nor can poor and puny
nations enjoy complete freedom and equality. Men are different from each other
and from other sentient beings, because they have made themselves so. A dog is
born a dog. A man a slave, a beggar or a prince, because of his previous Karma.
The Law of Karma is immensely reasonable and just. If man is
solely responsible for his doings—and the effects of his doings cannot be
expected to exhaust themselves in the span of a single life—it is only just and
fair that he should be given a chance to make good for the evil he has done;
that is, that he should be reborn. By the same reasoning, it is also just and
fair that the one to whom he owes a moral debt should likewise return to earth
so that both can meet and their reciprocal Karma exhaust itself.
However, it must be pointed out here, that neither good nor evil
will-actions, once they have been committed, can be undone; their effects must
inevitably run their course. Fortunately, however, each particular cause is
limited, and its effect will therefore also be finite.
Otherwise the Karma generated by each individual during his
life could never be exhausted. The evil committed would be eternal, and man
would be condemned to eternal damnation in Hell (as in the Christian conception
of retribution). But Karma is not God, for the gods themselves and the
inhabitants of the hell-worlds, as all beings, nay the whole Universe, are subject
to the all-embracing Law of Karma. The Buddha speaks of “periods of
world-arising and periods of world-destruction” of which in his Enlightenment
he could see no beginning, only the process of “Becoming“, put together;
unstable, Changeable.
Although evil committed cannot be undone, the tendency to act
in an evil way ‘can be corrected by the individual himself by his own will.
Following the Path of Enlightenment, he can correct his character and prevent
his faults from repeating themselves. By his own effort he can try to create
only meritorious deeds and thus create good Karma for his future lives.
This Article from : ‘Buddhism An Introduction’ by Dr. Luang Suruabongs
