Chapter 11

Kamma

Kamma (Sanskrit-Kamma) literally means action of deed. In its ultimate sense Kamma means good and bad volition (Kusala Akusala Cetena).

Every volitional action, except that of a Buddha or of an Arahant, is called Kamma. The Buddha and Arahants do not accumulate fresh kamma as they have destroyed all their passion.

In other words Kamma is the law of moral causation. It is action and reaction in the ethical realm. Kamma does not necessarily mean past action only; it may be both present and past actions. It is not fate. Nor it is predestination, which is imposed on us by some mysterious unknown power to which we must helplessly submit ourselves. It is one's own doing, which react on one’s, own self, and so it is possible for us to divert the course of our Kamma.

Kamma is action and Vipaka, fruit, is its reaction. It is reaction. It is the cause and the effect. Like a mango seed is Kamma, Vipaka, effect, is like the mango fruits arising from the tree. The leaves and flowers are like the Vipakanisamsa - inevitable consequences.

As we sow, we reap either in this life or in a future birth. What we reap today is what we have sown either in the present or in the past.

Kamma is a law in itself. But it does not follow that there should be a lawgiver. Ordinary laws of nature e.g. gravitation, need no lawgiver. The law of Kamma too demands no lawgiver. It operates in its own field without intervention of an external, independent ruling agency.

Inherent in Kamma is the potential of producing its due effect. The cause produces the effect; the effect explains the cause. The seed produces the fruit; the fruit explains the seed, and both are inter-related; the effect already blooms in the cause.