Early Buddhist Philosophy of Moral Determinism

·期刊原文
The origins and Sociology of the Early Buddhist Philosophy of Moral Determinism

V. P. VARMA
Phlosophy East and West 13, no. 1, January 1963.
(c) by The University Press of Hawaii.
p.25-47

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P.25

1. THEORY OF DETERMINISM

DETERMINISM not only implies a check upon and
regulation of the operative efficacy of the human
will but also holds that the life of man is subjected
to powerful forces which are almost beyond his
control. These forces not only influence and
condition his life but even determine it. Although
determinism is different from the religious and
popular conception of fatalism, which implies almost
the total futility of the endeavors of a man, it also
seriously enunciates a vital domination over the
actions and life of man. It does not absolutely
neutralize the spontaneity and freedom of man, but it
does emphasize that human efforts and will work in a
framework which is mighty and even uncontrollable.
Some thinkers have pleaded for the philosophy of
climatology or economic determinism, while others
advocate a theological or absolutistic
determinism.*(1) In the dominant systems of Indian
thought(2) it has been held that the merits or
demerits of the actions performed by a man, and the
psychological impulsions behind them, accumulate,
and, in the course of time, acquire such a vital
potency that they determine the life of the man.
Determinism serves to counter the tendency of
explaining the facts in the universe and history in
terms of a random conglomeration of atoms or the
arbitrary fiat of an omnipotent God, who dispenses
predestination. It pleads for the acceptance of a
law-governed world and seeks to establish the
determination of cosmic and historical operations in
terms of laws.(3) There is also a form of
determinism,
_____________________________________________________

* Editor's note. Throughout this paper the author's
instructions as to transliteration and
documentation have been followed--else his usage
of Sanskrit and Paali.

(1) V. P. Varma, The Political Philosophy of Sri
Aurobindo (Bombay: Asia Publishing House, 1960),
pp. 92-104.

(2) In this paper references to Buddhist scriptures
are to the London pali Text Society editions.

(3) The concept of karman as expounded in Indian
thought stressed the notion of justice based on
individual retribuition, but it was not expanded
to imply the scientific notion of universal
uniformity and cosmic causaliry. Hence. it would
not he proper to compare the old concept of

p.26

called psychological determinism, which implies that
the human will is not free in its volitional
activities but is determined by previous
accumulations of the influences of psychic energy.
Thus it seeks to account for the formation of choice
and decisions among alternative possibilities through
antecedent psychical and physical conditions.
Moral determinism accepts the operation of a law
of just recompense in the world. It is opposed to the
two trends of materialistic accidentalism and divine
election. Materialistic accidentalism seeks to
explain the phenomena of the world, as well as human
suffering and enjoyment, by the working of chance or
sheer arbitrariness. There is no proportion,
according to it, between the actions we perform and
the amount of misery and happiness which is our lot.
The notion of divine election is based on the accep-
tance of the dogma that God in his superior will has
decreed that only some persons will attain salvation
and thus be redeemed from sin and sorrow, Moral
determinism, on the contrary, does not accept the
view that man's life is the mere translation of the
arbitrary promulgations of God; it seeks to establish
a commensurability between his actions and the
consequences he reaps. The enunciation of the concept
of moral determinism is a landmark in the ethical
evolution of man because it not only accepts the op-
eration of an infinite law of the conservation of
moral energy in the world, but, in the form that it
has had in Indian thought, it states that a man's
ancestry, his station in life, his sorrow and
happiness, and even his death are determined by his
own actions. Buddhism is a staunch advocate of moral
determinism, and its karmavaada (doctrine of karman)
is a strong exemplification of it. In some schools of
Buddhism it is accepted that the actions of men not
only influence their personal lives but even have
enormous general influences.(4)
The concept of karman represents one of the prime
themes in Indian philosophical speculation and social
life. It clearly indicates the prevalence of the
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karman and the notions of Galilean-Newtonian
physics. Sometimes, however, it is said that the
conceptions of niyantaa (necessity) and dhammataa
(cosmic law) upheld in Buddhism answer to the
Stoics' notions of natural law. The A^nguttara
Nikaaya, IV. 77, forbids speculation on four sub-
jects, and two of these are karmavipaaka
(fruition of karman) and lokacintaa (sorrowful
thought for the world). Sir Charles Eliot,
Hinduism and Buddhism, 2 vols. (London: Edward
Arnold & Co., 1921. Reissued: London: Routledge &
Kegan Paul, Ltd., 1954), Vol. I, pp. 221-222,
says that the Buddha may have felt that an
attempt to transform the law of causation into a
cosmic law would turn into "speculation" and
would go dangerously near fatalism. Cf. Helmuth
von Glasenapp, Die Lehre vom Karman (referred to
in A. B. Keith, The Religion and Philosophy of
the Veda and the Upanisbads. 2 vols. (Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 1925), Vol. II, p.
574n.

(4) Louis de La Vallee-Poussin, "Karma," in The
Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, Vol. VII
(1914), p. 675-676: "Acts have also a fruit of a
general kind. Towards the end of the little
cosmic period (antarakalpa), plants etiolate, are
crushed by stones and rain, and bear little
fruit; this is the result of a superabundance of
murder, theft etc., the fruit of karman as
sovereign (adhipati). The creation of the
universe is the result of the acts of all beings
together, the hells are created by the acts that
require to be punished in hell and so on..."

p.27

belief in a universal harmonious pattern. The
ordinary meaning of "karman" is action. At a more
comprehensive level it also connotes the motivation
behind the action and the objective set of
consequences following from it. Thus three factors
are important in the study of karman: first, the
motivational impulsion, which determines the course
of action; second, the specific physical and
instrumental steps followed; and, third, the process
of consequences (vipaaka, or maturation, and
sa^mskaara, or impressions of actions, or disposi-
tions)(5) that ensue from the action. In Sanskrit,
these three are called, respectively, sa^mkalpa
(will), karman, and pari.naama (consequence). In
Buddhist philosophy, the expression
"vij^napti-karman" refers to external objective acts,
while "avij~napti-karman"(6) refers to the inner
psychic motivation behind the act as well as the
consequence following from it. The resultant chain of
consequences can be further analyzed at two levels:
consequences accruing to the doer at the participant
and environmental consequences.(7)
Almost all schools of Indian thought, orthodox
and heterodox, theistic and atheistic, adhere to the
philosophy of karman. It is expounded at great length
in Jainism and Buddhism, in the Nyaaya-Vai'se.sika,
in the Saa^mkhya-Yoga, and in the two schools of
Mimaa^msaa. In some schools of Indian thought the
accumulated potency of actions is believed to operate
with such transcendental efficacy that there is no
place for the concept of the overruling majesty of
God (for example, in the Puurva Miimaa^msaa) .
Karmavaada enjoys almost universal philosophical
adherence. It has also powerfully influenced the
popular mind of India--and the conduct of the people
generally.
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(5) See: Majjhima Nikaaya, "Samharuppati Sutta," for
the Buddhist theory of sa^mskaara. Hermann
Oldenberg, Buddha: His Life, His Doctrine, His
Order, William Hoey, trans. (London: Williams &
Norgate, 1882), p. 242: "We might translate
sankh價a directly by 'actions.' if we understand
this word in the wide sense in which it includes
also at the same time the internal 'actions,' the
will and the wish." According to the Sa^myutta
Nikaaya, III. 87, sa^mskaara has the function of
synthesis (sa^mkhaatam abhisa^mkharonti). There
are fifty-two sa^mskaara states, according to
Theravaada Buddhism. Consult A. B. Keith,
Buddhist Philosophy in India and Ceylon (Oxford:
Clarendon press, 1923), pp. 200-201. Sometimes
sa^mskaara is translated as "restless,
substanceless procession."

(6) Avij~napti is the lasting moral result of our
actions. Th. Stcherbatsky, The Central Conception
of Buddhism (2d ed., Calcutta: Susil Gupta, 1956,
p. 82: "It [avij~napti] constitutes a link
between the act and its future retribution, it
is, therefore, the same as sa^mskaara, apuurva,
or ad.r.s.ta of the Brahmanical systems."
According to La Vall俥-Poussin, op. cit.,
avij~napti is a thing of particular nature which
is subtle, although it is derived from the four
great material elements. It is procduced by a
voluntary and conscious bodily or vocal act, but
when produced it develops of its own accord
irrespective of whether the man is sleeping,
working, or meditating.

(7) D. T. Suzuki, Outlines of Mahayana Buddhism
(London: Luzac & Co., 1907), pp. 181-182, points
out the differential manifestation of karman: (a)
as the principle of conservation of energy at the
physical level, (b) as the principle of evolution
and heredity at the biological level, and (c) as
the principle of the immortality of deeds at the
moral level. Elaborating the concept of
dharmadhaatu (spiritual universe), Suzuki, ibid..
p. 193, stresses the collective influence of a
moral deed and states that deeds once committed
leave permanent effects on the "general system of
sentient beings."

p.28

2. THE CONCEPT OF KARMAN IN THE VEDAS,
BRAAHMA.NAS, AND UPANI.SADS

The Vedic poets and singers adhered to the belief
in .rta--the cosmic law of harmony and order.(8) This
order was recognized, not merely as a mechanical
uniformity,(9) but as proceeding from a superior
moral and beneficent force(10) symbolized by the god
Varu.na. In the Vedas we also find reference to the
vrata of .rta followed by the gods.(11) Vrata is the
law of effective austere living,(12) and, according
to the Yajur Veda,(12a) through the cultivation of
the vows in one's life alone can a man test ify to
his sincere belief in cosmic moral harmony. Thus the
idea of perceptible universal order and rhythm at the
physical level was supplemented by the belief in a
law of moral order.
The ritualistic cult of the sacrifices was an
exemplification, at the religious and practical
level, of the belief in a universal moral order of
.rta and satya (truth).(13) The sacrificers had
specific goals to achieve, and the external act was
regarded as the physical process for the realization
of those goals. The belief was widely prevalent that
accuracy in the performance of the sacrificial deed
would necessarily produce the intended consequences
both here and hereafter. Evetyone could obtain the
desired goals if only he adhered to the exact
sacrificial formula. The belief was dominant that the
sacrifice is a supreme instrument which has
tremendous potency.(14) It was only a demonstration
at the religious level of the conception that to
every action there is necessarily a reaction.(15)
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(8) Cf. the Avestan word "a'sa" (arta).

(9) The concepts of .rta (cosmic law) and vrata
(cosmic order) effectively demonstrate the
prevalence of the teleological conception of the
world.

(10) According to A. A. Macdonell, Vedic Mythology
(Grundriss der indo-arischen Philologie und
Altertumskunde. III Band 1. Heft A.)
(Strassburg: Verlag von Karl J. Tr乥ner, 1897)
pp. 11, 13, 26, 101. 120,.rta contains in it the
germs of the law of karman or the unalterable
law of producing effects.

(11) .Rg Veda, I. 65. 3.

(12) In view of the Vedic emphasis on vrata, tapas
(restraint), and brahmacarya (continence), S. N.
Dasgupta, Indian Idealism (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1933), p. 9, seem to be
inaccurate when he constantly talks about the
"non-moral and non-ethical" character of the law
of karman.

(12a) Yajur Veda, XIX. 30.

(13) A. B. Keith, The Religion and Philosophy of the
Veda and the Upanishads, Vol. II, p. 464, says
that there war no doctrine of a divine judgment
in Vedic literature.

(14) S. N. Dasgupta, Indian Idealism, P. 3, holds
that the later moral theory of karman developed
from the magical belief in the potency of
sacrifices to produce the intended consequences,
He says: "The law of karman was thus rooted in
the Indian mind from the earliest days in the
tribal belief in the efficacy of magical
operations, incantations and the like, and it
was only extended at a later stage into the
ethical field."

(15) In the Babylonian religious conceptions, which
arose almost in the same period as the

p.29

The germs of the philosophy of moral determinism
are found in the .Rg Veda.(16) It is stated that the
person who makes sacrificial gifts re-acquires them
after death. This is akin to the primitive conception
of recompense, according to which death is no
impediment to the operation of the law of rewards and
punishment. The .Rg Veda mentions the term
"i.s.taapuurta" which indicates the merit won by
making offerings to gods and gifts to priests. In the
funeral hymn, it is stated that the dead person is
able to unite himself with the fathers (pitara.h)
through the fruits of his offerings and gifts.(17) In
the Taittiriiya Sa^mhitaa, also, the gods are prayed
to for the purpose of uniting the dead man with his
i.s.taapuurta when he attains their abode. The
i.s.taapuurta symbolizes the concentrated essence of
the ritualistic ceremonies, and to this is attributed
great efficacy in producing the desired consequences.
This concept also serves as the germinal background
for the theory of moral determinism as it is
formulated later in the Upani.sads and Buddhism.
The Vedas exalt the concept of karman.(17a) There
are references to the powerful exploits of Indra
which had great influence in both the
physicalterrestrial and the atmospheric regions. The
Vedas also inculcate the supremacy of tapas.(18)
Originally, tapas meant fervor and physical heat. But
it soon became inclusive enough to comprehend also
endeavors in the direction of moral restraint. In the
Atharva Veda (Brahmacaarii Suukta) it is stated that
through sensual restraint and disciplined life
(tapas) a Vedic student can attain immortality. Thus
even in the Vedic literature tapas had a moral
connotation. Tapas is sometimes regarded as the
source of the entire cosmic manifestation.(18a) Thus
it is held as a creative force of singularly great
potency. This concept further accentuates the notion
of moral determinism, because the determination of
cosmogonic phenomena is attributed to the power of
accentuated tapas. Tapas also is a kind of karman,
and, as expounded in the Upani.sads, it includes
physical restraint and austerities as well as moral
rigor and philosophic contemplation.
During the days of the Braahmanas, the growth of
the sacrificial cult helped
_____________________________________________________

Vedas, world events were regarded, not as the
consequences of natural forces, nor due to human
spontaneous will, but due to the decision of
gods. See S. Langdon, "Babylonian Mysteries," in
The Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, Vol.
IX (1917), pp. 70-72.

(16) According to R D. Ranade, A Constructive Survey
of Upanishadic Philosophy (Poona: Oriental Book
Agency, 1926), p. 148, the .Rg Vedic (X. 16. 3)
p.rthivii^m ca dharma.naa is the beginning of
the law of karman. John McKenzie, Hindu Ethics
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1922), p. 15:
"... though the karman doctrine is nor yet
formulated, its ethical principles are already
in evidence. Thus suffering is recognized as the
fruit of previous sin, and when a good man dies
he goes to the next world carrying his merit
with him."

(17) .Rg Veda, X. 14. 8.

(17a) Ibid., III. 30.13; III. 36.1; X. 55.7; X: 131.4.

(18) Atharva Veda, X. 7. 11.

(18a) Rg Veda, X. 190. 1.

p.30

to bring out the implications of the concept of
karman.(19) There developed the idea that through his
actions man constructs a world for himself and after
death he is born into it.(20) The idea of the
imperishableness of karman is also developed in this
period.(21) The Kau.siitaki Braahma.na refers to the
person who, knowing "in me there is imperishableness,
sacrifices and his sacrifice does not perish."(22)
The Taittiriiya Braahma.na also subscribes to the
view of the imperishableness of good deeds. The
'Satapatha Braahma.na states that punishment is
indicted according to one's deeds.(23)
The Upani.sads contain the philosophy of
spiritual idealism as their principal theme. Although
as a corollary to absolute non-dualism or modified
absolute monism they sometimes contain statements
which indicate the ethical indifference of the person
who has attained the realization of the Brahman,
still there are other passages which teach the belief
in good as resulting from noble actions,(24) thereby
subscribing to the Vedic notion of the omnipotence of
an eternal order in the universe.(25) The
B.rhadaara.nyaka Upani.sad(25a) contains a reference
to karmadeva, which implies the reality of men who
have attained to the status of gods by their actions.
The II'sa Upani.sad, which is taken from the fortieth
chapter of the Yajur Veda, promulgates the concept of
disinterested action, a gospel which has been
expounded in great detail in the Bhagavadgiitaa.(26)
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(19) The 'Satapatha Braahma.na, I. 9. 3. 2, mentions
that there are two fires en route to heaven
which burn whom they should burn and let pass
those whom they should let pass.

(20) The 'Satapatha Braahma.na, XI. 2. 7. 33, states
that a man's fate after death is determined by
weighing his good and evil deeds. Paul Deussen,
Philosophy of the Upanishads, A. S. Gedden,
trans. (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1919), p. 319,
points our that the .Rg Vedic hymns teach that
the good gain a continued existence with the
gods under Yama's control, while the evil
journey into an abyss. The standpoints of the
Atharva Veda and the Braahma.nas are the same;
however, the conception of recompense for works
is carried out in detail.

(21) In the Taittiriiya AAra.nyaka, VI. 13, there
is reference to the idea of judgment.

(22) Kau.siitaki Braahma.na, VII. 4. Contrast E. W.
Hopkins, Etbics of India (New Haven: Yale
University press, 1924), p. 43: "The view that
the gods direct men's thought and action was not
worked out [in the Vedas] into any system of
determinism but rested on the... thought may we
not do what ye punish."

(23) 'Satapatha Braahma.na, VI. 2. 2. 27 and X. 6. 3.
1.

(24) B.rhadaara.nyaka Upani.sad, III. ii. 13. In the
Mu.n.daka Upani.sad, I. ii. 1, "karmaa.ni" is
used in the sense of sacrificial action.

(25) Hervey De Witt Griswold, "Indian Pessimism," in
The Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics Vol. IX
(1925), p. 813, says: "It was only when the
personal gods of the Rigveda had become merged
more or less completely into the pantheistic and
impersonal 'one' and 'all' of the Upanishads
that the doctrine of an automatic principle of
retribution arose. The passing of the Vedic god,
left a place for karman."

(25a) IV. iii. 33.

(26) The teaching contained in kurvanneveha karmaa.ni
(even while performing actions here) of the I'sa
Upani.sad, II, is, interpreted in different ways
according to the philosophical predilection of
the commentators. 'Sa^mkara stresses only
knowledge (vidyaa); Kumaarila emphasizes both
vidyaa and avidyaa; Prabhaakara exalts karman as
the pathway to salvation.

p.31

3. A SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE ORIGIN AND
DEVELOPMENT OF THE THEORY OF KARMAN

There are three views about the origin and
development of the concept of karman. The first is
the anthropological view, which would trace its roots
in the notions of the primitive tribes regarding the
potency of certain "sacred" actions, formulas, and
incantations in bringing about the intended conse-
quences. To the primitive mind, there was not much of
a radical difference between the living and the dead.
The old tribes held that even after physical death,
in some form or other, the spirits kept hovering in
the dark corners of the house or on the roofs of
houses or on the tops of the neighboring trees and
continued to participate in the activities of the
living progeny. Some roots of the theory of Karman
can be traced in the belief in the magical character
of sacred acts.(27) The belief that the performance
of certain forbidden acts, the "taboo," would produce
disaster was only the reverse side of the same
belief. The law of karman is predicated on the belief
that physical death does not mean any damage to the
power of the past actions done by an individual to
produce their results. The adherence to the notions
of the sacred and the taboo and to the belief in the
continuity of the personality of the ghost-ancestors
prepares some of the fundamental framework for the
emergence of the theory of karman, though it cannot
be denied that later developments ascribing a
transcendental efficacy to the apuurva (unperceived
potency linking the action and the result) or
ad.r.s.ta (unseen sum total of merit and demerit) or
the conception of God as karmaadhyak.sa (guardian of
darman) represent further refinements of the older
notions.(28)
The anthropological study of the genesis of the
notion of karman, which traces its roots in primitive
magical ideas and ghost-worship, receives some
additional substantiation from later developments of
the theory of karman, in which significant vestiges
of old primitive notions are also discovered. In the
philosophy of the Jainas we find the belief in subtle
karman-matter, which is supposed to pour into the
soul and adhere to it. This process is aided by the
passion of men.(29) The karman-matter that adheres to
the soul generates a coloration (le'syaa) like white,
black, etc. This primitive notion of coloration
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(27) A. B. Keith, The Religion and Philosophy of the
Veda and the Upanishads, pp. 393-401. Cf. Robert
H. Rowie, The Hitory of Ethnological Theory (New
York: Rinehart & Co.. 1937), pp. 208-209.

(28) In the .Rg Vedic period we find that the worship
of the various deities is carried out in such a
passionate reverential mood that the notion that
the gods were mere passive spectators and the
sacrificial mechanism had powers of autodynamic
operation does not seem convincing. In the
Miimaa^msaa philosophy the autonomous potency of
the sacrificial cult was exalted to its height.

(29) Cf. the view of Leibniz that materia prima
clouds and mystifies the representations of the
monads.

p.32

by the efficacy of karman as the determinant of the
character of the soul, that is elaborated in Jainism,
is also maintained in the Dhammapada, which says that
a wise man should renounce "black" actions and
perform "white" actions.(30) This notion of
karman-coloration thus appears to be a part of a
general tradition which was accepted by both Jainism
and Buddhism.(31) The Yoga system of Pata~njali also
accepts this view. Thus the anthropological
standpoint regarding the origin of karman receives
additional substantiation from the primitivism
implicit in the notion of karman-matter and its
adhesion to the soul.
The second view does not trace the origin of the
concept of karman but seeks to analyze the process of
its development. It is possible to trace some kind of
a correlation between the ethical doctrine of Karman
and the political processes of expansion and
territorial settlement that were going on in the
country. After the later.Rg Vedic days there began
the process of the eastward migration and settlement
of the Aryan tribes. This movement of migration and
settlement went on in various parts of the country,
especially in northern India. Political action of an
organized character was the need of the hour if the
various kingdoms, such as those of Magadha, Kosala,
Vatsa, and Avanti, and the several republican
polities such as the Licchaviis, the Mallas, the
Kaliyas, etc., were to maintain their existence.(31a)
Political competition and strife were rampant, and
only by resort to constant intrigues, diplomatic
maneuvers, successful adjustments, and even military
preparedness could the territorial integrity of a
political entity be safeguarded. Hence, the social
and political reality presented the aspect of
constant struggle and action. It will not be
considered far-fetched if some kind of correlation is
established between the actual processes of hectic
action going on in the social and political world and
the emphasis on karman (actions) in the moral and
religious world.(32) After all, the participants in
both the political process and the moral
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(30) Dhammapada, VI. 12 (ka.nham and sukka^m
dhamma^m).

(31) Some primitive notions regarding karman also
appear in Buddhist cosmological spenculations,
e.g., "at the beginning of the re-creation of
the world there arise in the vast void of the
universe 'winds born of acts which heap up the
clouds from which the creative rain will pour"
(Quoted in La Vall俥-Poussin, "Karma: " The
Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, Vol. VII
[1914], p. 674.) According to the Sarabha^nga
Jaataka (No. 522) the lurking deed (karman) is
said to wait long to catch a man and in his
last birth gets its opportunity. There is no
foundation, however, for the view that Buddhism
borrowed the doctrine of karman from Jainism. It
was a part of the contemporary world-view.

(31a) T. W. Rhys Davids, Buddhist India (3rd Indian
ed., Calcutta: Susil Gupta, 1957), chaps. I, II.

(32) Marxists have stressed that the notion of the
activistic nature of the subject in epistemology
is specifically fostered by the proletariat
because it alone is in contact with the
production process. They thus establish a
thorough correlation between the social reality
and theory of

p.33

and religious process were recruited from the same
social environment, and hence it is not unrealistic
to hold that the Upani.sadic and Buddhist emphasis on
karman in the moral world might have as its partial
background the tremendous urgency of action in the
political world.
The third view regarding the development of the
theory of karman is sociological. It is predicated
upon the acceptance of a social conflict between the
braahmins and the k.satriyas. The conflict between
these two sections of society expressed itself also
at an intellectual level, and the k.satriyas were the
spokesmen of more enlightened notions against the
traditional theology and conservative dogmatism of
the hieratic sections. Some Western Indologists, such
as Richard Garbe, are of the opinion that the
doctrine of karman was a new addition to the
philosophical world-view of the Upani.sads and was a
formulation of the k.satriyas.(32a) The newness of
the doctrine is testified to by the confidential
manner in which Yaaj~navalkya reveals this esoteric
doctrine to AArtabhaaga. He takes AArtabhaaga away
from the assembly and tells him about this doctrine
as if he wanted to conceal it from the audience.(33)
Garbe holds that, in opposition to the Braahma.nical
systems, the k.satriyas formulated two dominant
conceptions--the metaphysics of monistic absolutism
and the ethical law of karman. Emphasizing the
peculiarity of the Yaaj~navalkya-AArtabhaaga
dialectic, Western Indologists say that the newness
of the doctrine is indicated by the almost hesitant
manner in which Yaaj~navalkya revealed the doctrine
to AArtabhaaga.
This view of Western Indologists is not warranted
by the facts. In the period subsequent to the
Upani.sads the doctrine of karman acquired immense
significance. The Buddhist concepts of dvaada'sa
nidaana (twelve bases of existence") and
a.s.taa^ngika maarga (eight-limb path) exalt the
efficacy of action both in the origination and in the
liberation of men. At the time when the Buddha
flourished there were serious conflicts in the
philosophical world with regard to determinism and
moral autonomy. The AAjiivikas were deter-
_____________________________________________________

knowledge. M. Shirokov (Director),A Text Book of
Marxist Philosophy (Indian ed., Allahabad: Kitab
Mohal, 1944), pp. 80, 78-79. I have hazarded
some kind of correlation between political
reality and moral theory.

(32a) See A. B. Keith, Religion end Philosophy, pp.
493-494.

(33) Carlo Formichi, "Upanishads, " Journal of the
Department of Letters, Vol. XV (Calcutta:
Calcutta University, 1927), pp. 83-130, says
that in the Chaandogya Upani.sad, V. ii. 4,
Pravahana propounds, that 'sraddhaa (faith) is
the vital surviving element after depth. This
represents the Braahmanical point of view. But,
instead of 'sraddhaa, Yaaj~navalkya stresses
karman. Formichi says that Yaaj~navalkya spoke
in private because he knew he was propounding
something heretical. It appears, according to
him hat Yaaj~navalkya and AArtabhaaga spoke as
if they had been Buddhists. Ibid., p. 129.

p.34

minists.(34) The Jainas were extreme advocates of the
concept of kriyaavaada (doctrine of action). The
thorough adherence to the concept of karman by
Jainism and Buddhism indicates that, since these
movements were not confined to the aristocratic 俵ite
but wanted to influence the middle classes and the
agricultural population also, the people must have
been predisposed to the acceptance of the doctrine.
During the time of the Buddha the theory of karman
was a popular creed. If the hypothesis that the doc-
trine of karman was a popular one at the time when
Buddhism and Jainism flourished, that is, in the
sixth and fifth centuries, B.C., is correct, it can
be legitimately argued that some centuries must have
elapsed during which the concept of Barman was being
popularized. In those days of the absence of mass
education it would certainly take a long time before
a philosophical concept could be popularly accepted.
Hence, to account for the inconsistency in the
concept of karman as a novel philosophical secret
during the age of the B.rhadaara.nyaka Upani.sad, as
fancied by some Western Indologists, and a popular
belief in the Jaina-Buddhist period, two factors may
be considered as being responsible. First, a long
period of several centuries must have intervened
between Yaaj~navalkya and Mahaaviira and the Buddha
during which the concept of karman was being
popularized. But, since this hypothesis is not
historically tenable, the only reasonable alternative
is the second hypothesis, that Yaaj~navalkya was not
expressing something novel, unique, and unheard of by
the people and that his desire for communicating this
doctrine in secret was only in the general
Upani.sadic fashion, according to which conceptions
which have esoteric implications are to be discussed
in secrecy. The ancient Vedic origin of the concept
of karman, which was only being maintained and
developed by the Upani.sads, must be accepted. The
Bhagavadgiitaa also says that the doctrine
inculcating liberation through actions is an ancient
one.(34a)
The eschatological(35) ideas of the Vedas and the
Upani.sads also substantiate the thesis of the Vedic
origin of the theory of karman and the implied moral
determinism. The Upani.sads and the Bhagavadgiitaa
contain references to the two eschatological yaanas
(ways)-the devayaana, the path of the man of
knowledge, and the Pit.ryaana, the path of the man of
action." Even the Sa^mhi-
_____________________________________________________

(34) "In the ninety-one aeons, O Vaatsya, which I
[the Buddha] recall, I remember but one single
AAjiivika who attained to heaven and he
acknowledged the truth of kamma and the efficacy
of works." A^nguttara Nikaaya, II, p. 227
(Londen: Published for the Pali Text Society by
H. Frowde, 1900).

(34a) Bhagavadgiitaa, IV. 2-3.

(35) For the elucidation of eschatological notions in
general, see J. A. MacCulloch, in The
Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics,
"Eschatology, " Vol. V (1925), pp. 373-391.
Compare Plato's views on eschatology in the last
book of the Republic. There are references in
Plato to spheres for the passage of dead men.

(36) For the relation of karman and rebirth and for
the history of the doctrine of transmigra-

p.35

taas refer to these two paths.(37) The twofold yaana
involves a theory of moral determinism because it is
a specification of the fate of a person in accordance
with his attainments. Thus, personal achievement is
regarded as the prime force which determines the
future destiny of a man. The idea of "as a man sows,
so does he reap" is contained in the theory of yaana
because a man's worth determines his future station.
This doctrine of the commensurability of a man's
station in his future life with the merits and
demerits attained in his present life is a
substantiation of the belief in moral determinism.
The Chaandogya Upani.sad refers to the disparate
destinations of the well-merited and ill-merited.(38)
Thus the study of the Vedic and Upani.sadic
eschatology would dispel the unwarranted hypothesis
of some Western Indologists which ascribes the
formulation of the concept of karman to the
k.striyas.

4. MODIFICATIONS OF THE INDIVIDUALISM OF KARMAN
IN THE UPANI.SADS

The concept of karman is highly individualistic.
It seeks to explain the destiny of an individual in
terms of his own efforts. It repudiates the
conception of God as an irresponsible arbitrary
omnipotent being who dispenses misery and happiness
in his whimsical promulgations.(39) It is opposed
also to the notion of natural determinism of a
mechanical order, which explains human fate in terms
of the motions of atoms and electrons. The theory of
karman is the first significant attempt in the
history of human speculation to explain a man's
destiny in terms of his own personal endeavors. The
stress on one's own efforts as the sure path to moral
purification and personal illumination is the first
significant protest against the tribal notions of
collective responsibility. Karman heralds the theory
of individualism, and, if at the religious level it
is opposed to divine predestination and to despotism
of God at the social level, it is opposed to the
tribal notion of morality which emphasizes the gens
(the communitas) as the unit and which does not
concern
_____________________________________________________

tion, see V. P. Varma, "The Philosophy of
Rebirth in Ancient Indian Thought," The Vedanta
Kesari, XLVII, No. 11 (March, 1961), 462-466.

(37) S. N. Dasgupta, A History of Indian Philosophy,
5 vols., Vol. I (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1922), pp. 23-42, is grossly mistaken in
attributing the origin of the notions of
devayaana and pit.ryana to Pravahana Jaivali,
because the roots of them go back to the Yajur
Veda, XIX. 47. For the terms "devayaana" and
"pit.ryaana," the Pra'sna Upani.sad, I, 9-10,
also uses the terms "uttarayaana" (higher way),
and "dak.si.nayaana" (lower way).

(38) According to the Upani.sads, karman is the set
of means and instruments which serve as the link
between will and the concrete achievement of the
willed consequences. Thus the cause of rebirth
is nor karman but desires. Cf S. N. Dasgupta, A
History of Indian Philosophy, Vol. I, pp. 56-57.

(39) Karman asserts the prevalence of order in the
world and is antagonistic to any conception like
that of Calvinist predestination.

p.36

itself with the apportionment of justice according to
one's deserts. Thus it can be said that the theory of
karman is a great individualistic protest against the
tribal canons of morality.
But the individualism of karman was not definite
and rigid in the days of the Upani.sads. Several
other conceptions which were prevalent in that period
challenged the individualistic character of karman
and made concessions to divine grace, on the one
hand, and to the interests of family and social
solidarity, on the other.
Although the Upani.sads uphold the view that a
man's destiny is determined by his own actions, still
the theory of determinism through karman has been
modified to some extent by some alternative
conceptions which seem at times to be inconsistent.
The later Upani.sads which have a pronouncedly
theistic orientation exalt the conception of
grace.(40) The Ka.tha Upani.sad contains the classic
statement that the Atman is attained, not by
intellectual acumen or scholastic profundity, but by
grace. Thus, the conception of a divine elect is
maintained.(40a) This amounts to the maintenance of
pre-determination or the notion of the primacy of a
divine will which would choose whomsoever it pleases
for final emancipation. This notion of grace is
inconsistent with that doctrine which believes in the
possibility of emancipation only through one's own
efforts for the acquisition of moral purification and
philosophical gnosis.
In the interests of social structural continuity,
the Upani.sads propound the view that the son takes
over the actions of the father.(41) This detracts
from the otherwise serious adherence to the moral
determinism which is found in the Upani.sads. The
concept of moral determinism is individualistic
because it isolates the person from the tribal or
family background and seeks to explain his
personality and destiny with sole reference to his
karman and the resultant sa^mskaaras (dispositions).
But the notion that the merits and demerits of the
father are shared by the son infringes upon the rigor
of the individualism of the theory of moral
determinism. Perhaps this notion of the inheritance
of the actions of the father by the son was advocated
by some teachers of the Upani.sads to bolster the
declining sacrificial system. The monistic philosophy
of the times tended toward the minimization of the
significance of the ritualistic liturgy. Monasticism
was also in the air. Sacrificial ritualism required
for its c ontinuance the stability of the family
system. For the preservation of the sacrificial cult
against the combined attacks of
_____________________________________________________

(40) In Mahaayaana Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam
there is the acceptance of the notion of grace,
but Jainism and early Buddhism emphatically
repudiate this creed. In Japan one sect of
Buddhism holds that faith in Amita secures
salvation and transcends the effects of actions.

(40a) Ka.tha Upani.sad, I. ii. 23.

(41) B.rhadaara.nyaka Upani.sad, I. v. 17, and
Kau.siitaki Upani.sad, II. 15.

p.37

philosopical absolutism and ethical monasticism it
was essential to insist once again upon the
importance of the progeny. The B.rhadaara.nyaka
Upani.sad says that the son provides relief from all
difficulties.(42) The social distributivist aspects
of the notion of karman are further emphasized in the
Kau.siitaki Upani.sad, which says that the previously
committed good and evil works of dead person are
shared by his friends and enemies, respectively.(43)
Another detraction from the individualism of the
theory of moral determinism is the view contained in
some of the Upani.sads that the last thoughts of a
man determine his future station.(44) This view is
also contained in the Bhagavadgiitaa,(44a) and the
later theistic bhakti literature constantly stresses
the theme that in his last moments a man should keep
his mind and soul attuned to the personal God. In one
sense, however, it may be possible to reconcile the
deterministic character of the theory of karman and
the arbitrary voluntarism of the notion that one's
last thoughts determine his station after death by
holding that even the purity and nobility of one's
last thoughts are determined by the quality of one's
entire life. It is not possible to imagine a person
of deviant character would at once revolutionize his
personality begin to think elevated thoughts if that
had not been the pattern of his for a considerable
period.

5. THE BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY OF MORAL DETERMINISM
(KARMAN)

The Buddha taught the momentous vitality and
significance of karman(45) with such vehemence and
fervor that it has been said that he almost put this
concept in place of the Upani.sadic Bsahman.(46) In
the period of the Upani.sads
_____________________________________________________

(42) B.rhadaara.nyaka Upani.sad, I, v. 17.

(43) The .Rg Veda, VII. 86. 5, refers to the doctrine
of inherited sin (drugdha = sin). According to
the Ma.nicora Jaataka (No. 194), famines, floods
etc, are brought about by the faults of the
king. See E: W. Hopkins, "Modifications of the
Karma Doctrine," in The Journal of the Royal
Asiatic Society, 1906, 581-593. In the
'Saantiparvan, I. 29, and the Manusm.rti, IV.
170, also, there is mention of the karman of the
forefathers as affecting their children.

(44) Chaandogya Upani.sad, III. xiv. I; Pra'sna
Upani.sad, III. 10; B.rhadara.nyaka Upani.sad,
IV. iv. 5.

(44a) Bhagavadgiitaa, VIII. 6.

(45) At the time of enlightenment under the sacred
Bodhi tree the Buddha had three visions. In the
second vision "he saw the whole universe as a
system of karman and reincarnation, composed of
beings noble or mean, happy or unhappy,
continually passing away according to their
deeds, leaving one form of existence and taking
shape in another." Charles Eliot, Hinduism and
Buddhism, Vol. I, p. 139.

(46) In early Buddhism there is a threefold
specification of karman--mental, vocal, and
physical. The Dhammapada (I. 1) lays the
greatest emphasis on the mind as the instrument
controlling action--manopubbamgamaa dhammaa
manosetthaa manomayaa. Mrs. C. A. F. Rhys
Davids, "Man as Willer," in B. C Law, ed.,
Buddhistic Studies (Calcutta: Thacker, Spink &
Co., 1931), p. 587, says that the triplet,
action of mind, action of word, and action of
body, is a contribution of the Buddhist and
Jaina texts. She credits Zarathushtra for
having taught a similar view in Persia. Cf.

p.38

the twofold operation of the law of karman as a
physical force in the natural world and as a moral
force in the realm of human personality was regarded
as being almost under the superintendence of a
primordial Absolute. But, according to the Buddha,
this law of karman was regarded as operating with
almost autonomous deterministic finality.(47) He was
very emphatic in upholding the commensurability
between actions and their consequences, in this life
and in lives beyond. In those systems of thought
which maintain the persistence of the soul as a
substance, this view of commensurability through
continuity is legitimately sponsored. But the Buddha
did not accept the conception of a substantial
soul-monad which persists between lives.
Nevertheless, he maintained the continuity of cause
and effect.(48) He did not even refer to the
conception of an astral or subtle sheath which could
be the receptacle of the essence or the consequences
of karman and which would persist until liberation is
attained.(49) Nevertheless, the Buddha was perhaps
the greatest advocate of the sanctity of actions. At
a time when cunning braahmin priests were exploiting
the superstitious credulity of the populace, and in
the name of pleasing gods and demons were inviting
the believers to perform numerous rituals,
ceremonies, and sacrifices, the Buddha taught the
autonomy and potency of human efforts. The Buddha's
insistence on the nobility of actions gains pointed
significance when analyzed in the background of the
radical nihilism implied in the deterministic
teachings of Gosaala Makkhaliputta.(50) Ajit
Kesakambala also had denied the notion that
consequences follow from action.(50a)
_____________________________________________________

the term "manasikaara" (attention or movement of
mind) in Compendium of Philosophy, Being a
Translation of the Abhidhammathasa^mgaha [of
Anuruddha] with Introductory Essay and Notes, by
Shwe Zan Aung, revised and edited by Mrs. C. A.
P. Rhys Davids. Pali Text Society Translation
Series, Vol. p. 95, no 1.

(47) According to the Buddha, men are the
inheritors of karman (kammadaayaada); karman is
their very own (kammassaka); karman is the cause
of their rebirth (kammayoni); and karman is
their refuge (kammapa.tisara.na). (Majjhima
Nikaaya),, III. 203; also quoted in C A. F. Rhys
Davids, Buddhism (London: Williams & Norgate,
n.d.), pp. 129-130.

(48) Mrs. Rhys Davids, "The Soul Theory in Buddhism,"
The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1903,
587-591, says that there is apparent
contradiction between nihilistic anaatmanism and
the belief in karman, which implies a persistent
continuity of the individual.

(49) A. K. Coomaraswamy, Buddbha and the Gospel of
Buddhism (London: George G. Harrap & Co., 1916),
p. 109.

(50) According to the Saama~n~na-phala Suttanta,
Digha Nikaaya, Gosaala Makkhaliputta said:
"Beings become depraved without cause or
conditions; they become morally pure also
without cause. Our attainments do not depend on
effort or action, either of our own or of
others. There is no human energy or power that
is effective. All thing that have life,
creatures, and souls, are without inherent
force. They are bent this way and that by the
necessity of their specific nature." Cf. A. B.
Keith, Buddhist Philosohy in India and Ceylon,
p. 136; also T. W. Rhys Davids, Dialogues of the
Buddha (Oxford: Humphrey Milford, 1923), p. 71.

(50a) For the annihilationistic doctrines of Ajit
Kesakambala, see Saama~n~na-phala Sutta of the
Diigha Nikaaya.

p.39

The Buddha was a moral teacher who taught the
path of nirvaa.na, which could be attained through
one's own efforts(51) toward gnosis (praj~naa) and
medicative absorption (samaadhi). He refused to
accept the mediation of any gods and of any
priesthood. He taught the conservation of moral
merit.(52) He inculcated the supremacy of the
purification of action and motivation.(53) Through
one's own efforts alone can one attain nirvaa.na, and
hence the Buddha stressed vigilance, constancy of
endeavor, and a rigorous struggle against one's baser
propensities.(54) He vehemently condemned all those
skeptics and sophists who repudiated the significance
of actions. He said,

Just as, Bhikkhus, of all kinds of woven robes, a
hair-garment is known to be the least desirable--cold
in cold weather, hot in the heat, unpleasant to the
touch--so of all the many assertions by the recluses
the Makkhali theory is the most undesirable. He,
foolish man, believes and declares there is no
effective action (going on), no effected action (the
result of effective action), no indwelling energy.
Herein he rejects what all past Buddhas have
declared, all future Buddhas will declare, and which
I now, the Buddha, declare. I, even I, declare that
there is effective action, resultant action,
indwelling energy.(55)

According to the Buddha the law of karman has a
ubiquitous operation.(56)
_____________________________________________________

(51) According to Buddhism there are two types of
actions--saasrava and anaasrava. The saasrava
actions are those which bring about good or bad
consequences. On the other hand, meditation on
the four noble truths which leads to arhatship
is an anaasrava action, and it does not generate
good or evil consequences. Cf. Mahaasaccaka
Sutta, Majjhima Nikaaya, P. T. S. ed., Vol. I,
p. 249. Sometimes Buddhism is said to be
sa^mkle'savyavadaanikadharma, i.e., there is the
acceptance of defilement by bad desires and
purification by good desires. See Narendra Deva,
Bauddha-Dharma-Darshana. In Hindi. (Patna: Bihar
Rashtrabhasa Parishad, 1956), pp. 64, 403, 462,
577.

(52) The Buddhist scriptures refer to the punishment
of the evil-doers in hell by Yama. According to
the Devaduuta Sutta of the A^nguttara Nikaaya,
after the wardens of hell drag the evil-doer to
the place of torment, "He is riveted to glowing
iron, plunged in glowing seas of blood, or
tortured on mountains of burning coal, and he
dies not until the very last residue of his
guilt has been expiated." Quoted words taken
from summary by Oldenberg, Buddha: His Life, His
Doctrine, His Older, pp. 245-246 and M.
Monier-Williams. Buddhism (London: John Murray,
1889), pp. 114ff. The reference to Yama is
specifically predominant in Northern Buddhism,
in The Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, Vol.
V (1925),p. 375 (article, "Eschatology").

(53) The Buddha says: "My action is my possession, my
action is my inheritance, my action is the womb
which bears me, my action is the race to which I
am akin, my action is my refuge."
--Pa~ncaka-nipaata, A^nguttara Nikaaya.
According to Hopkins, the notion of karman
"struck hard against the old belief in
sacrifice, penance, and repentance as destroyers
of sin." The Journal of the Royal Asiatic
Society (1906), 561-593.

(54) The Buddha's stress on karman receives
additional significance in an intellectual
background where Puraa.na Kaa'syapa, Prabuddha
Kaatyaayana, and Gosaala Makkhaliputta denied
the reality and worth of human endeavors. V. P.
Varma, "Decline of the Vedic Religion," Journal
of the Bihar Research Society, XXXI, December,
1945, 268-274.

(55) A^nguttara Nikaaya, I. i. 286. It contains a
sharp warning to the AAjiivikas. Refer to Beni
M. Barua, A History of Pre-Buddhistic Indian
Philosophy (Calcutta: University of Calcutta,
1921), p. 314.

(56) According to the Vaase.t.tha Sutta of the
Majjhima Nikaaya, the world is being impelled by
karman, and living beings are bound by their
actions, like the wheels of a chariot. According
to

p.40

In place of animistic superstitions and absolutist
speculations, he put forward an explanation of human
life and destiny in terms of pratiitya-samutpaada
(dependent origination), which is a representation of
the working of the law of karman on the psychological
and moral planes.(57) The predominance attached to
the concept of pratiitya-samutpaada indicates that in
Buddhism it enjoys almost a religious sanctity and is
not a mere psychological hypothesis for explaining
human action.(58) Evil actions can catch hold of a
man even in
_____________________________________________________

the A^ngulimaala Sutta of the Majjhima Nikaaya,
the Buddha told A^ngulimaala that one has to
live in hell for several hundreds and even
several thousands of years for the sake of
reaping the consequences of actions. According
to the Milindapa~nha (IV. 8. 76) only that death
which occurs due to the working of karman is
death in due season. But there may also be cases
of death out of season:
By hunger, thirst, by poison and by bites
Burnt, drowned, slain, men out of time do die;
By the three humours, and by three combined,
By heats, by inequalities, by aids
By all these seven men die our of time. (The
Questions of King Milinda,
Part II, English translation by T. W. Rhys
Davids. Sacred Books of the East, Vol. XXXVI.
[Oxford: Clarendon press, 1894], p. 164.) There
are some men who die through the working of some
evil deed or other they have committeed in a
former birth. There are four causes of death
according to Buddhism: (1) exhaustion of the
force of reproduction (janakakarman), (2)
expiration of the life term (aayuk.saya), (3)
combination of items (1) and (2), and (4) action
of a stronger arresting karman (upacchedaka
karman) that suddenly cuts off the janaka-karman
before the expiration of the life term
(aayuk.saya). Naarada, "Sa^msaara or Buddhist
Philosophy of Birth and Death, " Indian
Historical Quarterly, III (1927), 561-570. See
also C. A.F. Rhys Davids, Buddhist Psychology
(London: Luzac & Co., 1924), p. 152.

(57) A. B. Govinda, The Psychological Attitude of
Early Buddbist Philolophy (London: Rider & Co.,
1961),pp. 58-59: "Another division, from the
standpoint of potentiality (or action and
reaction) divides the paticasamuppada in four
parts. Avijjaa and sa^nkhaara represent in this
cases the potential aspect of karmic force
(kamma-bhava) accumulated in the past (I) which
conditions the birth-process (uparti-bhava),the
resultant aspect (vipaaka) of karma in the
present Life (group II), consisting of
consciousness, the psycho-physical apparatus
with its six sense organs, contacts, and
feelings. The following links of the present
existence--craving, clinging, and becoming-are
again karma in the making i.,e., kamma-bhava
(group III) (corresponding to the potential
aspect in the past), the result of which is
rebirth in the future life with the necessary
consequence of old age, suffering, and death
(group IV)--corresponding to the resultant
aspect of karma in the present existence. The
parallelism of the first and third group and of
the second and fourth respectively is reflected
in the close relationship of its constituents
which almost amounts to identity: ta.nhaa and
upaadaana are forms of avijjaa, as already
explained: jaati, jaraa-mara.na are only a short
expression for vi~n~naana, naama-ruupa,
sadaayatana, phassa, vedanaa which constitute
the five karma-results in contradistinction to
the five karma-causes (avijjaa, sa^nkhaara,
ta.nhaa, upaadaana, kamma-bhava); bhava, which
here means 'kamma-bhava', is synonymous with
sankhaara. Buddhaghosa, therefore, says in his
Visuddhi Magga:
'Five muses were there in the past,
Five fruits we find in present life,
Five causes do we now produce,
Five fruits we reap in future life.'
(Translated by Nyaa.natiloka, who refers to a
parallel in Pa.tisa^mbhidaa, ~Naa.nakathaa, No.
4.)"

(58) Cf. Edmund Holmes, The Creed of Buddha (London:
John Lane, 1928), pp. 32-33: "But, whereas in
the West the conception of natural law has in
the main been applied to the outward and visible
world, in the East, where the outward and
visible world owes such reality as it possesses
to its earn inward and spiritual life, the
conception of law has not merely been applied to
the inward and spiritual life, but has been more
intimately associated with it than with any
other aspect of Nature. In the Universe, as the
popular thought of the West conceives

p.41

the sky, in the seas, and in the recesses of
mountains.(59) Hence, nobility of actions was to be
the primary goal of an aspirant. Mere external
ceremonialism and formal monasticism were regarded as
being of no avail unless both the inner motives and
external acts were purified. The Buddha was a great
teacher of moral idealism, and he preached the
enormous sanctity of the law of righteousness.(60) He
taught the efficacy of moral will.(61) At a time when
the contemporary religious structure was subjected to
the devastating onslaughts of skepticism regarding
the metaphysical principle, and relativism regarding
moral values, he preached the significance of the
holy life.(62) The Majjhima
_____________________________________________________

of it. there are two worlds,--the natural, which
is under the dominion of law, and the
supernatural, which is under the sway of an
arbitrary and irresponsible despot, who can also
suspend or modify at will the laws of the
natural world. But Eastern thought, in
conceiving of the inward life as the real self
of Nature, conceived of it also as the ultimate
and eternal source of all natural law."

(59) According to the A^nguttara Nikaaya (P.T.S. ed.,
Vol. III, p. 169), there are two kinds of
actions: (1) Actions performed under the
influence of raaga (attachment) , dve.sa
(hatred), and moha (infatuation), which produce
bondage. (2) Actions performed without the
influence of raaga, dve.sa, and moha, which lead
to emancipation. Ahi^msaa (non-injury), asteya
(nonstealing), and abhoga (non-enjoyment) are
the constituents of samyakkarmaa.nta, which is
the fourth element in the aarya a.s.taa^ngika
maarga. According to the Atthasaalinii (P. V.
Bapat and R. D. Vadekar, eds. [Poona: Bhandarkar
Oriental Research Institute, 1942], p. 73),
there are four kinds of karman: (1) bad (kanham)
--producing impurity; (2) good
(sukkam)--producing purity; (3) partly bad and
partly good (kanhasukkam) -producing both
impurity and purity; and (4) neither bad nor
good (akanha-asukkam)-producing neither impurity
nor purity but contributing to the destruction
of karman. Sometimes the Buddhist writings make
a threefold distinction between ku'sala or
pu.nya (good), aku'sala or apu.nya (evil) ,
avyaak.rta (neutral) actions. See La Vall俥
-poussin, "Karma, " in The Encyclopaedia of
Religion and Ethics, Vol. VII (1914) , pp.
673-677.

(60) S. K. Maitra, Ethics of the Hindus (2d ed.,
Calcutta: Calcutta University press, 1956),
p.86 "... for the Buddha there is no merit in
karma or duty in an objective sense (as in the
Miimaansaa) and...it assumes a moral
significance only as subjectively willed and
accomplished and thus as modifying the
subjective disposition of the agent. Hence
according to him there is no inherent moral
worth in karma, but only in its conduciveness to
the purification of the mind. Thus the Shastric
karmas have no inherent worth or excellence,
their moral value being conditional only on
their conduciveness to spiritual perfection."

(61) According to A^nguttara Nikaaya, III. 415, "It
is volition, O monks, that I call karma." This
view of the Buddha was misunderstood by
Paribbaajaka Potaliputta, who took it to mean
that according to him (the Buddha) manokamma is
a true act and neither that which is vocal nor
that which is bodily. Majjhima Nikaaya, III.
207. Vasubandhu in Abhidharmako.sa, IV. 1,
enormously stresses that in the Buddhist view
karman is nothing but cetanaa (consciousness).
Abhidharmako.sa, IV. 1. C. A. F. Rhys Davids,
Buddhist Psychology, p.93; and Th. Stcherbatsky,
The Central Conception of Buddhism, p. 19.

(62) Sa^myutta Nikaaya, 227, says:

According to the seed that's sown
So is the fruit ye reap therefrom.
Doer of good will gather good
Doer of evil evil reaps.
Sown is the seed and thou shalt taste
The fruit thereof.

The later Buddhist idealists like Saantarak.sita
and Kamala'siila, however, who adhered to the
theory of momentariness, refuted the theory of
action. See S. N. Dasgupta, Indian Idealism, p.
147.

p.42

Nikaaya declares, "Our mind shall not waver. No evil
speech will we utter. Tender and compassionate will
we abide, loving in heart, void of malice within...
and with that feeling Clove) as a basis we will ever
be suffusing the whole world with thoughts of love,
far-reaching, grown great, beyond measure, void of
anger and ill-will."(62a) The Buddha taught ethical
purity and perfection(63) and said that in the
hereafter the man who had acquired moral merit would
be happily received as the kinsmen receive their
relatives who return after a long foreign
sojourn.(63a)
The belief in the supremacy of karman as held by
the Buddha implies some kind of a non-mechanical,
purposive universe. In a purely mechanistic
conception there is no place for the belief that
one's intention and will also receive their
commensurate reward. Hence, if there is no sanction
in early Buddhist texts for the notion of an immanent
spiritual teleology, it may also be safely held that
neither could they sponsor a conception of the
universe as an unconnected chain of random facts or a
conglomeration of disparate meaningless elements.(64)
The Buddha firmly adhered to the law of causation. He
said, "This, ye monks, is not your body, nor that of
others. You have rather to see in it, ye monks, the
old deeds (kamma^m), the result of actions,
volitions, and feelings (in former existences)."(65)
In explaining the genesis of sorrow, he subscribed to
the notion of transitive causation. It is true that
he did not advocate the concept of a soul as a
substance, but there can be no denial of the fact
that he thoroughly adhered to the view that the
human being could assert his superiority to the
numerous oppositions of physically and
psychologically deviant forces and thus vindicate his
strength of purpose. The Nikaayas and the Jaatakas
contain the stories of sinners who wrought tremendous
moral reformation in their lives. The personality of
the Buddha
_____________________________________________________

(62a) I. 129. Quoted in R. L. Turner, "Karma-Marge,"
in The Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics,
vol. VII, p. 678.

(63) A. B. Keith, "The Buddha as a Master Mind:"
Indian Culture, V. (Calcutta: The Indian
Research Institute, 1938), 229-238, is mistaken
in his obiter dictum that there is no proof in
the Buddhist texts that the Buddha held a view
of the universe in which the moral law stands
highest. The Buddha might not have formulated
the notion of a cosmic norm, but there is no
doubt that in individual lives he maintained the
primacy of moral causation and moral
retribution. His significance lies in having
replaced the theonomic moral standard by the
autonomic. As a moral autonomist, he reached
higher standards than the aesthetic
intuitionists.

(63a) Dhammapada, XVI. 11 (no. 219).

(64) According to the naturalists (svabhaavavaadin)
and the mechanists, there was no purpose in
Nature. But the Buddha held that there was some
superior rationality in the world process, and
hence he taught that good and evil bear their
respective fruits. M. Hiriyanna Outlines of
Indian Philosophy (London: George Allen & Unwin
Ltd., 1932), pp. 103-104, says that the
Mabaabbaarata is the main source of heretical
doctrines like yad.rcchaavaada (the source of
the doctrines of the Caarvaakas) and
svabhaavavaada (naturalism). But the difficulty
is the exact determination of the date of the
Mahaabhaarata.

(65) Sa^myutta Nikaaya, XII. 37.

p.43

himself was a monumental example of the fact that in
the face of the firmness of a strong will all
obstacles vanish. He conquered the numerous
allurements and temptations put forward by Maara and
thus vindicated the superiority of the moral will.
The early Buddhist texts also stress the concept
of upaakaana (craving) as a propulsive force for
karman.(66) The will to be is the real cause of the
terrestrial existence of a man. The conjunction of
upaadaana and karman would show that early Buddhism
adhered to the organic view of the universe.(67) The
elimination of upaadaana(68) is essential for the
attainment of nirvaa.na. The older generation of
Paali scholars was mistaken in maintaining that the
exhaustion of karman would produce nirvaa.na. It may
be pointed out that this is interpreting early
Buddhism on the lines of Jainism.(69) According to
the Jainas, bondage is regarded as being produced by
the influx of subtle material karman-particles into
the soul and consequently the sa^mvara (stopping of
influx) and nirjara (exhaustion) of karman are viewed
as leading to the liberation of the soul. But,
according to Buddhism, not the mere stoppage of
physical action, but the neutralization of the
psychological clinging to action is essential for
nirvaa.na. Although the Buddha is a great ethical
teacher and inculcates the supremacy of moral living
and righteous endeavors, it is incorrect to
interpret him as the promulgator of only the sanctity
of actions. Beyond actions, he teaches the supremacy
of knowledge. Although karman has a vital importance
in Buddhist ethics and metaphysics, the supreme way
to enlightenment is not merely moral action but the
knowledge of the four Aryan truths.(70) Both the
Upani.sads and Buddhism stress knowledge for the
_____________________________________________________

(66) The Buddhist upaadaana (clinging) has some
resemblance to Pareto's concept of "residues,"
or basic constellations of sentiments, and to
the "interests" of the Ratzenhofer-Small theory.
For the views of these sociologists, see Harry
Elmer Barnes, ed., An Introduction to the
History of Sociology (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1948), pp. 561-563, 377-379,
782-784.

(67) The relation of upaadaana and karman has been
analyzed in the Tathaataa philosophy of
A'svagho.sa. See S. N. Dasgupta, A History of
India, Philosophy, Vol. I, p. 133.

(68) According to the later Buddhist scholastics, the
loss of upaadaana, along with that of (a)
karman, (b) d.r.s.ti (false views), (c)
'siilavrata (supertitious usage), and (d)
aatmavaada (doctrine of self) follows from the
loss of egoistic feelings. For the English
rendering of the Sanskrit and Pali terms used
here, see A. B. Keith, Buddhist Philosophy in
India and Ceylon, pp. 128, 114.

(69) James B. Pratt, The Pilgrimage of Buddhism (New
York: The Macmillan Co., 1928), p. 73: "It is
Tanha, craving, that keeps one on the weary
wheel of rebirth and bring one back after the
death of the body to birth in a new one. That
one's Karma was the cause of rebirth was a
Brahmin and Jaina concept; hence the ideal of
worklessness as a means of salvation, referred
to so repeatedly in the Bhagavad Gita, and the
attempt of the Jainas to extinguish acquired
Karma through ascetic practices and avoid the
acquisition of new Karma Against these
conceptions the Buddha set up his new
psychological theory (if so we may style it)
that rebirth was due not to Karma but to
craving; and that by rooting out evil desire and
the will to live one could escape from rebirth,
regardless of the Karma one had brought with one
to this life. This, of course, was a much more
hopeful and moral doctrine, and one for which a
certain amount of empirical evidence based on
analogy could be produced."

(70) Hence it is incorrect to interpret the Buddha as
a mere practical moralist. Since he pro-

p.44

attainment of the highest goal of man. By knowledge
(vidyaa) the Upani.sads mean intuitive supra-rational
apprehension of the Absolute and not analytical or
dialectical learning. But knowledge, according to the
Buddhist, signifies the realization of the four Aryan
truths. The Last of the four truths is the aarya
a.s.taa^ngika maarga (noble eightfold path), and the
last item in the maarga (path) is samaadhi
(concentration).

6. SOCIOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS OF MORAL DETERMINISM

Sometimes it is said that Buddhist philosophy,
with its negativistic conceptions of du.hkha and
nirvaa.na, is antithetical to any positive approach
to life and politics. It is difficult to deny this
charge completely. It is true that during the age
when Buddhism was culturally ascendant in India great
progress was made in the secular aspects of life. But
this does not mean that the great examples of art,
architecture, political administration, and social
organization of chat epoch owe their construction to
the Buddhist monks, who were attempting to attain
nirvaa.na or who were experiencing the bliss of
samaadhi. (England and the U. S. A. are Christian
countries, but that does not mean that the
achievements in the mundane domain in these countries
are due to the efforts of Christian monks and
theological preachers.) The main problem is: Is
adherence to the Buddhist ethical and spiritual code
repugnant to a rigorous pursuit of political and
social objectives? It certainly is antithetical. The
Buddhist "way" is definitely and dominantly
individualistic. On the other hand, the pursuit of
social and political objectives is possible only
through group co-operation, organization, diplomatic
manipulation, and compromise. Politics is a game of
give and take. This attiude, highly commendable in
the mundane sphere, is not consistent with the
austere character of the Buddhist ethical norm. It is
true that several prophets and teachers in the world
have attempted to combine the techniques of religious
liberation with the conquest of social and political
power. But the consequence has been that either they
have failed in their endeavors or political
considerations have engulfed the religious. The
organization of political life assumes a positive
insistent approach to the world. This positivism may
entail choices and decisions wherein the rigorous and
ascetic ideal may have to be sacrificed. Hence,
although the ethical and religious man may excel in
the acquisition of inner illumination, he may appear
to be unsuccessful in terms of purely social and
secular considerations. The worldly attitude believes
in the quantitative computation of goods. Thus, there
may be chances
_____________________________________________________

pounded a concept of emancipation based on
knowledge, he may be said to have attained the
gnomic stage of moral reflection.

p.45

of a radical antithesis between the conduct of the
man who works for the sake of the emancipation of the
soul and that of the man who is busy collecting the
so-called "good" things of the world through even
unfair means. The truly ethical and religious man may
even choose to enter the path of martyrdom for the
sake of his convictions. But such a course would be
thoroughly meaningless for the person engrossed in
the world. Hence, there can be no denial of the
proposition that the path leading to sa^mbodhi
(illumination) and praj~naa (gnosis) may be radically
different from, and sometimes even thoroughly opposed
to, the way of the mercantile magnate, the
politician, and the warrior. Religion and ethics are
not worth the name unless they teach the
subordination of the self-interest or egoistic
considerations of the individual. But can a
competitive society exist without the calculation and
personal considerations of self-interest?
So far as the Buddha himself is considered, it is
true that, if on the one hand he taught the resort to
apramaada (non-sloth) and viirya (strenuous efforts)
to realize one's supreme goal of life--nirvaa.na--he
was also consulted sometimes on political questions
and he tendered his advice. It appears thus that,
although he had renounced the world, he was not
absolutely indifferent to the appeal of peace and the
welfare of the people.
The advocacy of moral determinism had two
significant political and sociological consequences.
First, it provided a support for conservatism. All
persons were supposed to belong to that station to
which they were apportioned as a consequence to their
past actions.(71) Thus, a rationale and a justifica-
tion were provided for the incongruities and
contradictions of social and political life. If
certain groups enjoyed esteem, power, or influence,
they were regarded as doing so because of the merit
earned by them in previous lives. Thus, the
disparities of present social and political life were
explained in terms of the antecedent past.(72) A
philosophy of resistance against social oligarchy and
political despotism could not arise in such an
intellectual framework. A theoretical defence of
disobedience to social and political superiors can
be built only when the irrationalities of
contemporary life are explained
_____________________________________________________

(71) The law of karman is fitted to the demands and
mores of an agrarian society. It suits the
behavior patterns of an agrarian dogma-ridden
fatalistic people. Perhaps such a dogma was
essential to buttress the foundations of the
caaturvar.nya. The example of Turkey
substantiates this sociological generalization.
In pre-Kamalist Turkey the inhabitants believed
in kismet, but, after the great transformation
wrought by Kemal Pasha, the same people began to
believe in self-effort. G. W. F. Hegel, in
Philosophy of Right, G. T. M. Knox, trans.
(Oxford: The Clarendon Press. 1949), pp.
130-131, 270, points out that an agrarian
population has to depend on accidental rains and
hence it is prone to an unreflective mode of
life, thanking God and living in faith and
confidence that divine goodness will continue.

(72) Suzuki, Outlines of Mahayana Buddhism, pp.
186ff., does not seem to be correct in his view
that, since the law of karman operates in the
moral sphere only, cases of economic inequality
and social injustice must not be explained by
evil karman.

p.46

in terms of actions and behavior which can be stopped
here and now. But the resort to the methodological
device of unknown past actions to explain present
contradictions minimizes and even virtually
neutralizes the efficacy of any social theory which
seeks to buttress individual efforts toward ending
the regime of callous and irresponsible social and
political autocrats.
But, although the conservative implications of
the theory of karman are to be accepted, the view of
Marxian interpreters that the notions of karman and
punarjanma (transmigration or rebirth) were
deliberately formulated by the exponents of the
interests of the dominant classes to "mystify" the
suppressed strata is uncharitable.(72a) When there
are alternative hypotheses to explain the emergence
of the concept of karman, why should mean and sordid
motives be attributed to some supposed ideologists
who framed this notion to justify the status quo by
means of this "superstructure"? If the concepts of
karman and punarjanma had the function of serving as
ideological devices to hoodwink the exploited
sections, there can be no reason whatsoever why the
Buddha, whom the Marxists regard as the heralder of a
social revolution against the exploitationist
techniques of the sacerdotal sections,(72b) should
have preached this doctrine.
Second, the theory of moral determinism
encouraged individualism. It sanctioned a course of
noble conduct which, if assiduously followed, would
ensure one a better lot in the succeeding lives. By
emphasizing a just apportionment of rewards in the
present and in succeeding lives, the philosophy of
moral determinism encouraged the pursuit of a course
of action for the betterment of one's fate.(73) The
view that one's lot can be immensely bettered through
his own efforts is one of the cardinal implications
of the theory of karman.(74) Both the Dhammapada and
the Bhagavadgiitaa contain emphatic statements
eulogizing one's individaul efforts.(75) Thereby the
gospel of spontaneity and self-determination is
heralded. The Buddha's stress on individual
_____________________________________________________

(72a) Rahul Samkrityayana, Darshana-Digdarshana. In
Hindi. (Allahabad: Kitab Mahal, 1947), p. 404.

(72b) Manavendra Nath Roy, From Savagery to
Civilization (Calcutta: Shamacharan De street,
1940), p. 15; also Heresies of the Twentieth
Century (Moradabad: Pradeep Karyalaya, 1940),
pp. 76-78.

(73) If karman is interpreted in this sense of
individual responsibility, it can be the
foundation of the doctrine of a sturdy
individualism. it will strengthen one's courage
to succeed in the struggle for existence. It
makes the individual responsible for his fate,
and in this sense could be made to inspire a
person like Herbert spencer. But in ancient
Indian thought karman was mainly interpreted in
a moral and religious direction, although in
modern India it has also been used to support
social idealism.

(74) Although the main emphasis of karman is on
effort, still only the effort toward fostering
social co-operation is lauded. But, in the
Bhagavadgiitaa, armed struggle also is praised
as a part of the vocation of a particular
var.na.

(75) A charismatic conception of leadership is found
in the view that through effort made in several
Lives the Buddha was able to attain
"Buddhahood."

p.47

efforts was a great blow to the traditional system,
which inculcated social deference in accordance with
birth. The Buddha declared that it is through karman
that one becomes a braahmin or a non-braahmin.(76)
This was a revolutionary statement, and its
implications for social democracy were drawn up later
by the exponents of the bhakti movement, such as
Nanak, Kabir, and Chaitanya. In place of superiority
by birth, the Buddha exalted the nobility of action,
and thus he dealt a mighty counterblow to the spec-
ulations of the Puru.sa Suukta,(76a) which had sought
to sanctify the fourfold division of society by
providing it a divine origin. Thus the Buddha's
stress on personal efforts(76a) not only aimed
against the notion of divine predetermination and
election for the purpose of salvation, but also
stressed that social esteem and prestige should not
go to birth but to efforts intended to enhance one's
moral personality.
Thus, it is possible to draw support for both
conservatism and individualism from the concept of
karman. It depends on which particular side of its
teaching is taken into consideration. If its
retrospective, retributive, and deterministic aspects
are stressed, it becomes a support for conservatism
and strengthens the tendency to interpret one's
present status in terms of previous actions. But, if
it is used to support strong energetic efforts in the
present, its individualistic implications are
stressed.
_____________________________________________________

(76) Vaase.t.tha Sutta, Majjhima Nikaaya, no. 98.

(76a) .Rg Veda, X. 90.