Buddhist Views of Karma and Rebirth Term Paper

Buddhist Views of Karma and Rebirth Term Paper

The law of karma is a fundamental principle of the Buddhist worldview. In brief, karma refers to the idea that intentional actions have consequences for the agent, in this life and in future lives; in fact, it is karma that leads to rebirth. Buddhists understand the law of karma as another manifestation of dependent arising (paṭicca-samuppāda), the law of cause and effect, whereby everything that exists arises due to specific conditions. In this sense, the law of karma is a sort of natural law, so that actions are naturally followed by consequences, not as the result of divine judgement. But they will follow: the Buddha emphasised that actions lead inevitably to appropriate consequences

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The psychological meaning of the law of karma is extremely important for understanding how practising ethics has good consequences and leads to a happier, more integrated sense of self. This is the best basis for further progress on the Buddhist path. As an aside at this point, it is worth noticing that Buddhist ethics is based on the axiom that ‘actions have consequences’, but a good action is one that has good consquences for everyone, not just for oneself. The law of karma follows from the ethical axiom, but the psychological consequences for onself should not be the only considersation for our actions. But perhaps for a lot of us the promise of greater happiness acts as a prompt to remember to be good.

There are variations among the Buddhist views of what occurs after death. However, the unifying feature of each is that the cycle of death and rebirth (reincarnation) is to be avoided by achieving nirvana. Nirvana, which means “extinction” or “blowing out”, also often translated as “bliss”, is the letting go of individual identity and desires (Ashton and Whyte, p 46). Thus, in the state of nirvana (the state toward which enlightenment drives one) there is no longer an ‘individual’ and there is no survival of subjective experience. However, this is desirable from the Buddhist perspective because, according to Gautama Buddha (the supreme Buddha) the essential nature of embodied life is suffering caused by desire for (in part) permanence and identity (in general for earthly things).

One striking aspect of the Buddhist view is that there is no soul, as it is understood in the Judeo-Christian or scholastic philosophy traditions. That is, there is no permanent subst……………