Karma defintion
Refers to the intention behind an act. Karmic consequences are the outcomes of karma. Both the act and intention matter.
Akusala
Unskilful or unwholesome act, it comes from greed, hatred, and delusion.
Kusala
Skilful or wholesome act, it uplifts the mental state of the doer and others.
Narada Thera quote
‘Good gets good. Evil gets evil. Like attracts like. This is the law of karma.’
Peter Harvey
- Harvey argues that the belief in karma is important because it influences the way in which people look at their actions.
- However, this is unpersuasive because intentions also matter and if people are only doing good actions to benefit their future selves it may not reflect well on them.
Empowering
The teaching of karma is empowering as it will make Buddhists feel more independent because it teaches that you and only you are responsible for your actions.
Free will
- Karma supports the existence of free will as it teaches there is a choice to make in every act.
- However, there are some aspects of karma that suggest your future is somewhat already determined by the fruits of karma.
Future rebirths
Karma is important as it affects human rebirths. This is significant as you want to be reborn into the human realm as it is the easiest realm to gain enlightenment from.
Nirvana
- Once you become enlightened you stop accumulating bad karma and spend the rest of your life working off bad karma.
- However, it can also be argued that karma is because of attachment and if therefore the stopping of a Buddhist goal as it keeps Buddhists in the cycle of samsara.
Unfair
- Karma is unfair because all people are subject to the same ethical system which is not in absolute agreement worldwide.
- However, the values are very unspecific and therefore align with everyone’s ideology such as being wise, selfless, and understanding.
- Furthermore, this makes karma fairer as it affects all people indiscriminately.
