An Introduction To The Law of Kamma - Ven Dr. Silananda
An Introduction To The Law of Kamma - Ven Dr. Silananda
An Introduction To The Law of Kamma - Ven Dr. Silananda
An
An Introduction
Introduction to
to the
the
Law
Law of
of KAMMA
KAMMA
Sayadaw U Silananda
BO
e
DHANET
'
UD
O K LIB R A R
E-mail: bdea@buddhanet.net
Web site: www.buddhanet.net
ii
~ VOLITION ~
Sayadaw U Slnanda
IJ015/98
iii
Contents
Preface ................................................................................. 3
The Law of Kamma
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Preface
was an External Examiner at the Department of Oriental Studies, University of Art and Sciences, Mandalay,
Myanmar. Sayadaw was the chief compiler of the comprehensive Tipiaka Pi-Burmese Dictionary and one of
the final editors of the Pi Texts, Commentaries, and
Sub-Commentaries at the Sixth Buddhist Council, held
in 1954.
Sayadaw is the author of seven scholarly Buddhist
books in the Burmese language and an English publication on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, in 1990.
Since his arrival in America in 1979, Sayadaw has
been teaching Vipassan (Insight) meditation, Abhidhamma (Buddhist psychology), and other aspects of
Theravda Buddhism, and leading meditation retreats
throughout the country and in Japan, Europe and Asia.
Sayadaw is actively engaged in teaching a broad range
of students in English, Burmese, Pi and Sanskrit.
Sayadaw is loved by his students as a skilled, patient
and compassionate teacher.
Sayadaw U Slnanda
]
What is kamma? Buddha said: Oh monks, it is volition
that I call kamma. The popular meaning of kamma
is action or doing, but as a technical term, kamma
means volition or will. When you do something, there
is volition behind it, and that volition, that mental
effort, is called kamma. Buddha explained that, having
willed, one then acts through body, speech and mind.
Whatever you do, there is some kind of kamma, mental
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]
Kamma is classified into different groups and different kinds. One of the classifications of kamma
is into good kamma and bad kamma. There are ten
good kammas, ten good volitions or deeds. They are
good because they appear with good mental states,
good mental components, and they give good results.
The first good kamma is generosity, or giving. We
have to practice generosity because by giving what
we have to others, we acquire kusala, also known as
merit. This kusala kamma will give results in future
lives. Generosity also helps us practice detachment.
For example, I may be attached to this tape recorder. If
I give it away to another person, I not only give up the
machine, but I also give up attachment to it. I get rid
of attachment, known as lobha, and when your mind
is free from lobha, it is liberated, clear, and tranquil.
Thus, people are encouraged to practice giving (dna)
as often as possible.
The second good kamma is morality. Morality
means taking precepts and keeping them. For lay
15
Buddhists, five precepts are the minimum requirement: not to kill, not to steal, not to indulge in sexual
misconduct, not to lie, and not to take intoxicants. On
retreats, we add three more precepts for a total of eight.
The additional three are abstention from eating after
noon, from music and adornments, and from high and
luxurious beds and seats. Morality, known as sla, is
the foundation of samdhi, or meditation.
The third good kamma is meditation, mental culture. This is the best kamma you can do in this life: to
practice vipassan meditation.
The fourth good kamma is reverence, giving respect to others, especially to older people. In the East, it
is taken for granted that younger people give respect
to older people. In this way, the relationship between
parents and children, and teachers and students, are
governed by rules of reverence.
The fifth good kamma is service, to do something
good for someone, such as helping a lady cross the
street or helping her carry some heavy things. Another
type of service is giving service to the Buddha, to the
Dhamma, and to the Sangha. When you are cleaning
or renovating the monastery, that is very good service.
The sixth good kamma is the sharing of merit.
When you have acquired some merit, you must share
this merit with other beings. Sharing of merit is itself
merit, and we share merit with all beings. Sharing
of merit does not mean that we give a portion of our
merit to other beings. It means that we let them get a
chance to acquire merit themselves. Once a man asked
Pacceka Buddha whether the merit decreases if a per16
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Covetousness here means that you want to possess another persons property, and this is a very bad form of
greed.
The ninth form of bad kamma is ill will, or dosa.
That is wanting to hurt people, wanting to cause injury
to others.
Finally, we come to the tenth bad kamma, which
is wrong view. Wrong view is having the belief that
things are permanent, satisfactory, and one is in possession of a soul or self.
These are the ten bad kammas which give bad
results and which we must avoid if we do not want
those results. Refraining from these kammas is said to
be good kamma; refraining from killing, stealing, and
all the other bad kammas is actually good kamma. We
must have knowledge of the law of kamma, the knowledge that kamma is entirely ones responsibility. This
is very important in Buddhism and is part of the good
kamma we call the straightening of view.
Knowledge of kamma is conducive to tranquility,
which is one of the seven factors of enlightenment. In
order to experience tranquility, one has to do many
things, and reflecting upon kamma as ones own is
one of them. Sometimes you are agitated and restless
because you do not have what you want, or you have
what you do not want. In such a situation, reflecting
upon kamma will help you to be rid of restlessness
and thereby gain tranquility because you cannot do
anything to change kamma from the past. You have to
put up with what you deserve as the result of past volition, past kamma.
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Classification of Kamma
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