The role of Animals in Buddhism
With special reference to the Jatakas
by Nguyen Thi Kieu Diem | 2012 | 66,083 words
This study studies the role of animals in Indian Buddhism with special reference to the Jatakasāancient Pali texts narrating the previous births of the Buddha dating back 2500 years....
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2.1. The Meaning of Karma in Buddhism
The teaching of the law of karma is a valuable element in Buddhism, and it offers some interesting social and historical perspectives. It is an important doctrine. Walpola Rahula, a Sri Lankan monk and Buddhist scholar, has noted that this mistaken view has theistic overtones and warned that in the context of karma, āthe term justice is ambiguous and dangerous, and in its name more harm than good is done to humanity. The theory of karma is the theory of cause and effect, of action and reaction; it is a natural law, which has nothing to do with the idea of justice or reward and punishment.ā�[1]
It is clear that underpinning and pervading the whole of the Buddhist teaching on the path, at both ordinary (lokiya) and super mundane (lokuttara) levels, is the notion of karma. Because a general knowledge of Buddhist teaching about karma is now quite common in the East and West, it is easy to underestimate the impact of the Buddhaās innovative reworking of a traditional BrÄhmaį¹ic concept. This impact is dramatically described in early texts dealing with the Buddhaās final stages of attainment and his enlightenment.[2]
Karma means āactionā� or ādoingā�. Whatever one does, says, or thinks is karma. In Buddhism, the term karma is used specifically for those actions which spring from the intention of an unenlightened being. For the sole purpose of understanding this ākarmaā� better, it may be worthwhile to Rahula from his book āNow, the Pali word kamma or the Sanskrit work karma (from the root °ģį¹� to do) literally means āactionā�, ādoingā�. But the Buddhist theory of Karma has a specific meaning: it means only āvolitional actionā�, not all action. Nor does it mean the result of karma as many people wrongly and loosely use it.[3]
In Buddhist terminology karma never means its effect; its effect is known as the āfruitā� or the āresultā� of karma (kamma-phala or °ģ²¹³¾³¾²¹±¹¾±±čÄå°ģ²¹). āDeeds are oneās own ā� beings are heir to deeds, deeds are matrix, deeds are kin and deeds are arbiters. Deeds divide beings, which are to say by lowness and excellence.ā�[4] This is explained as referring to the karmic effect of various actions. A personās actions mould their consciousness, making them into a certain kind of person, so that when they die their out ter form tends to correspond to the type of nature that has been developed.[5] Volition may relatively be good or bad. So karma may be good or bad relatively. Good karma (kusala) produces good effects, and bad karma (akusala) produces bad effects. āThirstā�, volition, karma, whether good or bad, has one force as its effect: force to continue-to continue in a good or bad direction. Whether good or bad it is relative, and is within the cycle of continuity (²õ²¹į¹sÄå°ł²¹).
The six realms are actual places in which we can be reborn. They are brought into existence through the power of our actions or karma.[6] Karma is the spiritual law of justice which makes us experiences the good and the bad effects of what we do to others. So, if we harm animals by killing them, eating them, or experimenting on them, we will have to suffer analogous experiences ourselves in the future or at least have to undergo some form of suffering. Only when we ourselves go through what the animals have been through will we definitely know that hurting animals is wrong. So eventually we will develop empathy, a belief in our kinship with all sentient beings, including animals. It is interesting to note, also, that if we are kind to animals, kindness and happiness flow back to us. The Buddha says that if you perform one act of kindness to an animal, you will be recompensed a hundredfold.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
Walpola Rahula, What the Buddha Taught, London: The Gordon Fraser Gallery Ltd, 1972:16ā�29.
[2]:
Peter Harvey, Buddhism, New York: Continuum, 2001: 190.
[3]:
Walpola Rahula, Op. Cit. 32.
[4]:
M. III. 203.
[5]:
Peter Harvey, An Introduction to Buddhist Ethics: Foundations, Values, and Issues, Cambridge University Press, 2000:15.