..續本文上一頁ma, with its attendant doctrine of rebirth, has already been accepted by many of the world”s leading intellectuals as logical and scientific. Professor Carl Gustav Jung, the eminent psychologist, has conceded that it is something worthy of serious study. He observed: "As a student of comparative religion, I believe that Buddhism is the most perfect one the world has ever seen. The philosophy of the Buddha, the theory of evolution, and the law of kamma were far superior to any other creed."
The law of kamma is a direct result of the Buddha”s enlightenment. Even from the perspective of common sense there is hardly any principle more logical than the law of kamma, which postulates that good actions beget good results and bad actions beget bad ones. Ethically, this seems to be the only sound and tenable proposition.
One can observe and experiment with the law of kamma with one”s own sense faculties and reasoning powers. Let us suppose, for instance, that we start smoking an occasional cigarette. An unskillful kamma has been committed. Now we can observe the changes (results of kamma) that are taking place as we continue to repeat the unskillful action. Smoking one cigarette acts as a potential for our indulgence in the next. As a result, a taste for tobacco, an inclination, and the habit to smoke develop, leading finally to addiction. By looking closely at the whole process, we will be able to see how we experience results proportionate to the actions that we have willfully committed.
Kamma may also be understood in term of impulses. Smoking builds up impulses, both psychological and physical, and compels us to smoke even more until it becomes habitualized. The same is true with other more subtle actions. When we are annoyed or irritated, we may choose either to use this opportunity to practice kindness and transform our annoyance into a more positive experience, or we may act out our negative emotion and express anger through some physical or verbal action. Any course of action we undertake is a potential for further similar reaction under similar circumstances. By repeatedly practicing to transform anger to kindness, we can develop a kindly nature and cheerful character. On the other hand, if we repeatedly shout at someone every time we get angry, that kamma will result in transforming us into hot-tempered and quarrelsome people. This is how we can empirically observe and experiment with the law of kamma, and see for ourselves how this law of cause and effect, action and reaction, operates in our daily lives. Based on this principle, we can expand the fields of our observation and experiment to increase our knowledge and understanding of kamma. Of course, the most comprehensive and infallible method is naturally the one employed by the Buddha and his noble disciples, which involves the special psychic instruments of higher spiritual knowledge.
The law of kamma is different from the idea of fatalism or predetermination. In fact, Buddhism rather talks about causal relationships than things being predetermined. The Anguttara Nikaya mentions three views which Buddhism does not subscribe to. The first is past-action determinism, which asserts that all our experiences in the present life are solely determined by past actions. The second is theistic determinism, which means that all our experiences and all events are due to God”s creation and will. And the third view rejected by the Buddha is called accidentalism, which holds that all experiences are merely manifestations of fortuitous elements, uncaused and unconditioned. This fallacious view rejects the principle of causality and the law of kamma.
The first two views allow no room for free will, and are fatalistic in nature. The third is obviously untenable for the simple reaso…
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