..續本文上一頁ically possess certain inclinations and attitudes and why we sometimes have an inexplicably strong like or dislike for certain inpiduals we encounter for the first time.
Based on the doctrine of kamma, it is possible to understand the present in reference to the past and to foresee the future through inference from the present. But this is no more a foregone conclusion than the statement, "We are what we were." Predetermination is not a Buddhist idea, neither is fate, destiny, or accidentalism. Kamma is open to the influence of conditioning factors, both in the present as well as the future. Even conditioned impulses, which hold the makings of the future, are subject to the influence of free will, that is, whether or not we choose to act on them. For example, an alcoholic is offered a bottle of whiskey: he experiences an impulse to drink. Based on past observation, we can predict with a high degree of probability that he would lose no time in emptying its contents into his stomach. Although that seems to be the most natural course of action, yet at that critical moment he still has the choice whether to act on the impulse or resolve to fight back by denying himself the unwholesome drink. In other words, he is not totally predetermined to consume the whiskey. Kamma could be influenced by other physio-psychological conditions as well.
One Buddhist meditation technique involves constant awareness of one”s own thoughts. This is the most effective way to check the constantly changing states of mind, to see clearly how impulses arise, and how they are conditioned. By giving ourselves more space to reflect and contemplate, we will be able to get in touch with our own inner nature and our weaknesses and strengths. Most importantly, this awareness enables us to make better choices, to deal directly with our own impulses, not only by acting them out in a beneficial manner, but transforming them, if they are negative, to positive ones. Mindfulness helps us to make wise decisions with regard to our impulses so that we are not tempted to perform unwholesome actions, but rather engage in wholesome ones.
Our interest and receptivity to the Dhamma can also be explained according to the law of kamma. In fact, the existence of child prodigies can also be rationalized on the basis of the law of kamma, together with the Buddhist teachings on rebirth. It is likely that if we had studied and practiced the Dhamma in our previous lives, we would be more inclined to do so in the present. If we had mastered the subject in the past, it is natural that we should find it easy in the present. By extension, this principle is also cited to explain why some children are so extraordinarily receptive to certain subjects, and not to others. They study them as if they had thoroughly understood them in the past and are merely revising what had been previously mastered.
Other conditioning factors
The law of nature has been explained by Buddhist commentators as consisting of five distinct aspects. Underlying all these aspects is the principle of causal dependence and its expression in various modes of relationship. All things exist and operate, or cease to exist, in accordance with these five aspects of the law of nature. They are the principles by which the world and all its phenomena are regulated and controlled. The Pali term is niyama, which literally means ”certainty,” the fixed order of nature. According to this, specific conditions inevitably determine certain corresponding results or effects, and each determinant may simultaneously interact with the others and be likewise determined by them.
The first aspect of the natural law is its physical inorganic order (utuniyama). This concerns physical phenomena that take place on account of natural condition…
《Kamma》全文未完，請進入下頁繼續閱讀…