..续本文上一页n that it goes directly against common sense and the well-established truth of causal relationship. Buddhism advocates the middle course with the law of kamma, which states that our experiences are conditioned by our actions rather than being predetermined or willed by God. It realistically allows for a plurality of causes or conditioning factors, including the factors of will and natural phenomena. In this way the Buddhist doctrine of kamma seems most sensible and has a strong appeal for modern critical minds.
Development of kammic impulses
When an action is performed through body, speech, or mind, there is always some energy involved. This energy is capable of being fortified, developed, or transformed. If a given action is repeatedly committed, the energy to commit the same deed will be strengthened, and consequently a tendency and habit will be formed. It is this tendency to habituation that makes it possible to train and develop both positive and negative tendencies. For example, by consistently practicing meditation, we will find that the practice becomes more and more natural to us and we gradually cultivate the tendency and habit to meditate with greater ease. A person who repeatedly practices generosity develops the energy of giving and is therefore better prepared to give even more. The first act of giving may be difficult, if only because one is not used to it, but the first gift makes the second and subsequent ones easier, for it acts as the potential for a more advanced development of personal character. In the same way, if one repeatedly indulges in lying, it will become a habit. The first act of lying contains within itself the potential for lying the second time, and the third, and the fourth, until one becomes a compulsive liar. Habits are not physical, but they manifest themselves through physical actions. Understanding the law of kamma helps us to see the possibility of free choice and how we are truly responsible for our actions. We will also perceive that it is always within our capacity to train ourselves, to undo negative habits and cultivate positive ones.
Each and every person is comprised of five aggregates, which are corporeality, feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness. These are all different forms of energy, compounded, co-dependent, and co-functioning in the ever-changing flow of life. They represent a complex entity of fundamental elements which are interdependent and interrelated. Some of these forms of energy are gross, others are more subtle and refined. The energy of kamma is a more forceful part of mental formations and is thus intricately interwoven with all other forms of energy. Previous kamma therefore plays an important role in influencing later actions, though not necessarily the only one. The continuity of the five aggregates, supported by various conditioning factors, signifies the possibility of a life process without the intervention of a soul element, and ensures the uninterrupted continuation and operation of kamma.
Kamma from previous lives
The mind stream which flows from moment to moment through life, continually rising and falling, carries within itself the conditioned potential of a person”s personality, temperament, likes, dislikes, and all other mental constructions and impressions. Although these potentialities exist in a state of constant flux and are subject to the laws of change and conditionality, each successive moment of consciousness, with all its mental corollaries, is conditioned by its preceding moment. This process continues throughout the present life and passes on to the next in an unbroken stream. What we are now is therefore, to a large extent, inherited from what we were in the past. This partly helps to explain why we characterist…
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