Karma as a Reaction Between Compositions

Karma's nature is to build things either in correspondence with, or in opposition to, other things. Various units and compositions arise, whether with or without a specific cause, and undergo this same process, creating the different events and circumstances that appear to the mind within the universe. A being's existence within nature stays in balance through this same mechanism — karma.

Wholesomeness and the presence of self

Unwholesome karma (akusala) arises specifically when self-clinging (mamatvaya) becomes centred within these various reactions. Karma can be described as a reaction between different compositions. Beings are simply compositions built up in this way, formed as various natural laws operate; the outcome of the reaction between any two compositions depends on the nature of what is contained within each one, at the level of mind (citta), karma, and wisdom (buddhi). Wholesomeness is the capacity for this reaction to lead to a cooling, a settling; unwholesomeness is the incapacity to settle, combined with a tendency to catch fire. Beings accumulate both wholesome and unwholesome karma while still unaware of this — even an act as generous as offering robes for the kathina ceremony can, if self-clinging is present within it, still accumulate unwholesome karma. Wherever there is clinging or resistance, self exists; if self remains present within an action, that action becomes unwholesome, and if it does not, the same action becomes wholesome.

The tiger, the hare, and the human

Consider a tiger killing a hare: within the law of nature, this is simply part of the food chain, and the unwholesome karma accumulated by the tiger in the process is extremely small. No wholesome or unwholesome karma accrues to the hare at all — only the working-out of the hare's own karma occurs, and even that working-out is minimal, though it does contribute, to some small degree, towards the hare's eventual release from the animal realm.

Now consider a human killing a hare. Within the law of nature, this is not, in the same sense, simply the food chain, because a human has other ways of obtaining food available. As a result, the unwholesome karma accumulated by the human in this event is far greater, and the working-out of the hare's karma is, correspondingly, far more substantial.

The hare a tiger encounters and the hare a human encounters are, from these angles, very different in kind. The content of karma, mind, and wisdom differs between the hare met by a human and the hare met by a tiger, and so the outcome of the reaction differs too. The reaction that arises when a human meets an animal, the reaction when a human meets another human, and the reaction when a human meets a noble one (an ariya) are all, correspondingly, of very different kinds.

A Buddha's unusual relationship to karma

Karma is the mechanism that keeps a being's existence in balance within nature. Karma is the result that arises from a law; it is through karma that cause and effect come into being. Nature has soothed and settled ordinary beings into it in various ways, and they remain deeply tied to it.

A Buddha is a unit entirely removed from the balancing and unbalancing processes at work within nature. Because of this, a Buddha's existence does not remain bound within nature. This is because the growth of Iddhipada has completely released a Buddha from this system. Because of that release, a Buddha's existence does not naturally coincide with ordinary existence any longer. This is why a rightfully self-enlightened Buddha must, with deliberate effort, rebuild his own vessel of existence, as it were, again and again. It is also for this reason that a rightfully self-enlightened Buddha can see the natural phenomena of craving, delight, and attachment (tanha, rati, raga) as something external and separable — other beings exist within these very phenomena, and so cannot see them as separate from themselves. A rightfully self-enlightened Buddha reconnects with nature only through deliberate effort, from time to time, and that connection disconnects again after a certain period, requiring the connection to be rebuilt by force each time.

An arahant, though released from nature's balancing and unbalancing processes, is not released completely, and so an arahant's existence continues to be bound within nature until parinirvana — to a lesser degree than an ordinary being, but still bound to some extent. Considered in this light, it becomes possible to understand, at least to some degree, why the reactions that occur between such different units differ so much from one another.