Development in the Early Buddhist Concept of Kamma/Karma

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One of the central concepts in Buddhism is the idea of kamma. Although the importance of karma in Buddhist thought is regularly recognized, the question remains whether the Buddhist understanding of the principle of karma has been inalterably fixed, or whether it has undergone a process of development and modification during the course of Buddhist history. If, indeed, the Buddhist understanding of karma has not been static, what kinds of development has it undergone? It is of these questions that this study addresses itself. The approach taken in this study has been text-critical and historical. The initial Buddhist formulation of the principle of kamma as it is depicted in the Vinaya and the Sutta Pitakas is analyzed as a base for the study. Modifications are noted as already present in the later strata of this literature. The problem is then examined in the Abhidhamma Pitaka, where certain abstract developments in the definition and categorization of kamma are discovered. In order to provide a greater chronological scope, the text then turns to an analysis of kamma in the Milindapanha. Finally, the Abhidharmakosa of Vasubandhu is considered. A new concern with the mechanism of karmic retribution becomes evident in the Abhidharmakosa. The modification which the concept of karma is found to have undergone roughly speaking are of two broad types. First, there were popular folk developments which were accepted only reluctantly, if at all, in more scholarly circles. Then there were the more scholastic developments in the direction of greater perceptions of definition and refinement of categories. In the same vein, a growing scholarly concern for specific implications of the more general principle of karma is also noted.

James P. McDermott is Professor of Religious Studies, Canisius College, Buffalo, New York. He was educated at Wesleyan University, Yale University, and holds a Ph.D. in History of Religions from Princeton University. A specialist in Indian Buddhism, he had published articles in the Journal of the American Oriental Society, Numen. the Indo-Iranian Journal, and Karma and Rebirth in Classical Indian Traditions, edited by Wendy O'Flaherty. He is a contributor to the Abingdon Dictionary of the Living Religions and Funk and Wagnalls New Encyclopedia.

Preface

The present volume is a somewhat revised version of material from the author's 1971 Princeton University Ph.D dissertation.Due to unavoidable delays in publication, It does not take into consideration the results of most recent research into kammal / karma by either the author or other scholars. Most especially, the results of a major project on karma and rebirth sponsored by the Joint Commitee on South Asia of the American Council of Learned Societies- Social Science Research Council and organized by Karl H. Potter are worthy of note as moving our knowledge of karmma/karma in the total South Asain context beyond the present volume. To date, two natable works have resulted from that project. First is karma and Rebirth in Classical Indain Traditions, edited by Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty (Berkeley: University of Californaia Press, 1980; India editor Delhi: Motilal Banasidass, 1983 ). This writer's eassay "karma and Rebirth in Early Buddhism" (pp. 165-192) provides a more recent revision of selected material from the present volume, and should be consulted as more nearly reflective of the author's current thought. Also to be consulted for more recent references on karmma/karma is the Bibiography of the O' Flaherty volume, subtitled: "The Beginings of a List of Publication Relating to Karma and Rebirth compiled by Karl H.Potter, with Supplementary Material by James P. McDermott" (pp 319-329). The second notewoth volume stemming from the A.C.L.S.S.-S.S.R.C. karma project is Karma: An Anthropological Inquiry, edited by Charles F. Keyes and B. Valentine Daniel (Berkeley: University of California press, 1983). It nicely places the doctrines of Karma and rebirth in living perspective

 

Contents

Preface	vii
Acknowledgements	viii
Abbreviations	ix
Introduction	xi
CHAPTER I
Kamma in the Vinaya and the Sutta Pitaka	1
CHAPTER II
Kamma In the Abhidhamma Pitaka	73
A. Six Abhidhamma Work	73
B. The Kathavattu	82
CHAPTER III
Kamma in the Milindapanha	104
CHAPTER IV
Karma in the Abhidharmakosa	127
CHAPTER V
Conclusion	144
Selected Bibligraphy	157
A. Texts and Translation	157
B. Reference Work and Secondary Sources	161
Index	169

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