The CreationofKarma among Arhats:

Transcription

1 (1oo) Jburnal oflhdian and Buddhist StudiesNbl61,No 3,Marx h 2013 The CreationofKarma among Arhats: An Examination ofdoctrine in Sarvastivada and Theravada SHiMizuTbshifumi OPeople create karina,thatcauses them to be reborn in theirnext livesthisposes a question:do Arhats,who have freedthemselves from the chains of transmigration,create karma? As Arhats have abandoned all defilements, they do not generate unskillfu1 thought (akusala-citta) and thus, in turn, do not create bad karma (papa-karman) through evil deedssuch as murder or stealing However,do they generate skillfu1 thought (kusala-citta) and create meritorious karma (pui;ya-karman) through virtuous deeds that are unconnected with cultivation, such as saving people or contributing to society?i) IfArhats also create meritorious karma, would itnot leadto a contradiction where Arhats who are no longer supposed to be subject to the process of transmigrationare reborn inthe realm of devas? Or are Arhats,who have gained enlightenment, have no interest insecular acts and feel nothing even when witnessing a person who isdrowningin a pond? The question as to whether even Arhats,who have freedthemselves from the chains of transmigration, create new meritorious karma manifests in a range ofmaterials inbothsarvastivada and Theravfida fo11owingdisplaysthe completely different insights between the two sects 2) SarvastivEda:Arhats create meritorious karrna(purpya-karrnan) Theravida:Arhatsdo not create meritorious karma (pufifia-kamma) Among these,the interpretation intheravada has 1argelyatready been examined inprevious research]) The interpretation intheravada isthatarhatsdo not create meritorious karma However,thisdoesnot mean thatarhats do not engage inany acts that are deemed "good" insecular terms In Theravada, thereexists a unique morally non-defined mind called functional thought (kiriya-citta) that occurs only in Arhats,and itisthrough this mind that they are thought to accomplish acts that are deemed "good" in secular terms As thismind ismorally non-defined, itdoesnot lead to existence in a next life4) On the other hand,while the interpretation Sarvastivfida isthatarhatscreate meritori

2 The CreationofKarma among Arhats (TṢHiMizu) (101) ous karma,no details are given as to the nature ofthis In Sarv5stivAda, bodilykarma isinterpretedas "the fbrm ofthe body,"vocal karma as "the voice itselc" and mental kamia as volition (cetana) Among these,bodilykarrn and vocal karma are generated by the mind (citta) Moreover, the moral state ofmental karma (ie, volition) isalways in accordance with that of the mind (citta) Therefore,there isa need to consider the moral state ofmind (citta) generated by ArhatsIn addition, meritorious karma-s,such as saving people and contributing to society, thatare not directlyrelated to cultivation are generated through 5) Accordingto the Abhidharmakosia- skillfu1 thought with oudiow (sasrava kugala-citta) Bhasya (Pradhan, ed 1967, AKBh), Arhatsalso generate skillfu1 thought with outflow and perform secular acts such as StUpa worship6) Thus, there isrecognition insarvastiv2da that Arhats generateskillfu1 thought with outflow and create meritorious karmahowever, we are then presented with the fbllowingtwo problems: 1As Arhatshave abandoned all dharmaswith outflow, they haveof course also abandoned ski11fu1 thoughtwith outflow Therefore,ifwe take the position thatthey do indeed generate skillfu1 thought with ouulow, isthis not incontradiction with the doctrine? 2Skillfu1karma with oudiow (szsrava kusala-karman) isseen as a cause oftransmigration IfArhats generate skillfu1 thought and thus create skillfu1 karma with outhow, would that not result in a contradiction where Arhats who are not supposed to transmigrate, actually create a cause fbrtransmigration? In thispaper, I will examine how Sarvastivada problems 1I will begin by exarnining thefirst problem According to the Sarvastivadadefinition of "Arhats having abandoned all dharmaswith outflow," hrhats havealso abandoned skillfu1 thought with oudiow However, this does not mean that "Arhats do not generateskillfu1 thoughtwith outfiow" Even ifarhatshave abandoned skillfu1 thought with outhow, they continue to possess it ṛlb explain thisina logicalmanner, Sarvastivada asserts thatthere are two types of abandonment (praharpa) One is svabhava-prahapa, while the other is alarnbana-praharpa Ifdefileddharma (= various entities thatare opposed to enlightenment) 7) isabandoned by insightor repeated cultivation, then possession (samanvagama) ofthis defiledharma islost(tyaktaltyaga) at the same timetn other words, thisdefiledharma isrelinquished and cannot become active again This way ofabandonment iscalled svabh5va-prah5rpa

3 (102) The CreationofKarma amongarhats (TȘHiMizu) Incontrast, even ifundefiled dliarma( = various entities thatare not opposed to enlightenment)g) isabandoned by insightor repeated cultivation, possessionof this undefiled dharma continues This way of abandonment iscalled the abandonment of alambana-prahtirpa That isto say, possessionof skillfu1 thought with oudiow continues even after abandonment,and in some cases, becomes active once more Applicablewayef Abandonment Possessionlrelinquishmentafter Abandonment DefiledDharma svabhava-praherpa relinquish(asamanv5gata) UndefiledDharma ilambana-praha4a possess(samanv5gata) Envisaging these two types of abandonment hasallowed bothideas, "Arhats havingabandoned all skillfu1 thought with oudiow" and `even Arhats generate skillfu1 thought with outflow" to coexist without any contradictions 2The previous section provided an outline of the doctrineand indicatedthat in Sarvastivada, the notion of"arhats generating skillfu1 thought with oudiow" isaccepted on a doctrinallevelhowever, in this case, a contradiction arises in which "Arhats create causes of transmigration" Sarvdstiv5dasolves any contradictions related to this by asserting that "even ifarhats create karma, this karma does not have the power to create next livesbutisexpended in this lifeif they receive retribution fruitor can extinguish thisretribution ftuit"9) Therefore,thisinterpretation states thateven ifarhatscreate meritorious karma,thiskarma does not haye the power to create next lives 3Above,I exarnined the understanding of Therav5da and Sarv5stivada with respect to the creqtion ofkarma among ArhatsTheravada and Sarvastividahave differing interpretations as to whether Arhats,who are no lengersupposed to be subject to the process oftransmigration,can create further meritorious karrna The interpretation of Theravada isthatarhats do not create meritorious kartna(pufifiakamma) However, this doesnot mean that Arhats do not engage in any acts that are deemed "good" insecular terms that are unconnected with cultivation Rather than skillfu1 thought (kusala-citta) Theravada, interprets thesecases as the generationofa unique morally non-defined mind called functional thought (kiriy5-citta) and thisbringsabout the materialization of secular acts thatoccurs only inarhats, The interpretation of Sarvtistivada isthatarhatscan also create meritorious karma (pu

4 The Creationof Karma amongarhats (T ṢHTMizu) (103) pya-karman) In other words, Arhats also generateskillfu1 thought with oudiow in cases where they perfbrm acts that are deemed "good" insecular terms and are unconnected with cultivationhowever, under thisinterpretation, the rneritorious karma ofarhats isexpended if they receive retribution fhiitwithin their lastlife,and itdoesnot have thepower to leadto next lives We see signs of theseinterpretations the Dhammasahgarpi in the case of TheravEda and inthe Vijfianakiiya 10) in the case of SarvEstivfida While at first glance these teachings on Abhidhamia seem little more thandulland uninteresting collections of definitions, when we re-read them inlightof specific problems such as these, we then see thatthe doctrine has rigorousdefinitionsthatallow us to answer questions of thiskind 1 ) Accordingto the Theravada definition,meritorious karma (pufifia-kamma) isskillfu1 karma (kusala-kamma) in the three spheres (kfima-dh5tu, rilpa-dhatu and anipa-dhatu), whereas according te the SarvEstivadadefinition, itisskillfu1 karrna(kusala-karrnan) inthe sense sphere (kama-dhatu) Ct Vibhangu (p ),akbh(p22714) 2) Cfl SZimayabhedoparacanacakra (P:u174al, D: su 144b7),Kathavatthu 17,1 (p ) 3) CL Naniwa Senmya zajtefiop, PaliAbhicthamma shis6 no kenkyiirt-- ij 7 tr Y')fv,Ima CDblza [A study on the P51iAbhidhamma philosophy] (Kyoto: HeirakojiShoten,2008), pp ) In Theravada,the essence ofbodily karma,vocal karma,and mental karma isinall cases understood to be volition (cetanfi) Inthe Kathdvatthu-A#hakatha 17,1 (p ),while Arhats perform giving and StOpaworship, these are understood as being performed not through skillfu1 thought butthrough fimctional thought 5 ) SarvEstivadaseparates ski11fu1 kartna(kusala-karman) intothe two categories ofwith oudiow (sasrava) and without outflow (an5srava) Of these,itisskillfu1 karma with outflow that has the power to generate retributien finit (yipaka-phaea) Withinthisskillful kartnawith Dudiow, itismeritorious karma that relates to the sense sphere CflAKBh (pp ) 6 ) CflAKBh (pp ) 7 ) There are two types of defiledharma (klista-dharma) : akusala-dharma and niv;tfivyakna-dhar= ma8) There are two types ofundefiled dharma (aklista-dharma)i kusala-dharmand anivrtevyaknadharma In addition, ilambana-prahana applies incases where matter (nipa) isabandoned CfiAKBh (p ),akbh (p3211-2) 9 ) Arhats are said to create only two typesofkarma: immediatelyeffective karrna (d;s!adharmavedaniya-karman)and indeterminatekarma (aniyata-karman) Immediately effective karma brings about retribution fruitinthis lifeand does not leadto existence ina next lifeindeterminate karma is weak karma that doesnot necessarily have to receive retribution ftuit,and those who havebecome Ar= hatscan extinguish thiscc ShimizuTbshifumiifiziCue SEI, "FojO-g6 to kju-g6">iliiisct uzjfi'* [An

5 The Japanese Assooiation Association of Indian 工 and Buddhist Studies (104) The Creationof Karma among Arhats(TSHIMrzu) iyata kamlan and Ahosi kamma ], Bukklyδ daigakudaigakuinkiyδ bungakukenkyiika hen 佛教大学大学院紀要文学研究科篇 [Bukkyo UniversityGraduate School Review, compiled by the Graduate Schoolof LiteratUre ] 39 (2011) 10)Cf Dhammasafiga4i (PP ),Vi fianakd ン a vols (Taisho,vol 26 PP 593b9 606a4) Key words > Kanma, Kamma, Arhat (GraduateStudent, Bukkyo University ) 一 1162 一 NII-Electronic N 工工一 Eleotronio Library Service