LIBRARY OF PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION General Editor: John Hick Danforth Professor, Claremont Graduate School Claremont, California This series of books explores contemporary religious understandings of humanity and the universe. The books contribute to various aspects of the continuing dialogues between religion and philosophy, between scepticism and faith, and between the different religions and ideologies. The authors represent a correspondingly wide range of viewpoints. Some of the books in the series are written for the general educated public and others for a more specialised philosophical or theological readership. Masao AbE William H. Austin Paul Badham Paul and Linda Badham Daniel E. Bassuk Patrick Burke Margaret Chatterjee Dan Cohn-Sherbok William Lane Craig Stephen T. Davis Lynn A. de Silva Padmasiri de Silva Clement Dore Ramchandra Gandhi J. c. A. Gaskin Brian Haymes John Hick and Edmund S. Meltzer (editors) H. A. Hodges ZEN AND WESTERN THOUGHT THE RELEVANCE OF NATURAL SCIENCE TO THEOLOGY CHRISTIAN BELIEFS ABOUT LIFE AFTER DEATH IMMORTALITY OR EXTINCTION? INCARNATION IN HINDUISM AND CHRISTIANITY THE FRAGILE UNIVERSE GANDHI'S RELIGIOUS THOUGHT ISSUES IN CONTEMPORARY JUDAISM ISLAM IN A WORLD OF DIVERSE FAITHS THE KALAM COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT FROM PLATO TO LEIBNIZ LOGIC AND THE NATURE OF GOD THE PROBLEM OF THE SELF IN BUDDHISM AND CHRISTIANITY AN INTRODUCTION TO BUDDHIST PSYCHOLOGY GOD, SUFFERING AND SOLIPSISM THE AVAILABILITY OF RELIGIOUS IDEAS HUME'S PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION THE CONCEPT OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THREE FAITHS-ONE GOD GOD BEYOND KNOWLEDGE
J. Kellenberger Jonathan L. Kvanvig Hywel D. Lewis Julius J. Lipner Eric Lott Geddes MacGregor Hugo A. Meynell F. C. T. Moore Dennis Nineham Martin Prozesky D. Z. Phillips Bernard M. G. Reardon Joseph Runzo John J. Shepherd Patrick Sherry Ninian Smart Wilfred Cantwell Smith Jonathan Sutton Linda J. Tessier (editor) Shivesh Chandra Thakur Robert Young THE COGNITIVITY OF RELIGION GOD RELATIONSHIPS WITH AND WITHOUT GOD THE POSSIBILITY OF AN ALL KNOWING GOD PERSONS AND LIFE AFTER DEATH THE FACE OF TRUTH VEDANTIC APPROACHES TO GOD REINCARNATION AS A CHRISTIAN HOPE AN INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF BERNARD LONERGAN THE PSYCHOLOGICAL BASIS OF MORALITY THE USE AND ABUSE OF THE BIBLE RELIGION AND ULTIMATE WELL-BEING BELIEF, CHANGE AND FORMS OF LIFE HEGEL'S PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION KANT AS PHILOSOPHICAL THEOLOGIAN REASON, RELATIVISM AND GOD EXPERIENCE, INFERENCE AND GOD RELIGION, TRUTH AND LANGUAGE GAMES SPIRIT, SAINTS AND IMMORTALITY CONCEPT AND EMPATHY RELIGION AND THE WESTERN MIND TOWARDS A WORLD THEOLOGY THE RELIGIOUS PHILOSOPHY OF VLADIMIR SOLOVYOV CONCEPTS OF THE ULTIMATE RELIGION AND RATIONAL CHOICE FREEDOM, RESPONSIBILITY AND GOD Series Standing Order If you would like to receive future titles in this series as they are published, you can make use of our standing order facility. To place a standing order please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write to us at the address below with your name and address and the name of the series. Please state with which title you wish to begin your standing order. (If you live outside the UK we may not have the rights for your area, 'in which case we will forward your order to the publisher concerned.) Standing Order Service, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG21 2XS, England.
The Law of Karma A Philosophical Study Bruce R. Reichenbach Professor of Philosophy, Augsburg College Minneapolis, USA M MACMILLAN
Bruce R. Reichenbach 1990. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1990 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provision of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 33-4 Alfred Place, London WClE 7DP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First published 1990. Published by MACMILLAN ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Reichenbach, Bruce R., 1943- The law of karma: a philosophical study. - (Library of philosophy and religion). 1. Karma I. Title II. Series 122 ISBN 978-1-349-11901-1 ISBN 978-1-349-11899-1 (ebook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-11899-1
for Rachel, bringer of joys May the wind blow you joy, may the sun shine down joy on you, may your days pass with joy, may the night be a gift of joyful peace! May the dawn bring you joy at its coming! (Atharva Veda VII, 69)
Contents Preface xi 1 Introduction 1 Method 4 Program of the Book 6 2 Metaphysical Presuppositions of the Law of Karma 10 Origins of the Doctrine 10 Metaphysical Presuppositions 13 Conclusion 23 3 The Laws of Karma and Causation 24 The Relation of the Law of Karma to the Law of Universal Causation 24 Can We Restrict Karma to Sarrzskiiras? 27 Problems with Extending Karma to Ph alas 34 Karma and Heredity 35 Status of the Law of Karma 38 4 Karma and Fatalism 44 Definitions 45 Determinism and the Law of Karma 48 What is Affected by Karma? 51 To What Degree? 52 The Self and Libertarianism 53
viii Contents No-self and Compatibilism 58 Conclusion 62 5 Karma and the Problem of Evil 63 The Problem of Evil 63 God and the World 66 The Theistic Problem of Evil 73 The Non-theistic Problem of Evil 78 6 Karma, Causation and Divine Intervention 79 Actions and Environmental Consequences 80 Karmic Residues in the Environment 81 Karmic Residues in the Agent 82 Karma and Causation in Buddhism 85 The Environment and Natural Good and Evil 93 Theistic Explanations 96 The Law of Karma and Grace 97 7 Hinduism and the Enduring Self 101 The Self 101 Evidence for the Persistent Self 106 The Self and the Body 110 Conclusion 118 8 Buddhism, Rebirth and the Human Person 123 Buddhism and Metaphysics 123 The Buddhist Concept of the Self 125 The Role of Karma 127 Application to Rebirth 130 Conclusion 132
Contents 9 Karma, Justice and Motives for Right Action 134 Justice as a Universal Principle 135 Self-interest 138 Group Karma 141 10 Transfer of Merit and the Law as Juridical 152 Transfer of Merit 152 Is the Law of Karma a Juridical Rather than a Moral Law? 160 Conclusion 167 11 Karma and Liberation 169 The Relation between the Karmic and Salvific 169 Zero Accumulation of Karma and Liberation 177 Ascertaining our Karmic Status 179 Liberation and Immortality 181 Epilogue 184 Appendix: The Law of Karma in the Upani~ads 192 Notes 196 Bibliography 229 Index 234 ix
Preface There are a number of ways to mine the rich concept of the law of karma. Though each way has its special resources and unique methods for treating the material, it is also true that each supplements the other. In the past decade, two approaches have been pursued effectively. The historical approach, with its reliance on carefully exegeting primary source materials, is exemplified in Wendy D. O'Flaherty's excellent Karma and Rebirth in Classical Indian Traditions and Ronald Neufeldt's Karma and Rebirth: Post Classical Developments, as well as in Kewal Anand's Indian Philosophy: The Concept of Karma. The anthropological approach, with its descriptions of karma-associated practices and believer reports, is well represented by Charles Keyes's and E.V. Daniel's Karma-An Anthropological Inquiry. But there is a third approach which, though employed to a limited extent in various journal articles, has not been fully pursued. This approach treats the law of karma as a philosophical thesis important both in its own right and as a unifying concept within certain religious-philosophical systems. The concept is central to those systems because of both its explanatory power and its connection to other significant concepts and critical issues-to causation, freedom, fatalism, the existence and role of God, the problem of pleasure and suffering, the nature of the human person, justice, the moral law, rebirth, liberation, and immortality, to name only a few. The burden of this perspective is to discern what has been and is being said about the law of karma, interpret what is or might be meant by what is said, reconstruct how the various pieces of the philosophical puzzle might be fitted together, analytically explore its ramifications for conceptually associated theses, and evaluate the inner logic of the concept. Though this approach builds on the historical texts and anthropological data, it is not meant primarily to provide a historical treatment or anthropological guide to how different individuals or traditions have viewed the law of karma or to the xi
xii Preface various subtle differences between them. Rather, in generalizing, it takes the concept in broader strokes and ultimately inquires about its meaning, truth, and consistency. This, which might be termed the philosophical approach, is the one we will employ. In effect, what follows represents an extended essay on the law of karma. Since it is an attempt to understand the law of karma as a philosophical idea, I have not restricted my discussion to the classical documents of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, but have included expressions of it by persons living and writing in the twentieth century. This, I think, is fair, considering that the concept is not a hardened fossil but a living thesis. There will be disagreement as to whether certain contemporaries correctly ascertain or understand the meaning of the tradition, whether they are consistent with the tradition, or to what extent they can be legitimate spokespersons for the tradition. There will also be disagreement about what the traditions teach, for often the primary sources are far from uniform or, in their aphoristic garb, clear. I intend to be fair to the disagreements, noting where relevant what they are and seeking to incorporate their various insights into the resolution of the difficulties encountered, while at the same time recognizing that treatment of ail the permutations would destroy the unity and flow of the book. Since the book is a philosophical analysis of an idea, readers looking for a historical treatise detailing how the concept is used in particular primary source literature will be better served elsewhere. Neither is this an empirical study directed to ascertain how ordinary practitioners of the various religious faiths interpret the law of karma. It is those who are intrigued with what the concept means and whether it is true, who are interested in what possible ramifications it might have, and who have some concern for evaluating its overall consistency with other, presupposed metaphysical doctrines-in short, those interested in the philosophical issues raised by the concept-who will profit most from the discussion. This means that our approach has certain limitations which might occasion objection. For one thing, sometimes the questions we raise will not be questions raised within the traditions themselves, or perhaps they will be queries thought not meaningful from certain perspectives (that is, given certain metaphysical presuppositions), or they might be raised in a way different from
Preface the ways in which the traditions might pose them. However, I believe that the questions raised below are legitimate when treating the law of karma as a philosophical thesis and deserve careful and considered response. For another, there will be some objection to the generalized nature of the law of karma as treated here. That is, some might object to treating the law of karma as a single doctrine or concept, since it is expressed with some differences in the different traditions. Yet not only is generalization the very bread and butter of philosophy, but there is enough uniformity in the different presentations of the concept to permit accurate and fruitful generalization. We shall try to note the differences, particularly insofar as they affect the interpretation of the law of karma. But in any treatment of a philosophical or religious theme, there must be some whittling away of the rough edges to obtain a manageable piece which can be analysed and compared with other concepts. In doing so, some might say that this is not exactly what he, she, or someone in the classical tradition (for example, the Upani!?ads, the Buddha, or Patanjali) exactly meant by the doctrine. Perhaps so, but then it is incumbent upon them to give a clear statement of what they or others do mean and how it differs from our treatment. If this book stimulates such a discussion, if it forces people to be clearer as to how particular views of the law of karma differ from each other, all the better. With a concern for the general reader, I have attempted to keep technical terminology and use of Sanskrit and Pali terms to a minimum. The terms employed will soon become familiar to those who do not already know them. I have italicized Sanskrit terms, since this seems to comport best with contemporary usage. I wish to thank Augsburg College for providing me both a Faculty Development Grant for the summer of 1983 and a sabbatical for 1984-85, and the Institute for Advanced Christian Study for a major grant in 1984 to work on the manuscript. Without this generosity and released time, the project could never have been undertaken. Thanks are also due to my wife Sharon for her long hours in reading and judging the manuscript for consistency, clarity of style, and comprehensibility. Her numerous criticisms and suggestions have made it more readable and intelligible. Finally, I want to express my appreciation to the editors of the following publications for permission to reprint articles of mine xiii
xiv Preface which they published. Part of Chapter 3 appeared in article form in Philosophy East and West 38 (Oct. 1988). A slightly shortened version of Chapter 6 was published by Philosophy East and West 39 (Apr. 1989). Chapter 8 is reprinted from my contribution to Death and Immortality in the Religions of the World, edited by Paul and Linda Badham (Paragon House, 1987).