Kamma and Vipāka as Mind-based Mental-Factor, Not Material-based

December 19, 2022   buddhism

I think to judge kamma-vipāka (or simply called The Karmic Law) by addressing material-based (rūpa) phenomenon is kinda tricky, but it's even trickier to look at it as mind-based (citta & cetasika) phenomenon. Here's why.

Prerequisites:

1. Keep in mind that kamma ≠ vipāka. Kamma is "intention" (cetanā). Vipāka is "consequence". So, you cannot "get kamma" (uncolloquially), you can only "do kamma, get vipāka".
2. In Abhidhamma, intention (cetanā) is classified as a mental-factor (cetasika). Cetanā arises in all mind (citta).
3. The basic framework of citta, "Oh, there is a citta here! There must be cetasikas in that citta!".
4. In one finger snap, there's more than a million citta. Thus, there's so much cetasikas.
5. Abhidhamma strictly defines what cetasikas are *good* (kusala) and what cetasikas are *bad* (akusala).
6. Kamma is considered as a mental*phenomenon because kamma is intention. Intention is a mental-factor.

Case:

A person is throwing bad words.

There are 2 possible kamma frameworks here:

• a) the intention is bad, thus the kamma is bad. the words (rūpa) are seen as bad 
• b) the intention is not-bad, thus the kamma is not-bad. although the words (rūpa) are seen as bad 

The words, which are in reality the soundwaves that are coming from your vocal cords, are classified as a rūpa (material). But, if we're talking about kamma, it's rarely the rūpa, it's the intention itself. For a), the kamma is considered as a bad kamma, thus the vipāka will also be a bad vipāka. For b), the kamma is not considered as a bad kamma, thus the vipāka will never be a bad vīpaka.

That is why it's tricky to judge what kind of kamma someone is producing. It's hard to distingusih whether a person does a good kamma or a bad kamma because we cannot see what's happening in ther mind. There's also a term called as kamma-derived material (rūpa) phenomena. It's usually understandable to understand the context when bad words are used for either friendly or insulting purposes. The former soundwave-as-rūpa isn't considered as so-called bad.

It's like when a foreigner is told to say the word "fuck" without knowing what it actually means, or using daily "fuck" for friendly purposes. Their intention isn't necessarily to insult. Thus, they're not producing a bad kamma, although the kamma-derived material (soundwave-as-rūpa) phenomena sounds bad.

Another case:

A person hits many because of an accidental brake failure.

The intention (kamma) is never a bad kamma. Thus, the vipāka will never be a bad vipāka. But, what if the person is sued by law or must pay compensation or stuff? Isn't that bad? It's believed that those bad consequences are coming from past or previous kamma that ripes their vipāka, not the kamma on the accident moment itself. If you think about it, even the [unwanted] accident is a vipāka at work!

What is vipāka? Well, Buddhism explains that if you're able to sense either good or bad objects on your sensors like eyes, nose, ears, tongue, body/skin, mind —yes mind is included as a sensor (āyatana) in Buddhism— then it's your vipāka, you deserve to sense them. If it's not your vipāka, such objects will never arrive in your consciousness. In Buddhism, consciousness is when your sensors meet the objects (but not perceived, the perceptions or sañña are the ones that perceive the object).

So, that is why kamma-vipāka, using the term arbitrarily, isn't like ‘materialistic’ cause-effect.