Vipāka

Kamma is action, and Vipāka, fruit or result, is its reaction. Just as every object is accompanied by a shadow, even so every volitional activity is inevitably accompanied by its due effect. Like potential seed is Kamma. Fruit, arising from the tree, is the Vipāka, effect or result. As Kamma may be good or bad, so may Vipāka, fruit, be good or bad. As Kamma is mental, so Vipāka too is mental; it is experienced as happiness or bliss, unhappiness or misery according to the nature of the Kamma seed. Ānisamsa are the concomitant advantageous material conditions, such as prosperity, health and longevity. When Vipāka’s concomitant material conditions are disadvantageous, they are known as ādinava (evil consequences), and appear as poverty, ugliness, disease, short life span and the like.

By Kamma are meant the Moral and Immoral types of mundane consciousness (kusala akusala lokiya citta), and by Vipāka, the resultant types of mundane consciousness (lokiya vipākacitta). According to Abhidhamma,6 Kamma constitutes the twelve types of immoral consciousness, eight types of moral consciousness pertaining to the Sentient Realm (kāmāvacara), five types of moral consciousness pertaining to the Realms of Forms (rūpāvacara), and four types of moral consciousness pertaining to the Formless Realms (arūpāvacara). The eight types of supramundane (lokuttara) consciousness are not regarded as Kamma, because they tend to eradicate the roots of Kamma. In them the predominant factor is wisdom (paññā) while in the mundane it is volition (cetanā). The nine types of moral consciousness pertaining to the Realms of Form and the Formless Realms are the five Rūpāvacara and four Arūpāvacara Jhānas (Ecstasies) which are purely mental. . See Compendium of Philosophy -Abhidhammattha Sangaha, Chapter 1; Manual of Abhidhamma, ch. 1. Words and deeds are caused by the first twenty types of mundane consciousness. Verbal actions are done by the mind by means of speech. Bodily actions are done by the mind through the instrument of the body. Purely mental actions have no other instrument than the mind. These twenty-nine7 types of consciousness are called Kamma because they have the power to produce their due effects quite automatically, independent of any external agency. Those types of consciousness which one experiences as inevitable consequences of one’s moral and immoral thoughts are called resultant consciousness pertaining to the Sentient Realm. The five types of resultant consciousness pertaining to the Realms of Form and the four types of resultant consciousness pertaining to the Formless Realms are called Vipāka or fruition of Kamma.

As we sow, so we reap somewhere and sometime, in this life or in a future birth. What we reap today is what we have sown either in the present or in the past. The Samyutta Nikāya states: “According to the seed that’s sown, So is the fruit ye reap therefrom Doer of good (will gather) good. Doer of evil, evil (reaps). Sown is the seed, and planted well. Thou shalt enjoy the fruit thereof.” Kamma is a law in itself which operates in its own field without the intervention of any external, independent ruling agency. Inherent in Kamma is the potentiality of producing its due effect. The cause produces the effect, the effect explains the cause. The seed produces the fruit, the fruit explains the seed, such is their relationship. Even so are Kamma and its effect. “The effect already blooms in the cause.” Happiness and misery, which are the common lot of humanity, are the inevitable effects of causes. From a Buddhist standpoint they are not rewards and punishments, assigned by a supernatural, omniscient ruling power to a soul that has done good or evil. Theists who attempt to explain everything by this one temporal life and an eternal future life, ignoring a past, may believe in a post-mortem justice, and may regard present happiness and misery as blessings and curses conferred on his creation by an omniscient and omnipotent Divine Ruler, who sits in heaven above controlling the destinies of the human race. Buddhism that emphatically denies an arbitrarily created immortal soul, believes in natural law and justice which cannot be suspended by either an Almighty God, or an All-compassionate Buddha. According to this natural law, acts bring their own rewards and punishments to the individual doer whether human justice finds him or not. Some there are, who cavil thus: So you Buddhists too administer the opium of Kammic doctrine to the poor, saying: “You are born poor in this life on acount of your past evil Kamma. He is born rich on account of his past good Kamma. So be satisfied with your humble lot, but do good to be rich in your next life. “You are being oppressed now because of your past evil Kamma. That is your destiny. Be humble and bear your sufferings patiently. Do good now. You can be certain of a better and happier life after death.”

The Buddhist doctrine of Kamma does not expound such fatalistic views. Nor does it vindicate a post-mortem justice. The All-merciful Buddha, who had no ulterior selfish motives, did not teach this law of Kamma to protect the rich and comfort the poor by promising illusory happiness in an after-life. According to the Buddhist doctrine of Kamma, one is not always compelled by an iron necessity, for Kamma is neither fate nor predestination imposed upon us by some mysterious unknown power to which we must helplessly submit ourselves. It is one’s own doing reacting on oneself, and so one has the power to divert the course of Kamma to some extent. How far one diverts it, depends on oneself.