Gotama very specifically re-defines the word kamma as intention,1 radically changing the existing meaning, which was more like “fate” in the culture through which he was speaking. This works with his use of ethics as central to liberation from the human existential problem. He asserts a limited but definite free will, the ability to see one’s conditioned mental events & let go of them (not reinforcing them as habits). Through training, we see that mental events are temporary, impermanent. They are not an abiding self, something that must be obeyed because they are “who we are.” Seeing this clearly, we know we become (through habits) what we do. Past actions condition what arises in the mind in the present moment. In the untrained mind, past actions create similar new actions, reinforcing unconscious tendencies. By clearly seeing the transition of unconscious tendencies into actions, we can let go of them & avoid suffering, dukkha. Kamma is complex, but not mystical & indescribable, or contrary to the laws of nature. Seeing kamma as taught by Gotama helps us see clearly how we create dukkha through unwholesome habits. It is not a mystery but a kind of pattern we need to recognize.
- Nibbedhika Sutta (Anguttara Nikaya 6.63):
“Intention I tell you, is kamma. Intending, one does kamma by way of body, speech, & intellect.”
Intention: (Pāli cetana, Sanskrit cetanā) ↩