Karma And Transmigration In Ancient India

Early Buddhist, Jain and Hindu Understanding of Karma and Transmigration

Swami Saradananda – 644508

Religions of Ancient India – 15PSRH054-A16/17

Dr. Ulrich Pagel, Dr Ted Proferes

Essay assignment 1

2000 words

All religions of Indian origin accept karma and transmigration as fundamental principles; as Gethin states “the general Indian world-view is that all sentient beings are subject to rebirth” (Gethin, 1998, p. 17). What are the roots of these beliefs? How did early Hindus, Buddhists and Jains understand personal responsibility and rebirth? In this essay I look at their varying perceptions of karma and transmigration during the time of the Śramaṇa movement.

The Oxford English Dictionary, defines karma as “(in Buddhism and Hinduism) The sum of a person's actions in one of his successive states of existence, regarded as determining his fate in the next; hence, necessary fate or destiny, following as effect from cause”. Chapple argues that “this definition of karma as fate or destiny denotes something additional to the meaning of the word karma in Sanskrit” which he claims “is no more than action”. (Chapple, 1986, p. 2) Chapple’s argument is corroborated by the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, “How a man turns out depends on how he acts and how he conducts himself”. 4.4.8 (Olivelle translation).

This quote from the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad is

At the fourth stage of correct viewpoint (samyak-dṛṣṭi), the aspirant fully accepted the Tirthankaras’ teachings and “anyone who reaches this stage is bound to obtain liberation sooner or later (even eons later)”. (Babb, p. 50) However this can be achieved only after he/she takes the rigorous vows of a Jain mendicant. As Digambaras had no nuns, women were automatically excluded from liberation. Babb clarifies that women were seen to be able to “certainly achieve liberation” (Babb, p. 25) if they were transmigrate into a male body and take the appropriate