Hi,
Is the idea that there are weighty Kammas that come to fruition before lighter kammas based on the EBTs?
With Mettā
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As it appears in AN 4.78 and AN 6.37, qualities of the doner and the recipient to the weight of the deed. Giving is of great benefit when the donor and the recipient each possess three qualities. And the result of deed is further explaind in MN 142.
From these suttas it could be learned that the quality of the donor and the recipient plays a role recieving the benifits. Weight of the good deed increses with the good qalities of both sides.
When it comes to bad deeds it is the same. Patricide, killing and arahant, bleeding a Buddha and causing a schism in the Saṅgha are concidered the most blameworthy bad deeds and those deeds results rebirth in niraya (hell) (AN 5.129) these deeds are also called ānantariya kamma (na + antariya - no gap; result comes in the immediate rebirth). On the other hand they will not be able to realize dhamma and attain fruits in this life (AN6.87. Stream winners (sotāpanna) donot commit these bad deeds at at any cost keeping them from a rebirth in hell (AN 6.91).
When a bad deed is done to a person with good qualities, (ex: the Buddha, Pacceka Buddha, An arahant, Anāgāmin, sakadāgami, sovān…) the deed is very blameworthy. Blameworthiness increases with the purity of the victim. This can be inferred according to suttas like MN 142. I couldn’t find direct explaination about these deeds in suttas but commentaries.
guṇavirahitesu tiracchānagatādīsu pāṇesu khuddake pāṇe appasāvajjo, mahāsarīre mahāsāvajjo. Kasmā? Payogamahantatāya. Payogasamattepi vatthumahantatāya. Guṇavantesu manussādīsu appaguṇe pāṇe appasāvajjo, mahāguṇe mahāsāvajjo. Sarīraguṇānaṃ pana samabhāve sati kilesānaṃ upakkamānañca mudutāya appasāvajjo, tibbatāya mahāsāvajjoti (Sammādiṭṭhisuttavaṇṇanā)
Something like, (not the exact translation)
When the victim is less-virtuous, an animal, small animal the deed is less blameworthy. When the animal has a big body the deed is very blameworthy. Why? the size of attempt (and planning) is higher. when the attempt is similar the cost(wealth afforded/damage. When the victim is virtuous human, less-virtuous, less blameworthy, highly-virtuous very blameworthy. When the things like boy size are similar the amount of kilesas in perpetrator’s mind and the size of the attempt matters. When the mind is more currupted very blameworthy…
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Thanks,
but it seems that there is nothing saying they come to fruition before lighter kammas.
I’ve never heard it claimed that this is generally the case.
Are you perhaps referring to the idea that there is an order as to which of a dying person’s kammas will be the one that determines his next birth, with weighty kammas (if the dying person has performed one) taking precedence over three other types of kamma?
If that’s what you mean, then there’s no mention of any such principle in the EBTs. As far as I know, the incipient development of the idea starts in the Atthakathās, while its fully-fledged form is from post-commentarial texts like the Abhidhammatthasaṅgaha and its various ṭīkās.
Having said that, though the order-of-ripening principle is not itself found in the EBTs, there are certain EBT teachings and narratives which came to be seen by later writers as exemplifying it. I’m afraid the only one I can immediately recall is the teaching in MN 57 that dog-duty and ox-duty ascetics can expect to be reborn as dogs or oxen, unless they hold wrong view, in which case they can expect rebirth in hell. This was cited by later writers as an instance of how a weighty kamma (holding wrong view) will take precedence over an habitual kamma (acting like a dog or an ox).
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It is worth mentioning SN42.8.
In it we find the Buddha presenting a very balanced working model for how kamma operates from the perspective of an awakened one and how the teaching that points to it leads to the same heart’s release he experienced.
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Yes, there is no priority of giving results for the deeds.
But there are four factors that changes the result of kamma. This is a concept developed after Abhidhamma texts. In Vibhaṅgapāḷi » Ñāṇavibhaṅgo, these facts are accounted and further explained in aṭṭhakatā.
- Gati - (re)birth
- Upadhi - body appearance
- Kāla - time
- Payoga - effort
And these can affect both fortunate and unfortunate ways.
See atītānāgatapaccuppannānaṃ kammasamādānāna (the knowledge as it really is by way of cause, by way of root, of the resultant of past, future and present actions that are performed)
There are some bad actions performed, which, prevented by fortunate rebirth, do not mature; there are some bad actions performed, which, prevented by a fortunate body, do not mature; there are some bad actions performed, which, prevented by fortunate time, do not mature; there are some bad actions performed, which, prevented by fortunate effort, do not mature.
There are some bad actions performed, which, because of unfortunate rebirth, do mature; there are some bad actions performed, which, because of an unfortunate body, do mature; there are some bad actions performed, which, because of unfortunate time, do mature; there are some bad actions performed, which, because of unfortunate effort, do mature.
There are some sound actions performed, which, prevented by unfortunate rebirth, do not mature; there are some sound actions performed, which, prevented by an unfortunate body, do not mature; there are some sound actions performed, which, prevented by unfortunate time, do not mature; there are some sound actions performed, which, prevented by unfortunate effort, do not mature.
There are some sound actions performed, which, because of fortunate rebirth, do mature; there are some sound actions performed, which, because of a fortunate body, do mature; there are some sound actions performed, which, because of fortunate time, do mature; there are some sound actions performed, which, because of fortunate effort, do mature; that which therein is wisdom, understanding, absence of delusion, truth investigation, right view. This is the Tathāgata’s knowledge as it really is by way of cause, by way of root of the resultant of past, future and present actions that are performed (U. Thittila trnsln).
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