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Unlock This CourseIn Free Will, Determinism and Predestination, you met predestination: the idea that God has already decided each person's fate. Remember, Buddhism teaches no creator God. So Buddhists believe there is nobody to plan a person's life or decide where it ends. Predestination has no place in Buddhism.
The Buddha also rejected fatalism. A teacher of his time, Makkhali Gosala, taught that everything is fixed by fate and that human effort changes nothing. The Buddha strongly disagreed. In one talk he said that if everything a person does were already fixed, whether by their past actions or by a God, nobody would have any reason to try to do good or to avoid harm. The whole Buddhist path depends on the belief that effort makes a difference.
Key terms:
Remember, kamma means intentional action, and Buddhists believe every such action brings results.
Buddhists believe past kamma helps to shape the life you have now: the body you were born with, your family, your circumstances and your character. Other conditions, such as the weather, your health and what other people do, play a part as well.
In each moment a person forms a new intention (cetana). Buddhists believe this choice is not fixed by the past. It is new kamma, and it will help to shape what comes next.
Think of a sailor. They cannot choose the wind or the waves, but they can choose how to set the sail. For Buddhists, past kamma and conditions are the wind. Intention is the hand on the sail.
Two teachings show that kamma is not fate:
Buddhists do not claim that people are completely free.
Every choice makes the same choice easier next time. The Dhammapada says a water pot is filled drop by drop, and in the same way a person is filled with good or with harm little by little (verses 121-122).
Remember, these are greed, hatred and ignorance. When they are strong, a person reacts without thinking. The poison is in charge, not the person.
A person who does not see how things really are cannot choose well. They chase things that will not last and do not notice the harm they cause.
Past kamma and conditions are limits too. Nobody chooses the place or the body they are born into, and these narrow the choices open to them.
Someone sends you an unkind message. You have a quick temper (habit) and you are tired (conditions). Anger flares up (a poison). A Buddhist would say none of this was freely chosen in that moment. But there is still a gap between feeling angry and pressing 'send' on a cruel reply. In that gap you form an intention. That is where your freedom is, and it is the part you are responsible for.
Buddhists believe freedom can grow, like a muscle that is trained.
Buddhists believe a person who reaches nibbana is completely free, because greed, hatred and ignorance no longer push them at all.
Different views among Buddhists. Theravada Buddhists stress personal effort. The Dhammapada teaches that people must make the effort themselves, and that the Buddhas only show the way (verse 276). Pure Land Buddhists, a Mahayana tradition found mainly in East Asia, believe the poisons bind people so tightly that it is very hard to become free by their own effort alone. They put their trust in the help of Amitabha Buddha.
Buddhists believe people are responsible for their actions for three linked reasons.
Responsibility comes in degrees, though. Because kamma is intention, an accident carries far less weight than a planned action.
What about blame and punishment? Buddhists see the results of kamma as natural effects, not as punishments from a judge. Because they believe people do wrong out of ignorance, many say that compassion fits better than angry blame. The person is still responsible, and society may need to protect others. Many Buddhists say punishment should help a person to change and should never be revenge. You will study this in Buddhist Attitudes to Punishment.
Do not write that kamma decides everything that happens to a Buddhist. The Buddha taught that some things have other causes, and that a new choice is made in every moment.
Paper 1 style. Parts (a) and (b) test AO1. Parts (c) and (d) test AO1 and AO2.
(a) Identify three different beliefs about what decides a person's fate. [3 marks]
(b) Choose one religion. Outline two teachings about the limits of human freedom in this religion. [4 marks]
(c) Choose one religion. Explain why followers of this religion believe that people are responsible for their actions. [6 marks]
(d) 'A person's future is decided by their past.' Evaluate this statement, showing you have considered different points of view. In your answer you should refer to at least one religion. [12 marks]
(a) 1. God decides it (1). 2. Earlier causes, such as genes and upbringing, decide it (1). 3. The person's own actions decide it (1).
(b) Buddhists teach that habits limit freedom (1), because every choice makes the same choice easier next time, as a water pot is filled drop by drop (1). Buddhists also teach that the three poisons limit freedom (1), because when greed or hatred is strong a person reacts without thinking, so the poison is in charge (1).
(c) Buddhists believe people are responsible because no God decides their fate. The Buddha rejected fatalism, so nobody else can be blamed for what a person does.
A second reason is that kamma is intention (cetana). Past kamma and conditions shape a person's situation, but in each moment they form a new intention, and this choice is their own.
A third reason is that the results return to the person who acts. Buddhists reflect that they are the owners and heirs of their actions, and the Dhammapada says each person is their own protector. This means Buddhists try to be mindful of their intentions and do not blame bad luck or other people.
(d) Plan. For: Buddhists teach that past kamma shapes a person's birth, circumstances and character; habits built up drop by drop are hard to break; hard determinists say every choice is fixed by earlier causes; some believers in other religions say God has already decided each person's fate.
Against: the Buddha rejected fatalism, because it leaves no reason to make an effort; each moment brings a new intention; the lump of salt shows that present actions change how the past affects a person; mindfulness widens freedom; many non-religious people say that being influenced by the past is not the same as being forced by it.
Possible conclusion: judge each point as you go, then pick a side. For example: I disagree. The past shapes where a person starts, as the teaching on kamma shows, but 'decided' goes too far, because Buddhists believe a new choice is made in every moment.
In part (d), look hard at the word 'decided'. Buddhists agree that the past shapes the future, so a strong answer explains the difference between shaping a life and deciding it.