Reason 6 of 10
Karma blames the sick and the poor. Jesus did not.
The Buddha taught that short lives, sickness, ugliness and poverty come from deeds in past lives. When Jesus' disciples asked whose sin made a man blind, he said neither, and healed him.
What the Shorter Analysis of Deeds says
In Majjhima Nikaya 135 a young brahmin asks why some people are short-lived and others long-lived, some sickly and others healthy, some ugly, poor or low-born. The Buddha answers that deeds divide beings into inferior and superior, and then gives the reasons case by case: killing leads to a short life, hurting creatures to sickness, bad temper to ugliness.
“What is the cause, worthy Gotama, what is the reason why even among those who are human beings some are seen to be inferior and superior? For people are seen who are short-lived and long-lived, sickly and healthy, ugly and beautiful, insignificant and illustrious, poor and rich, from low and eminent families, witless and wise. What is the reason why even among those who are human beings some are seen to be inferior and superior?”
Majjhima Nikaya 135:3.1-3.9, The Shorter Analysis of Deeds (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context
“Student, sentient beings are the owners of their deeds and heir to their deeds. Deeds are their womb, their relative, and their refuge. It is deeds that divide beings into inferior and superior.”
Majjhima Nikaya 135:4.1-4.3, The Shorter Analysis of Deeds (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context
“Take some woman or man who kills living creatures. They’re violent, bloody-handed, a hardened killer, merciless to living beings. Because of undertaking such deeds, when their body breaks up, after death, they’re reborn in a place of loss, a bad place, the underworld, hell. If they’re not reborn in a place of loss, but return to the human realm, then wherever they’re reborn they’re short-lived. For killing living creatures is the path leading to a short lifespan.
Majjhima Nikaya 135:5.1-5.4, The Shorter Analysis of Deeds (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context
Take some woman or man who habitually hurts living creatures with a fist, stone, rod, or sword. Because of undertaking such deeds, after death they’re reborn in a place of loss … or if they return to the human realm, they’re sickly …
Majjhima Nikaya 135:7.1-7.3, The Shorter Analysis of Deeds (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context
Take some woman or man who is irritable and bad-tempered. Even when lightly criticized they lose their temper, becoming annoyed, hostile, and hard-hearted, and displaying annoyance, hate, and bitterness. Because of undertaking such deeds, after death they’re reborn in a place of loss … or if they return to the human realm, they’re ugly …
Majjhima Nikaya 135:9.1-9.4, The Shorter Analysis of Deeds (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context
Why this is cruel when applied
Read as a rule, this teaching tells a disabled child, a refugee or a cancer patient that their condition is the fruit of their own past wrongdoing. Many Buddhists are warm and generous to the suffering, and their kindness is real. But the doctrine itself places the cause of a child's suffering in that child.
Jesus met this idea head-on. His disciples assumed a man born blind must be paying for sin, his own or his parents'. Jesus rejected both options and healed him. When people suggested victims of a massacre and a collapsing tower were worse sinners than others, he said no: all of us need to repent.
1As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3Jesus answered, “This man didn’t sin, nor did his parents, but that the works of God might be revealed in him.
John 9:1-3 (WEB) · context
1Now there were some present at the same time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2Jesus answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered such things? 3I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way. 4Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the men who dwell in Jerusalem? 5I tell you, no, but, unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way.”
Luke 13:1-5 (WEB) · context
The God who suffers with us
The Bible does not pretend to explain every sorrow. It shows us something better: God himself took on flesh, wept at a friend's grave, carried our sicknesses and bore our griefs, and promises a day when he will wipe every tear away.
35Jesus wept.
John 11:35 (WEB) · context
4Surely he has borne our sickness and carried our suffering; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted. 5But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed.
Isaiah 53:4-5 (WEB) · context
16When evening came, they brought to him many possessed with demons. He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, 17that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, “He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.”
Matthew 8:16-17 (WEB) · context
4He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more. The first things have passed away.”
Revelation 21:4 (WEB) · context
What Buddhists answer
Buddhists answer that kamma is not the only cause the texts recognise: the commentaries list other conditions such as climate, biology and the mind, and the Buddha himself rejected the view that everything one feels is due to past deeds (Samyutta Nikaya 36.21). They add that the teaching is meant to encourage good deeds now, not to blame anyone.
“Worthy Gotama, there are some ascetics and brahmins who have this doctrine and view: ‘Everything this individual person experiences—pleasurable, painful, or neutral—is because of past deeds.’
Samyutta Nikaya 36.21:1.4-1.5, With Sīvaka (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context
Some feelings are the result of past deeds.
Samyutta Nikaya 36.21:3.7, With Sīvaka (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context
Why that answer falls short
That is a fair and important qualification, and we are glad of it. But Majjhima Nikaya 135 still answers the question of birth-inequality with past deeds, line by line, and that is how it has been taught and believed across Buddhist Asia. Jesus gives a different answer to the very same question: not their sin, but an opportunity for God's works to be shown.
Where scholars and traditions differ
- Scholars differ on how literally early Buddhists applied MN 135; Samyutta Nikaya 36.21 lists eight causes of feeling, of which past deeds are only one.
Sources
- Earliest source Majjhima Nikaya 135 (Culakammavibhanga Sutta); Samyutta Nikaya 36.21 (Sivaka Sutta). Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0), SuttaCentral.