“If everything is conditioned, even thoughts and wisdom, is there such a thing as free action?”
1. Good question. This question gets to the heart of the distinction between the ‘purana kamma‘ and ‘nava kamma‘ stages.
- The ‘purana kamma‘ stage, especially at the beginning, runs on ‘auto pilot’ without thinking, and is controlled by two things: (i) the number of unbroken samyojana one has (at the very beginning in the ‘purana kamma‘ stage), and (ii) one’s mindset (gati, pronounced ‘gathi’) at that moment (toward the middle of the ‘purana kamma‘ stage). Therefore, controlling this process requires comprehension of the ‘purana kamma‘ stage.
- On the other hand, we become aware of our thoughts in the ‘nava kamma‘ stage, and thus are able to control them. This is where we do mano, vaci, and kaya kamma (dasa akusala) with intention.
- One must live a moral life controlling the ‘nava kamma‘ stage, while learning Noble Truths/Paticca Samuppada/Tilakkhana to eliminate samyojana and gati in the ‘purana kamma‘ stage.
- I described the basic idea in “Kamma Nirodha – How Does It Happen?“
2. You wrote, “I learn better through discussion rather than reading long paragraphs.”
- If you understand Sinhala, the following discussion could help understand the ‘purana kamma‘ and ‘nava kamma‘ stages (they have more): “බුදු දහම, මාර්ග ඵල සහ මග වැඩීම“.
- I referred to it in #6 of the post “Purāna and Nava Kamma – Sequence of Kamma Generation.”
