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128 :
Sramana, Vol 57, No. 1/January-March 2006
In the light of the doctrine of no soul (anattā) and the metaphysical silence of the Buddha, the Buddhist doctrine of karma appears to be very difficult to understand. If death is not the end of a man, then how can the elements or dhammas transmigrate? There is nothing to be reborn because the human being is a momentary combination of elements or dhammas, which possess no permanent existence. The problem before us is: what is the essence of man, which survives death? Karma or deeds or performances cannot constitute a substantive reality.
Let us now turn to the other aspects of the Buddhist philosophy of death. As a young prince, Guatama had encountered death at an existential level. It was an existential experience, not an intellectual problem before him. This experience of death had shaken him to the backbone. His young mind realized for the first time that death is an indispensable part of human existence. We know that this motivated the prince to engage in philosophical reflections. Gautama gradually became the Buddha after such existential experiences. Time and change or what the existentialist philosophers called temporality appear prominently as key problems in his consciousness. His reaction to death is similar to what Yudhisthira had commented to the sylvan god or the Yakşa. He commented that man forgets the reality of death and therefore, he lives an inauthentic life. Ašvaghoşa describes this encounter with death in his A Life of Buddha in the following words: -
"Four persons passed by, carrying corpse; and the prince, shuddering at the sight of a lifeless body, asked the charioteer, what is this they carry? There are streamers and flower garlands; but the men that follow are overwhelmed with grief!"
The charioteer replied: "This is a dead man; his body is stark; his life is gone; his thoughts are still: his family and friends who loved him now carry the corpse to grave."
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