LAW AND KARMA: WHEN LAW AND BUDDHISM MEET IN THE CONCEPT OF JUSTICE

Abstract

This paper examines the philosophical correlations of karmic law (kamma-niyāma) as outlined in Buddhism with worldly law (justice as state-administered). While karma works through the moral realm, and ethical causation, law sustains and enforces through command and negative sanctions. While both are concerned with the regulation and control of human conduct and the order of society, they diverge with respect to intent, accountability, and punishment. This treatise draws from the Aṅguttara Nikāya, Dīgha Nikāya, and Vinaya Piṭaka, as well as from contemporary legal philosophy of Aristotle, Kant, and Rawls. Buddhism offers a different philosophy of justice. It is no longer merely retributive, but restorative, through wise (paññā) and ethical (sīla-bhāvanā) rehabilitation. The karmic axiom, “It is volition that I call action” (cetanā ahaṃ kammaṃ vadāmi), places justice in the sphere of will, and not in the sphere of external power. It changes the law from a coercive dominion to a self-regulating order, bounded by ethical reason.
The study utilizes comparative jurisprudence and Buddhist ethics to explore the intersections and critiques that karmic justice has with contemporary theories of restorative justice. It also discusses the impact of Buddhist forgiveness (khanti), compassion (karuṇā), and right livelihood (sammā ājīva) on the potential Buddhist doctrine of forgiveness on current challenges and reforms in the practice of law, including criminal justice and rehabilitation, dispute resolution, and the governance of the environment.
The proposed research has to do with a Dhamma-centered approach to justice that combines law with the principle of moral causation, advocating for a movement in justice systems from punishment to transformative justice based on the principle of interdependence (paṭicca-samuppāda). In a time of moral and legal crises throughout the world, the interrelation of law and karma provides a valuable lens for cultivating compassion and restorative justice.