The Concept Of Karma In Sautrāntika

karma is an important concept in Buddhist philosophy.The theory of karma was proposed by the Vedas(吠陀经典)at first,and then developed by Brahmanism(婆罗门教).At that time,karma is the product of Brahmatmaitym(梵我一如).Established in the context of against-Brahmanism movement,Buddhism reformed the existing karma theory based on "the origin theory"(缘起论).As a result,Buddhism has to address corresponding problems,such as "what is the essence of karma?" "what is the subject in reincarnation?,and "how can karma last?".Buddha did not explain these problems when he was alive,leaving a large space for later generations to interpret.Thus in Hinayana Buddhism,karma became a key issue between various teachers.Among them,Sautrāntika(经量部)also put forward important view.Sautrāntika proposed“the seed theory"(种子说),which imposed an important effect on Yogacara’s Alaya-consciousness(阿赖耶识).This article intends to probe into the karma theory in Sautrāntika as a whole,and to examine the different understanding of karma within the Sautrāntika by the way of combing history,text analysis and philosophical interpretation.The first chapter summarizes the development of karma,introducing the karma theory in Indian thought,original Buddhism and Sectarian Buddhism respectively.The second chapter probes into the karma theory of Dār(?)āntika(譬喻师).Dār(?)āntika,who is the pathfinder of Sautrāntika,contend that the essence of karma is mind.They propose "the seed theory" at first.The third chapter probes into the karma theory of Tattvasiddhi(《成实论》).The Tattvasiddhi has always been a controversial text.This article classifies it into Sautrāntika by studying the author’s affiliation as well as analyzing the text,and explores the karma theory in this text.The forth chapter probes into the karma theory of Sautrāntika after Tattvasiddhi.Sautrāntika illustrates the existence of karma by the parable of the seeds,and the issue of the existence of karma involves the issue that if there is mind in Nirodhasamapatti(灭尽定).The mainstream of Sautrāntika contends that there is mind in Nirodhasamapatti,wheres some teachers named"ancient acarya(先代轨范师)" hold the opposite view.The latter proposed the theory of "se xin huxun"(色心互熏说).It is noteworthy that Vasubhandu(世亲),who is one of the Sautrāntika teachers,shifts his positions.He approves ancient acarya at first and criticize them later,and proposed the theory of vipāka-vij(?)āna(异熟果识说).This chapter focus on the transformation process of the mind theory of Sautrāntika,and distinguish the difference of vipāka-vij(?)āna and alaya-vijnana.