Details of Karma: The Sautrantika Presentation

The texts collected in the Sarvastivada Abhidharma Basket, many of which are attributed to Buddha’s disciple Maudgalyayana, explained that karmic impulses in actions of the mind are the mental factor of a compelling urge (sems-pa, Skt. cetanā) and that the karmic impulses in actions of the body and speech are compulsive revealing forms (rnam-par rig-byed-kyi gzugs, Skt. vijñaptirūpa) and, in many cases, invisible nonrevealing forms (rnam-par rig-byed ma-yin-pa’i gzugs, Skt. avijñaptirūpa). In the late first century CE, Kumaralata rejected this presentation in favor of the explanations given by Buddha himself in the texts collected in the Sarvastivada Sutra Basket. According to those sources, the karmic impulses in actions of body, speech and mind are all the mental factor of a compelling urge.