Mechanism of Karma: Vasubandhu and Nagarjuna’s Presentations

The only way that we can really understand karma and work with it is in the context of a particular system of tenets. We examine the similarities and differences in Asanga’s and Vasubandhu’s systems in this series. Whether we speak in terms of Vasubandhu and Nagarjuna’s system or Asanga’s, in neither of these systems is a karmic impulse an action. When we are clear about the difference between karma or a karmic impulse and an action then we can focus on the most important aspect about karma, which is its compulsiveness. It’s this compelling karmic impulse, motivated by some disturbing emotion like anger or attachment, that causes our minds to go toward an object and to do something with or toward it in accord with an accompanying intention. It is also the compulsive forms that our body and speech take as a method to enact the action.