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In Buddhism, the answer is subtle:
No permanent soul (ātman) suffers karma, but there is still a continuity of causes and effects.
Buddhism rejects the idea of an eternal, unchanging self. This teaching is called anattā (no-self).
So the question naturally arises:
"If there is no soul, then who receives the results of karma?"
The classical Buddhist answer is:
No one identical receives it, yet the causal stream continues.
The Candle Analogy
Imagine lighting a second candle from a first candle.
- Is the second flame the same flame? No.
- Is it completely different? Also no.
There is continuity without identity.
Similarly:
- The person at age 50 is not exactly the same as the child at age 5.
- Yet there is a causal connection.
Karma operates through this causal continuity.
What Actually Suffers?
Buddhism says what we call a "person" is a collection of changing processes:
- body
- sensations
- perceptions
- mental formations
- consciousness
These are called the five aggregates (skandhas).
Suffering occurs within this stream of aggregates.
There is pain, grief, fear, happiness, and pleasure.
But there is no permanent owner behind them.
In a famous Buddhist formulation:
There is suffering, but no sufferer.
There are actions, but no independent doer.
How Karma Works
Instead of:
Buddhism sees:
Every action leaves tendencies and conditions that influence future experiences.
Comparison with Advaita
This is where Buddhism and Advaita both converge and diverge.
Advaita:
- No individual doer.
- But there is fundamental Consciousness (Ātman/Brahman).
Buddhism:
- No individual doer.
- No permanent self behind experience.
- Only dependent origination and changing phenomena.
| Advaita | Buddhism |
|---|---|
| Ultimate Self exists | No permanent self |
| Consciousness is fundamental reality | Consciousness is also conditioned and impermanent |
| "I am Brahman" | No abiding "I" can be found |
The Deepest Buddhist Insight
When asking:
"Who suffers karma?"
A Buddhist master might answer:
"Find the one who suffers."
Upon investigation, you find:
- thoughts arise,
- feelings arise,
- sensations arise,
- consciousness arises,
but no permanent entity can be located that owns them.
So karma belongs neither to a soul nor to nobody.
It belongs to the causal stream of experience.
A traditional summary is:
The one who is reborn is neither the same person nor a different person.
This avoids both extremes:
- an eternal soul, and
- complete annihilation.
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