What did you do to deserve such good looks

What did you do to deserve such good looks?

Well, I think the question is whether looks have anything you did or had done.

This question arose over a comment that was made during a film screening. A Dhamma brother said that Kamma determines our good looks. If we want good looks (in our future life), we should do good.

I disagreed with that statement. What I did not like about this is that such views very easily lead to an interpretation of the reverse: i.e. you are ugly because of bad things you did in your previous life. (No, it is not because I took personal offense, haha)

Furthermore, I felt this is another typical case of attributing everything to Kamma. In Buddhism, Kamma is only but one of the Five Niyamas (the universal laws). Kamma is the law that governs the ethic and psychological aspects and is the only one that one that is within our control. But that does not mean everything that happens is due to the law of Kamma.

Thus, I maintained that physical looks is not determined by kamma, but due to the Biji Niyama (the biological law), i.e. it is a case of genetics.

In any case, a discussion ensued. The Dhamma brother brought up 2 arguments which stumbled me.

1) Yes, physical looks is due to genetics. But what genes you inherit is due to Kamma.
2) The Buddha himself said that Kamma give you good looks.

I was not convinced by these 2 arguments. But I could not counter them. I thought over these for a long time and finally brought the question to Ven Dhammika, and he provided the answers which help me resolved this difficult question.

1) Is "good-looking" genes due to Kamma?

If Kamma, indeed, determines whether someone is good looking or not, then these two assumptions should be true:

a) Good looks is "good"
b) Good looks is objective

a) Are "good looks" good?

This seems like a rather oxymoronic question. If it wasn't good, it won't be called "good looks". I think everyone do want to look good, especially those of us which are not so good looking.

But does good physical appearances always lead to a happier and more meaningful life? I think the answers aren't that obvious. Objectively, good looks does help people in their social interactions and even some people's career. But that alone does not make people happier.

Are those beautiful models always having happier and more meaningful life? Are those who are proud of their beauty better people? Are those who are constantly obsessed with their looks feeling content and happy?

Those of us who are the ugly ones would think that good looking is good. The truth is, we do hear of the handsome and the beautiful complained that they have difficulty finding partners because people like them for how they look and not what they are.

Ultimately, I think looks by itself does not really lead to happiness. It really depends on how a person deal with his/her physical looks. Hence, it is that attitude which has a Kammic aspect, not the physical looks itself.

b) Is good looks objective?

I think the answer is no. There is a huge cultural element in what constitutes good looks. Different cultures interpret beauty differently. And beauty changes with time as well.

Plumpness was considered beautiful during Tang Dynasty. Now, thin is in, and fat is considered ugly. But even that is not absolute for there are "chub chasers" who considered chubby guys attractive.

Even something like muscularity as beauty in men is a relatively new phenomenon in the modern society (although it is also found in ancient Greek culture). Fashions and perceptions of beauty can change very quickly.

Thus, to say that Kamma determines good looks would imply that Kamma could take into account all such subjective interpretations and perceptions as well as changes across cultures and time. I do not think that is logical at all.

But that is not to rule out Kamma's role totally. I do think that Kamma conditions our rebirth. It is a strong force that conditions which realms we are born into and which human fertilized egg our consciousness merge with (if we are reborn as human), which perhaps indirectly affected how we look.

The key word, however, is conditions (as opposed to determines). There are other natural laws that affect our physical body, and in my opinion, as far as our physical body goes, Kamma is really less deterministic as most people like to think.

2) What did the Buddha say about Kamma and looks?

In the Cula-kammavibhanga Sutta, (Majjima Nikaya, Vol. III, Pg 202), Subha, a brahma, asked the Buddha, "What is the reason, what is the condition, why superiority and inferiority are met with among human beings, among mankind?"

The Buddha then explained that it is Kamma which differentiates beings. Here, the Buddha explained that Kamma does affect how a person looks. Here's what he said:

9. "Here, student, some woman or man is angry, much given to rage; even when little is said, he is furious, angry, ill-disposed, resentful, he shows ill-temper, hate and surliness. Due to having performed and completed such kammas, on the dissolution of the body, after death, he reappears in a state of deprivation... If instead he comes to the human state, he is ugly wherever he is reborn. This is the way that leads to ugliness, that is to say, to be furious, angry, ill-disposed, resentful, and to show ill-temper, hate and surliness.

10. "But here some woman or man is not angry or much given to rage; even when much is said, he is not furious, angry, ill-disposed, resentful, nor does he show ill-temper, hate or surliness. Due to having performed and completed such kammas, on the dissolution of the body, after death, he reappears in a happy destination... If instead he comes to the human state, he is beautiful wherever he is reborn. This is the way that leads to beauty, that is to say, not to be angry or given to much rage; even when much is said, not to be furious, angry, ill-disposed or resentful, or to show ill-temper, hate or surliness.

When I read this, what I thought was that the Buddha did not say good kamma lead to physical beauty. It is clear that the Buddha refers to beauty and ugliness, not in terms of physical appearance, but in terms of a person's character.

He said that the person who is angry and hateful is ugly. That is consistent with our experience. No matter how physically good looking a person is, if he is always angry and scowling, we will be come to think of him as a ugly person. On the other hand, we frequently hear of kind and compassionate people being described as "beautiful people", even though in terms of physical appearance, we do not necessarily think of them as handsome or pretty.

I think that for an enlightened being such as the Buddha, his concept of beauty would be different from us. It would not be surprising if the Buddha talks about beauty more in terms of the state of the mind and the character, rather than physical appearance.

The effect of Kamma

However, having said all these, it does not mean that I think Kamma has nil effect on looks.

I think that Kamma can affect looks in several ways:

a) The mind can affect our physical condition. Our state of mind can affect our health and physical well-being. Happy and kind people may look more radiant, making them look more attractive. In such ways, Kamma can be thought of having an effect on looks.

b) We are attracted to virtuous people or people with whom we have a strong relationship. Hence, that attraction can make us perceive people more favourably. For example, even if we parents aren't good-looking, we do not think of them as ugly.

If we cultivate virtues (another way of saying generating good kamma), we have an attractive character which influences how people perceive us physically.

c) Kamma affects our rebirth. If, say, we are reborn as devas, and devas are perceived as good looking, then kamma would have said to have an effect on looks.

Thus, in some ways, I do think Kamma can affect looks. However, I would disagree, if we think of Kamma as some force that would judge your past actions and determine if you would have drop dead gorgeous face or not.

Conditions vs Determines

The truth is, of course, I don't know for sure how Kamma works. What I expressed here are what I reasoned from my limited understanding of the Dhamma. I did not perceived any of these from meditative insights or jhanas states.

From the Doctrine of Interdependent Origination, we know that all things arises from more than dependent conditions. These conditions are interdependent and it would difficult to say with certainty one outcome is due solely to any one condition.

In the same way, Kamma Niyama would intertwine with all the other Niyamas in influencing our lives.

In the Acintita Sutta (Anguttara Nikaya, Vol2, pg 80), the Buddha warned against speculating on the working of Kamma, saying that it leads to "madness and vexation".

Yet, I find it strange that so many people seemed to be so sure of themselves, proclaimed with certainty how a person's fortunes must to due to previous Kamma.

In fact, the Buddha specifically mentioned it is wrong to hold the view that "'Whatever a person experiences... is all caused by what was done in the past." (See Tittha Sutta, Anguttara Nikaya, Vol 1, pg 173), i.e. Kammic Determinism is considered a wrong view too.

Thus, we should bear in mind that Kamma is a conditioning factor, not a deterministic factor. We must not neglect that there are other forces and natural laws that conditions us too.


So what's the big deal?

Now, you may ask, what's wrong with thinking that doing good with lead to desirable results like having good looks? Wouldn't that lead people to be more virtuous?

Well, from what I can see, that does not necessary seems to the outcome. Instead, it leads to a few problems.

1) Kammic Determinism is not the Buddha's teaching. We should not hold on to the wrong view.

2) People are quick to draw conclusions of the opposite: your misfortunes are due to your previous bad Kamma, i.e. you deserve it. That, in some ways, explains why in traditional countries, people can turn a blind to the misfortunes and sufferings around them. To them, those who suffers are just living out the effects of their bad kamma. What is more important is to for them to accumulate their own merits.

3) People tends to see Kamma as determining physical outcomes, entirely failing to understand that Kamma is more in the mind and psychological. Thus people think that having a pretty face, striking lottery, etc, are the effects of kamma, when what's more important (from the perspective of the Doctrine of Kamma) should the person's attitude towards his physical looks, towards the money gained from lottery, etc. That is, given the physical circumstances, whether he is happy, contented, generous, kind, wise, or whether he becomes jealous, proud, greedy etc -- these mental states are the kammic forces that conditions his spiritual progress. The physical events or outcomes are really neutral in themselves -- it is our own perceptions which colours them as "good" or "bad". Sadly, most people fail to see that, and end up focusing on accumulating merits so as to attain better physical and material prospects for the future (or future life).

Conclusion

So I really don't think physical looks is determined by kamma, though I could accept that kamma could be a conditioning factor.

But I would still like to ask this guy, what did you do to deserve such good looks (and a hot body)! Haha!