Definition: Vipāka names the ripening or fruit of intentional action (kamma) — the result-side of the kamma–vipāka pair. The botanical metaphor is deliberate: results ripen over time and may appear long after the act, like fruit maturing on a tree. The Abhidhamma formalises vipāka as a specific class of resultant consciousnesses (vipāka-citta).
Canonical usage
Dhp 67 (dhp67:4)
Yassa assumukho rodaṁ, vipākaṁ paṭisevati.
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English (Sujato): …for which you weep and wail, as its effect stays with you.
Dhp 68 (dhp68:4)
Yassa patīto sumano, vipākaṁ paṭisevati.
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English (Sujato): …that gladdens and cheers, as its effect stays with you.
Dhp 69 (dhp69:1–69:2)
Madhuvā maññati bālo, yāva pāpaṁ na paccati.
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English (Sujato): So long as a wicked deed has not ripened, the fool thinks it's sweet as honey.
Nuances and translation notes
- Sujato: "effect" (at Dhp 67–68) — captures function but loses the botanical metaphor
- Buddharakkhita: "fruit" / "result" — preserves the metaphor
- Bodhi: "result" (technical register in AN)
- de Zoysa (Sinhala): විපාක — direct cognate, preserves the Indic register
The Dhammapada's imagery at Dhp 69–71 is consistently agricultural: paccati ("ripens"), sajjukhīraṁ ("fresh milk, not yet curdled"), bhasmacchannova pāvako ("fire smothered in ash, smouldering"). The metaphor argues for the delayed-but-certain character of vipāka.
Related concepts
- kamma — the act; the structural pair
- kamma action and fruit — concept page
- hetu paccaya — the first named paccaya in the Paṭṭhāna's canonical list
- vipaka paccaya — the Paṭṭhāna result-condition definition for resultant aggregates
- sankhara — volitional formation; the kammic continuity carrier (pending)
Related pages
- kamma action and fruit — concept page
- dhammapada 05 balavagga — Dhp 67–68 locus