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Doctrine

Karma

Also Known As Kamma · action and its fruitOriginal Term karman (Sanskrit, action)
Action, Rebirth and Consequence
Origin 800 BCE to 500 BCE

Karma means action, and by extension the consequence that action carries. The general principle is shared: what is done conditions what follows, across lives as well as within them. Beneath that the traditions differ enough that a single account of karma would misrepresent all of them.

It is not divine judgement. In the classical formulations nobody sits in judgement, no sentence is passed, and no record is kept by an official. The process is closer to a natural regularity than to a court, and it is impersonal in the way that a law of physics is impersonal. Some Hindu theistic schools do bring God in as the agency that dispenses the fruits of action, on the argument that unconscious residues cannot arrange their own consequences, but that is a specific theological addition made in the face of a recognised difficulty, not the default meaning of the word.

Buddhism makes karma a matter of intention. The Buddha's reported identification of action with volition is the pivot of the Buddhist account, and it moves the whole subject inward: an act done without intention does not carry the same weight, and the mental disposition rather than the outward event is what conditions the future.

Jainism is the outlier and the most concrete. Karma there is a subtle material substance which flows into the soul and adheres to it, obscuring its innate qualities in something like the way dust obscures a surface. This is not a metaphor within the system. It explains why Jain practice is organised around stopping the influx and shedding what has accumulated, and why Jain asceticism is more severe than its neighbours: if the problem is accreted matter, then austerity is a technique for removing it.

The popular English use, in which karma means an ironic comeuppance arriving promptly, has almost no relation to any of these.

Facts
Status
Status Within the Tradition
Standard teaching, not formally defined 1Tradition: Hinduism
The received law of action and consequence
Standing as a Comparative Category
A standard analytic category in the study of religion 2
Doctrinal Category
Action, Rebirth and Consequence 1
Doctrinal category (class)
Action, Rebirth and Consequence 4
Tradition
Scriptural Basis
The concept is expounded across the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita and the Pali Canon, each within its own doctrinal framework. 1
Belief
Defining Doctrinal Position
Buddhist teaching ties karma to intention rather than to the act alone, and holds that its effects can be altered by later action rather than being fixed like fate; Hindu and Jain formulations vary in how mechanically karma is held to operate. 3
Origins
Origin Period
800 BCE to 500 BCE 1
Held By
Hinduism; Buddhism; Jainism; Sikhism 1
The Claim
The Claim
That intentional action generates consequences for the actor, binding future experience, whether in this life or across rebirths, to past deeds. 3
Learn More
Action and Its Fruit, Not Divine Judgement

Karma means, literally, "action," and in its doctrinal sense it is the principle that actions carry consequences that return to the actor. It is emphatically not reward and punishment handed down by a god: it is closer to an impersonal law of the moral universe, in which deeds ripen into results across this life and future ones, without a judge deciding each case.

The idea appears in developed form in the older Upanishads, which forge the link between action, rebirth and the moral quality of a life, the Brihadaranyaka teaches that a person becomes good by good action and bad by bad. The Bhagavad Gita then reframes the problem: since all embodied life involves action, the way out cannot be inaction but karma yoga, acting without attachment to the fruits, so that deeds no longer bind. From these roots karma became the shared grammar of the Indian religions, and, precisely because it is shared, a term the traditions fill with substantially different content.

Three Traditions, Three Mechanisms

The atlas keeps the traditions' accounts distinct, because they disagree about what karma is and what carries it.

In Hinduism, broadly, karma attaches to the enduring self (atman) and binds it to the round of rebirth; its store can be worked off, and various paths, disciplined action, knowledge, and above all loving devotion, can offset or dissolve it, some schools holding that God's grace can cancel karmic debt outright. In Buddhism, karma is redefined as intention: "It is intention (cetana) that I call karma," the Buddha says in the Anguttara Nikaya; what ripens is the moral quality of the will behind an act. Because Buddhism denies a permanent self, it must explain how karma is carried without a soul to carry it, and answers with an unbroken causal continuity rather than a transmigrating substance. In Jainism, karma is the most literal of all: a kind of subtle matter that actually flows into the soul (jiva) and sticks to it, weighing it down, so that liberation requires both stopping the inflow and burning off the accumulated matter through austerity. The same word thus names a moral law, a psychology of intention, and a physics of the soul.

Karma
Filter Results1 entry

Karma: action determines future rebirth

Karma
Connections

Affirmed By

Karma: action determines future rebirth, Beliefs & Restrictions

Reconciliation: affirmed Belief -> contested Doctrine concept (Karma).

Belongs to Tradition

Buddhism, Religions
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Hinduism, Religions
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Jainism, Religions
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Mahayana, Denominations

Karma, action and its consequence, is affirmed as the mechanism of rebirth across Buddhist schools, including this tradition.

Source The Princeton Dictionary of BuddhismRobert E. Buswell Jr. and Donald S. Lopez Jr.
Sikhism, Religions
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Theravada, Denominations

Karma, action and its consequence, is affirmed as the mechanism of rebirth across Buddhist schools, including this tradition.

Source The Princeton Dictionary of BuddhismRobert E. Buswell Jr. and Donald S. Lopez Jr.
Tibetan Buddhism, Denominations

Karma, action and its consequence, is affirmed as the mechanism of rebirth across Buddhist schools, including this tradition.

Source The Princeton Dictionary of BuddhismRobert E. Buswell Jr. and Donald S. Lopez Jr.
Vajrayana, Denominations

Karma, action and its consequence, is affirmed as the mechanism of rebirth across Buddhist schools, including this tradition.

Source The Princeton Dictionary of BuddhismRobert E. Buswell Jr. and Donald S. Lopez Jr.
Zen, Denominations

Karma, action and its consequence, is affirmed as the mechanism of rebirth across Buddhist schools, including this tradition.

Source The Princeton Dictionary of BuddhismRobert E. Buswell Jr. and Donald S. Lopez Jr.

Held Differently

Nichiren, Denominations

Karma, action and its consequence, is affirmed as the mechanism of rebirth across Buddhist schools, including this tradition.

Source The Princeton Dictionary of BuddhismRobert E. Buswell Jr. and Donald S. Lopez Jr.
Pure Land, Denominations

Karma, action and its consequence, is affirmed as the mechanism of rebirth across Buddhist schools, including this tradition.

Source The Princeton Dictionary of BuddhismRobert E. Buswell Jr. and Donald S. Lopez Jr.
Lingayatism, Denominations

Karma is held in Lingayatism.

Source Encyclopedia of HinduismDenise Cush, Catherine Robinson and Michael York (eds.)
Nichiren Shoshu, Denominations

Karma is held in Nichiren Shoshu.

Source The Princeton Dictionary of BuddhismRobert E. Buswell Jr. and Donald S. Lopez Jr.

Depicted In

Wheel of Life (Bhavacakra) Thangka, Sacred Art & Iconography

The museum's own published description of this specific object identifies the wheel's inner ring, the three poisons of ignorance, attachment and aversion, and the second ring as the karmic mechanism itself: negative action driven by the three poisons carries a being downward through the wheel, right motivation and right action carry a being upward.

Source Wheel of Life, accession C2006.66.131 (Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art)Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, catalogue entry; Elena Pakhoutova (Senior Curator) with Smarthistory

Positions on This Question

Advaita Vedanta, Schools of Theology

Karma is held in Advaita as governing the empirical world, and the school's account of the liberated person still living is worked out in terms of which karma is exhausted and which continues to run.

Source Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, Volume III: Advaita Vedanta up to Samkara and His PupilsKarl H. Potter (ed.)
Dvaita Vedanta, Schools of Theology

Karma is held in Dvaita as really binding, and dependent throughout on God, who is the one independent reality.

Source A History of the Dvaita School of Vedanta and Its LiteratureB. N. K. Sharma
Gaudiya Vaishnavism, Denominations

Karma is held in Gaudiya Vaishnavism, and the tradition holds that devotional service cuts through it rather than merely working it off.

Source Encyclopedia of HinduismDenise Cush, Catherine Robinson and Michael York (eds.)
Gelug, Denominations

Karma is held in the Gelug school, and Tsongkhapa's insistence that emptiness leaves cause and effect intact rather than dissolving it is the school's characteristic emphasis on the point.

Source Introduction to Tibetan BuddhismJohn Powers
ISKCON (Hare Krishna), Denominations

Karma is held in ISKCON, and devotional service is taught as what frees a person from it.

Source Hare Krishna TransformedE. Burke Rochford Jr.
Jodo Shinshu, Denominations

Karma is held in Jodo Shinshu, and Shinran presses it further than most: the karmic condition of the ordinary being is held to be so complete that no act of that being can be a cause of liberation.

Source The Princeton Dictionary of BuddhismRobert E. Buswell Jr. and Donald S. Lopez Jr.
Jonang, Denominations

Karma is held in the Jonang school.

Source Introduction to Tibetan BuddhismJohn Powers
Kagyu, Denominations

Karma is held in the Kagyu school.

Source Introduction to Tibetan BuddhismJohn Powers
Karma Kagyu, Denominations

Karma is held in the Karma Kagyu school.

Source Introduction to Tibetan BuddhismJohn Powers
Kashmir Shaivism, Denominations

Karma is held in Kashmir Shaivism, and the tradition holds recognition to end it at a stroke rather than to work it off.

Source The Doctrine of Vibration: An Analysis of the Doctrines and Practices of Kashmir ShaivismMark S. G. Dyczkowski
Madhyamaka, Denominations

Karma is held in Madhyamaka and analysed there as conventionally real and ultimately empty, agent and act alike being without own-being.

Source Mulamadhyamakakarika (Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way)Nagarjuna
Nath Sampradaya, Denominations

Karma is held in the Nath tradition.

Source Roots of YogaJames Mallinson and Mark Singleton (trans. and eds.)
Nyaya, Philosophical Schools
Source Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyEdward N. Zalta and Uri Nodelman (eds.)
Nyingma, Denominations

Karma is held in the Nyingma school.

Source Introduction to Tibetan BuddhismJohn Powers
Purva Mimamsa, Philosophical Schools

Expressed as apurva, the unseen potency a ritual generates and stores until it ripens.

Source Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyEdward N. Zalta and Uri Nodelman (eds.)
Rinzai, Denominations

Karma is held in the Rinzai school.

Source Zen Buddhism: A History, Volume 2: JapanHeinrich Dumoulin
Sakya, Denominations

Karma is held in the Sakya school.

Source Introduction to Tibetan BuddhismJohn Powers
Samkhya, Denominations

Karma is held in Samkhya as belonging wholly to nature, never to consciousness, which is the school's reason for holding that consciousness is not in fact bound at all.

Source Classical Samkhya: An Interpretation of Its History and MeaningGerald James Larson
Shaivism, Denominations

Karma is held across the Shaiva schools, and in the Siddhanta it is one of three bonds, alongside impurity and the material principle, that Shiva's grace removes.

Source An Introduction to HinduismGavin Flood
Shaktism, Denominations

Karma is held across the Shakta traditions.

Source Hindu Goddesses: Visions of the Divine Feminine in the Hindu Religious TraditionDavid R. Kinsley
Shingon, Denominations

Karma is held in Shingon.

Source Kukai: Major WorksYoshito S. Hakeda
Shri Vidya, Denominations

Karma is held in Shri Vidya.

Source The Secret of the Three Cities: An Introduction to Hindu Sakta TantrismDouglas Renfrew Brooks
Smartism, Denominations

Karma is held in Smartism, and the tradition's domestic ritual calendar is organised around obligations that are held to matter.

Source An Introduction to HinduismGavin Flood
Soka Gakkai, Denominations

Karma is held in Soka Gakkai, and the movement's teaching of human revolution is presented as the transformation of one's own karma by practice within this lifetime.

Source Soka Gakkai's Human Revolution: The Rise of a Mimetic Nation in Modern JapanLevi McLaughlin
Soto, Denominations

Karma is held in the Soto school.

Source Zen Buddhism: A History, Volume 2: JapanHeinrich Dumoulin
Sri Vaishnavism, Denominations

Karma is held in Sri Vaishnavism as really binding, which is why the tradition holds that release requires an act on God's part.

Source The Theology of Ramanuja: An Essay in Interreligious UnderstandingJohn B. Carman
Tendai, Denominations

Karma is held in Tendai.

Source The Princeton Dictionary of BuddhismRobert E. Buswell Jr. and Donald S. Lopez Jr.
Tiantai, Denominations

Karma is held in Tiantai.

Source Emptiness and Omnipresence: An Essential Introduction to Tiantai BuddhismBrook Ziporyn
Vaisheshika, Philosophical Schools

Expressed as adrishta, the unseen force carrying past action forward.

Source Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyEdward N. Zalta and Uri Nodelman (eds.)
Vaishnavism, Denominations

Karma is held across the Vaishnava schools, and every school of the current holds that devotion or grace can cut it short rather than only exhaust it.

Source An Introduction to HinduismGavin Flood
Vishishtadvaita Vedanta, Schools of Theology

Karma is held in Vishishtadvaita as really binding the really existing soul, which is why release requires God's act and not only the soul's insight.

Source The Theology of Ramanuja: An Essay in Interreligious UnderstandingJohn B. Carman
Yoga Darshana, Philosophical Schools
Source The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: A New Edition, Translation, and CommentaryEdwin F. Bryant
Yogachara, Philosophical Schools

Explained through the alayavijnana, which carries the seeds (bija) of past action forward to ripen.

Source Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyEdward N. Zalta and Uri Nodelman (eds.)

Rejected Here

Charvaka, Philosophical Schools

Denies karma and rebirth outright, along with any afterlife.

Source Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyEdward N. Zalta and Uri Nodelman (eds.)

Related To

Akusala and the Three Poisons, Doctrines

The mechanism by which an unwholesome act produces its result.

Papa and Punya, Doctrines

The mechanism papa and punya describe: residues of action ripening into result.

Vegetarianism is preferred, Beliefs & Restrictions
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Sources
1. An Introduction to Hinduism
Gavin Flood, Cambridge University Press, 1996On karma and rebirth in Hinduism, with the Buddhist and Jain contrastsView the Source
2. Encyclopedia of Religion
Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.), Macmillan Reference, 2005View the Source
3. The Foundations of Buddhism
Rupert Gethin, Oxford University Press, 1998View the Source
4. Bhagavad Gita
Traditionally attributed to Vyasa, Trubner & Co., 18852.47 and 3.4-9, on action, non-attachment to fruits, and karma yoga
Quote, 2.47 and 3.4-9, on action, non-attachment to fruits, and karma yoga
Let right deeds be thy motive, not the fruit which comes from them.
View the Source
The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism
Robert E. Buswell Jr. and Donald S. Lopez Jr., Princeton University Press, 2014View the Source

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