Endless knot
Endless knot on Nepalese temple prayer wheel
Karma symbols such as the endless knot (above) are common cultural motifs in Asia. Endless knots symbolize interlinking of cause and effect, a karmic cycle that continues eternally. The endless knot is visible in the center of the prayer wheel.

Karma (/ˈkɑːrmə/, from Sanskrit: कर्म, IPA: [ˈkɐɾmɐ] ⓘ; Pali: kamma) is an ancient Indian concept that refers to an action, work, or deed, and its effect or consequences.[1] In Indian religions, the term more specifically refers to a principle of cause and effect, often descriptively called the principle of karma, wherein individuals' intent and actions (cause) influence their future (effect):[2] Good intent and good deeds contribute to good karma and happier rebirths, while bad intent and bad deeds contribute to bad karma and worse rebirths. In some scriptures, however, there is no link between rebirth and karma.[3][4]

In Hinduism, karma is traditionally classified into four types: Sanchita karma (accumulated karma from past actions across lifetimes), Prārabdha karma (a portion of Sanchita karma that is currently bearing fruit and determines the circumstances of the present life), Āgāmi karma (future karma generated by present actions), and Kriyamāṇa karma (immediate karma created by current actions, which may yield results in the present or future).[5]

Karma is often misunderstood as fate, destiny, or predetermination.[6] Fate, destiny or predetermination have specific terminology in Sanskrit and are called Prarabdha.

The concept of karma is closely associated with the idea of rebirth in many schools of Indian religions (particularly in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism),[7] as well as Taoism.[8] In these schools, karma in the present affects one's future in the current life as well as the nature and quality of future lives—one's saṃsāra.[9][10]

Many New Agers believe in karma, treating it as a law of cause and effect that assures cosmic balance, although in some cases they stress that it is not a system that enforces punishment for past actions.[11]

Definition

The term karma (Sanskrit: कर्म; Pali: kamma) refers to both the executed 'deed, work, action, act' and the 'object, intent'.[3]

Wilhelm Halbfass (2000) explains karma (karman) by contrasting it with the Sanskrit word kriya:[3] whereas kriya is the activity along with the steps and effort in action, karma is (1) the executed action as a consequence of that activity, as well as (2) the intention of the actor behind an executed action or a planned action (described by some scholars[12] as metaphysical residue left in the actor). A good action creates good karma, as does good intent. A bad action creates bad karma, as does bad intent.[3]

Difficulty in arriving at a definition of karma arises because of the diversity of views among the schools of Hinduism; some, for example, consider karma and rebirth linked and simultaneously essential, some consider karma but not rebirth to be essential, and a few discuss and conclude karma and rebirth to be flawed fiction.[13] Buddhism and Jainism have their own karma precepts. Thus, karma has not one, but multiple definitions and different meanings.[14] It is a concept whose meaning, importance, and scope varies between the various traditions that originated in India, and various schools in each of these traditions. According to Manu Doshi, all Aryan philosophies accept karma but Jainism has gone deeper into this subject.[15] Wendy O'Flaherty claims that, furthermore, there is an ongoing debate regarding whether karma is a theory, a model, a paradigm, a metaphor, or a metaphysical stance.[16]

Principle of karma

Karma also refers to a conceptual principle that originated in India, often descriptively called the principle of karma, and sometimes the karma-theory or the law of karma.[17]

In the context of theory, karma is complex and difficult to define.[16] Different schools of Indology derive different definitions for the concept from ancient Indian texts; their definition is some combination of (1) causality that may be ethical or non-ethical; (2) ethicization, i.e., good or bad actions have consequences; and (3) rebirth.[16][18] Other Indologists include in the definition that which explains the present circumstances of an individual with reference to their actions in the past. These actions may be those in a person's current life, or, in some schools of Indian traditions, possibly actions from their past lives; furthermore, the consequences may result in the current life, or a person's future lives.[16][19] The law of karma operates independent of any deity or any process of divine judgment.[20]

Causality

Karma as action and reaction: if we show goodness, we will reap goodness

A common theme to theories of karma is its principle of causality.[17] This relationship between karma and causality is a central motif in all schools of Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain thought.[21] One of the earliest associations of karma to causality occurs in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad verses 4.4.5–6:

The theory of karma as causation holds that: (1) executed actions of an individual affect the individual and the life that person lives, and (2) the intentions of an individual affect the individual and the life that person lives. Disinterested actions, or unintentional actions do not have the same positive or negative karmic effect, as interested and intentional actions. In Buddhism, for example, actions that are performed, or arise, or originate without any bad intent, such as covetousness, are considered non-existent in karmic impact or neutral in influence to the individual.[24]

Another causality characteristic, shared by many karmic theories, is that like deeds lead to like effects. Thus, good karma produces good effect on the actor, while bad karma produces bad effect. This effect may be material, moral, or emotional – that is, one's karma affects both one's happiness and unhappiness.[21] The effect of karma need not be immediate; the effect of karma can be later in one's current life, and in some schools it extends to future lives.[25][26][27]

The consequence or effects of one's karma can be described in two forms: phala and samskara. A phala (lit. 'fruit' or 'result') is the visible or invisible effect that is typically immediate or within the current life. In contrast, a samskara (Sanskrit: संस्कार) is an invisible effect, produced inside the actor because of the karma, transforming the agent and affecting their ability to be happy or unhappy in their current and future lives. The theory of karma is often presented in the context of samskaras.[21][28]

Karl Potter and Harold Coward suggest that karmic principle can also be understood as a principle of psychology and habit.[17][29][note 2] Karma seeds habits (vāsanā), and habits create the nature of a person. Karma also seeds self perception, and perception influences how one experiences life-events. Both habits and self perception affect the course of one's life. Breaking bad habits is not easy: it requires conscious karmic effort.[17][31] Thus, psyche and habit, according to Potter and Coward, link karma to causality in ancient Indian literature.[17][29] The idea of karma may be compared to the notion of a person's 'character', as both are an assessment of the person and determined by that person's habitual thinking and acting.[10] Christopher Chapple describes action as leaving an internal residue, or samskara, within the person, and these residues, also called vāsanās, develop into habit patterns that shape "how one perceives and reacts to the world".[32]