Karma
Karma is a significant concept found in various Eastern religions, notably Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism, where it generally refers to the principle that actions—whether good or bad—affect an individual's future experiences. Originating from the Sanskrit word for "action," karma encompasses not only deeds but also words and thoughts, emphasizing the importance of positive intentions behind actions. In Buddhism, karma is viewed as a cause-and-effect relationship, with past actions influencing current and future lives, independent of divine judgment. Similarly, Hindus believe in karma's connection to reincarnation, where one's actions determine their circumstances in subsequent lives, often with the involvement of deities in administering karma. Jainism focuses on freeing the soul from karmic attachments, while Sikhism ties karma to the cycle of rebirth, advocating for divine knowledge to escape it. In modern contexts, the term "karma" is sometimes misapplied, often reducing its rich religious implications to notions of luck or fate, thereby missing the deeper philosophical underpinnings inherent in its traditional interpretations. Understanding karma requires respect for these diverse beliefs and their emphasis on moral actions and personal accountability.
Subject Terms
Karma
Karma is an important religious concept in a number of different faiths, though it has different meanings to different religions. Karma, generally, is the idea that actions affect people’s futures. People who believe in karma generally believe that good actions are rewarded and bad actions are punished. Karma comes from a Sanskrit word meaning "action." This concept is especially important in the Eastern religions of Buddhism and Hinduism.
Karma is a type of cause and effect where people’s actions have effects on what happens to them. Karma is also related to a person’s words and thoughts; therefore, people must be sure that their thoughts and words are positive and good. Furthermore, good actions that are done for the wrong reasons can also cause negative effects on karma. For example, if a person helps another person for the purpose of impressing the community, the person’s actions could still produce bad karma since the intent of the action was not pure. Karma is also constantly changing; therefore, people must always be sure to perform the best actions they can.
Karma is often misunderstood in modern society. One example of this is that some people who are unfortunate in life believe that they should accept their plight because they did something in a past life to deserve the problems they are experiencing. However, religious tenets of karma do not want people to look at the events of their lives as out of their control. Instead, karma dictates that people should work hard in their lives to do good so they can improve their situations.
Karma is usually related to the Eastern idea that people are reborn again and again. Over the course of these endless births, lives, and deaths, people and other beings experience karma.
Karma in Eastern Religions
Buddhists believe that the things people experience are based on karma. They believe that beings are constantly born, die, and are reborn. The actions they undertake in one life will affect the life they are born into next. Their actions will also affect their current lives. Many Buddhists believe that all of the things that happen in one’s life (whether good or bad) happen because of actions that being performed in the past. Buddhists believe that karma is a cause-and-effect event, and they do not believe that karma is handed out by any god or gods.
Hindus, like Buddhists, believe that good words, deeds, and thoughts will lead to good things, and that bad words, deeds, and thoughts will lead to bad things. Furthermore, they believe that karma is related to reincarnation: When a person dies, his or her karma will help determine which life he or she will be born into next. Unlike Buddhists, however, many Hindus are theists, meaning they believe in gods. Many Hindus believe that a person’s karma is administered by a god (which could include Vishnu or Shiva) according to the way a person has lived life. Hindus who are nontheistic believe that karma is a type of cause and effect and is not enforced by gods. Hindus also believe that karma exists so that people follow dharma, which is the moral order of the universe. If people act according to dharma, they will have good karma.
Karma is also an important belief in Jainism, which is another Eastern religion. In Jainism, people want to rid themselves of all the karma attached to their souls. They believe that karma is a cause-and-effect phenomenon, and they do not believe that anything good or bad is handed out by any god, gods, or other beings.
Sikhism is another Eastern religion that has beliefs about karma. Sikhs believe that people are reincarnated and live life after life. They believe that to escape this cycle of birth and death, people must achieve knowledge of and union with God. Sikhs believe that karma affects people because it helps decide the type of life every person will live when they are reborn.
Karma Outside Religion
Modern use of the word karma is often used unrelated to its meaning in Eastern religions. Often, people who use the word in Western cultures do not fully understand its meaning. Some Westerners use the term to describe why a bad event suddenly happens to someone. People sometimes also use it to describe luck or fate, when this is not what the word means in its religious context.
Other people understand karma in terms of popular sayings, such as "you reap what you sow." Other sayings that people use that are similar to the idea of karma are "what goes around comes around" and "violence begets violence." These ideas are popular in some Western religions. However, these ideas do not fully explain the depth of the Eastern belief in karma. They do show, however, that ideas that are similar to karma are popular in other parts of the world.
Another modern idea that is compared to karma is the scientific statement "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." Although some people use this saying to simplify the idea of karma, this idea goes against the religious meaning of the word.
Bibliography
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