Karma — Definition

In its original Indian context, karma is not a moral scoreboard but a description of how cause and effect operate at the level of intention and action. A choice plants a seed; conditions ripen it later. The Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain traditions develop the idea differently — as cycles of rebirth, as habit-energy, as conditioning — but they share the basic claim that what is done shapes what comes. The English use of karma as instant payback is a popular distortion; classical karma works on much longer arcs.

Origin

From the Sanskrit karma, "action" or "deed." The root verb kr means simply "to do."

Example

A long-running pattern of broken trust in friendships is sometimes described, in the karmic sense, as a seed needing to be replanted rather than a punishment.