Karma presumably is among the primary associations with Buddhism; a non-professional individual, who does not have a complete understanding of the notion, quite probably will possess a generalized view of its meaning. In one respect, this shows the necessity of such a concept in people’s worldviews, as many appeal to it, although it is not integral to the philosophy with which they identify themselves. On the contrary, using the term beyond its original sociocultural context distorts its meaning and favors misunderstanding that rests on false interpretations. The paper seeks to investigate the actual Buddhist idea of karma and illustrate how the stereotype-based views contradict the initial methodology.
The Mechanism of Karma
The primary point to mention is that karma is not equivalent to the Christian concept of sin, although some use it in such meaning in their everyday speech. Particular definitions and formulations of sin may differ from one denomination within Christianity to another, but the cornerstone of each is opposing the rules and laws the God established (Shantha and Rykova 2018). Those, as the adepts believe, underlie life and bring harmony to it; therefore, breaking them has destroying consequences for the individual. In simple terms, the Christian sin is a misdeed that is a reason for punishment, which scheme has a quite apparent linear structure.
The methodologies that do not involve monotheism, meanwhile, offer a more complex view of cause-and-effect relationships that excludes the will of a single upper creature as a universal explanation. Although similar to sin, karma has several canonic interpretations, none of them presuppose the existence of the only acceptable way to think and act (Study Buddhism n.d.). Rather, the point is an “autonomous […] law” that connects an action to its inevitable result with a causal sequence, which does not include any external intervention (Olivelle n.d., para. 4). Therefore, it is possible to state that the structure of karma relies on logic, not on the will of a transcendent divine entity. This makes it a more effective system for interacting with the material world in comparison with sin.
Nevertheless, the concepts of a good and a bad action exist in Buddhism, although the criteria for identifying certain behavior as such are quite different from those in Christianity. Specifically, the key nuance is whether the karma, which the action produces, is beneficial or not; the intention, furthermore, is not less important than the material manifestation is (Willard et al. 2020). Simply stated, the primary cause that leads to the effect is what the individual was willing to do, not solely what he or she actually did.
Another point that distinguishes karma from sin is the lack of any requirement for punishment. In the Christian paradigm, as mentioned, violating God’s laws calls for a penalty; those who have lived in such a system since birth may extrapolate it to Buddhism (Shantha and Rykova 2018). In fact, however, karma is no more than one action in response to the other; within this framework, “one reaps what they have sown” (Yew et al. 2021, 9). Buddhists consider this a fundamental law of nature, which works without any divine intervention and without serving as a sanction for disobedience.
For Whom Karma Is Produced
Considering the above, it is not quite reasonable to assume that karma can address only sinners. In fact, there is hardly any notion of this kind in Buddhism, as this philosophy does not presuppose any divine laws that would be possible to break (Shantha and Rykova 2018). Instead, its adepts regard a certain action as improper in case it is “either unwholesome or unskillful” (Lesley 2019, para. 1). The need for behaving exclusively in productive ways, in one respect, may be considered the norm that people violate. This makes Buddhism similar to the majority of religions since their main function is guidance, in other words, producing recommendations to follow (White et al. 2019; White and Norenzayan 2021). Along with this, the specialty of karma is its form of a non-agentic force that has no individual source; this is the reason for not mixing Buddhism with theistic religions.
The nuance that karma is not associated with anybody’s personal will allows assuming that it works identically on everyone who acts. In fact, it is possible to regard this idea as a culture-specific interpretation of Newton’s third law, which tells that every action causes a reaction (Subudhi 2021). The latter depends on particular circumstances, which complicates the paradigm, but the general principle that underlies it remains unchanged.
Another concept with which karma is comparable, although not identical to it, is the so-called golden rule of morality. Notwithstanding its quite subjective and subsequently paradoxical character, this fundamental ethical postulate also addresses everyone (Mahrik 2018). Avoiding treating other people the ways the given individual is unwilling to experience himself or herself actually is not the essence of karma; rather, the logical consequence of understanding how it works. In the simplest terms, counter-productive behavior can have destroying results, which determines the need for minimizing it. The main difference is that karma covers not solely interpersonal relations but any actions in any sphere where human beings perform.
Karma and Rebirth
The point where Buddhism and Christianity agree is that the action of a person affects not exclusively his or her current life on earth. The similarity is partial, however, because, as mentioned, Buddhism has no fully formed practice of punishing for sins. Instead, it operates the concept of samsara, which stands for the continuous cycle of reincarnations (Ivankovic 2020). Karma plays one of the most critical roles in this process; accumulated throughout the past lives, it determines the background with which a creature comes to the world. This burden, in turn, is the cause of the “recurring problems, dissatisfaction, and non-freedom” of which life consists (Wongsangkul et al. 2020, p. 38). Simply stated, the person’s behavior not simply has consequences within one life but makes him or her captivated in the wheel of deaths and rebirths.
The only way to escape from the cycle, according to the adherents of Buddhism, is enlightenment. It helps to reach nirvana, the special state in which desire, hatred, and ignorance cease (Lopez n.d.). These three are considered the factors that determine negative intention, which, in turn, actually is the driving force of negative karma, as said above (Shantha and Rykova 2018). Consequently, overcoming those emotions enables leaving the samsara since the root cause of constant rebirthing disappears.
There are eight basic areas where a Buddhist has to reorganize his or her mind and life for enlightenment. The right intention, which means no desire to cause evil, is only one essential point; furthermore, apparently the primary step. The next are speech as well as action, none of which should ever hurt other people, and resisting all forms of evil (St Ivo Academy, n.d.). Along with respect towards life, control over the thoughts, meditation, and knowing the truth, this can help accumulate positive karma and subsequently end suffering, which, in Buddhism, accompanies living on earth by definition.
The above points, which make the so-called eightfold path, may seem to be quite similar to the biblical Ten Commandments; this presumably is among the reasons for misunderstanding Buddhism. Such a view is also false, however, as a non-theistic religion cannot dictate any will due to its different nature. Buddha, the founder, is not a ruler who instructs the adepts but simply an example to follow willingly (Shantha and Rykova 2018). Another essential difference is that responsibility for deciding which intentions, words, and actions are good lies on the adherents themselves, not on intermediaries like priests. This makes any extrapolations from Christianity to Buddhism even less relevant since the latter apparently has more respect towards free will.
To summarize, Western people, who grew up in Christian tradition, frequently misinterpret the basic concept of Buddhism, karma, trying to explain it in their usual terms of sin and punishment. In fact, meanwhile, karma is a universal law of life and nature, the force due to which every intention that determines action has its result. In case the actions are unwholesome, their consequences prevent the doer from enlightenment, making him or her reincarnate repeatedly and live further lives full of suffering; this is called samsara. Proper behavior that leads to enlightenment, on the contrary, enables breaking the chain.
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