You may think that your actions, once performed, vanish without leaving any traces apart from the visible impact on other people and the environment.
However, according to the Buddha, your actions bring forth fruits that correspond to the ethical quality of what you have done.
This capacity of our deeds to produce morally appropriate results is called karma. If you want to learn more, listen to American scholar monk Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi as he shares the wisdom In the Buddha’s Words. He starts with the definition of karma in Buddhism:
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Join PatreonThe word “karma” literally means action, but technically it refers to volitional action. As the Buddha says: “It is volition that I call karma; for having willed one acts by body, speech, and mind.” Karma thus denotes deeds that originate from volition. Such volition may remain purely mental, generating mental karma that occurs as thoughts, plans, and desires; or it may to expression outwardly through manifest bodily and verbal actions. … In ripening, the karma rebounds upon for good or for harm depending on the moral quality of the original action. This may happen either in the same life in which the action was done, in the next life, or in some distant future life.
Then he goes on to explain the meaning of bad karma in Buddhism:
Unwholesome karma is action that is spiritually detrimental to the agent, morally reprehensible, and potentially productive of an unfortunate rebirth and painful results. The criterion for judging an action to be unwholesome is its underlying motives, the “roots” from which it springs. There are three unwholesome roots: greed, hatred, and delusion.
He concludes by talking about good karma in Buddhism:
Wholesome karma, on the other hand, is action that is spiritually beneficial and morally commendable; it is an action that ripens in happiness and good fortune. Its underlying motives are the three wholesome roots: nongreed, nonhatred, and nondelusion, which may be expressed more positively as generosity, loving-kindness, and wisdom.
About the book’s author: Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi is an American Buddhist monk. He obtained a BA in philosophy from Brooklyn College and a PhD in philosophy from Claremont Graduate School. After completing his university studies he traveled to Sri Lanka, where he received full ordination in 1973. From 1984 to 2002 he was the editor for the Buddhist Publication Society in Kandy, where he lived for ten years. He has authored several books on Buddhist practice, including In the Buddha’s Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon.
Complement this teaching from In the Buddha’s Words with our articles on five Buddhist precepts and five best Buddhism books for beginners.
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