Karma In Different Traditions


Hinduism:

In Hinduism, the idea of karma is more dominant within the Vedānta School. For some schools like Mīmāṃsā, the role of karma is nearly negligible. Most traditions agree on three sorts of karma: prārabdha, saṃcita, and kriyamāṇa which mean karma to be experienced during this lifetime, latent karma which we've not yet reaped, and karma that will result in our future lives, respectively. There is also an idea of jīvanmukta or a living individual who is really liberated and thus doesn't accumulate karma any longer . In later Hindu traditions which are primarily theistic, the grace of God plays an important role in overriding the karmic implications or completely relieving one and thus leading to mokṣa


Buddhism:

Buddhism regards karma as a causal principle, which contributes to the continual cycle of rebirth. The term “karma” in Buddhism is usually associated with action that is "tainted" with ignorance; ignorance and karma continue to determine each other and ensure that the agent remains trapped in an everlasting cycle of samsara. An individual’s present actions are the result of impressions (predispositions) of the karmas of past lives, and they in turn shape predispositions that will affect future lives. Only intentional actions are karmic "acts of will." An individual can generate liberating karma that will allow him to break the cycle of rebirth which always leads to suffering, leave samsara and permanently enter Nirvana, by developing proper insight into the (un)reality of samsara. This can be accomplished in a number of ways, including the practice of ethical self-discipline, asceticism, and various forms of meditation. 


Jainism:

Jainism explains karma as an invisible, material substance which adheres to the soul (jiva), weighing it down and determining the conditions of the next reincarnation. Karma is that the link which ties the soul to the body, and therefore the explanation for bondage and sorrow. Every action that a person performs, good or evil, opens up channels of the senses (sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell), through which karma filters in and adheres to the jiva. Ignorance of truth and 4 passions of anger, greed, pride, and delusion attract the flow of karmic matter which obscures the radiance of the soul.

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