Definition: Kamma in the Buddha's usage is not action in general but intentional action — cetanā (volition) enacted through body, speech, or mind (AN 6.63 (cited; not yet ingested)). Its ripening is vipaka; action without ripening is not kamma in the technical sense. The doctrine is ethical-causal, not fatalistic: kamma describes how deeds return to the doer, not a predetermined destiny.
Canonical usage
Dhp 67 (dhp67:1–67:4)
Na taṁ kammaṁ kataṁ sādhu, yaṁ katvā anutappati; / Yassa assumukho rodaṁ, vipākaṁ paṭisevati.
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English (Sujato): It's not good to do a deed that plagues you later on, for which you weep and wail, as its effect stays with you.
Dhp 71 (dhp71:1–71:2)
Na hi pāpaṁ kataṁ kammaṁ, sajjukhīraṁva muccati.
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English (Sujato): A wicked deed doesn't curdle straight away, like fresh milk.
AN 6.63 (cited; not yet ingested)
Cetanāhaṁ, bhikkhave, kammaṁ vadāmi.
— "It is intention, monks, that I call kamma."
Nuances and translation notes
- Sujato: "deed" / "action" — alternates
- Buddharakkhita: "deed" / "action"
- Bodhi: "kamma" (preserved untranslated, technical register)
- de Zoysa (Sinhala): කර්ම — Sanskritic register preserved
English "karma" has acquired a popular fatalistic sense in non-Buddhist usage; the canonical kamma is strictly intentional action, and intention-less acts do not generate the same ripening. The three doors (body, speech, mind) are distinguished as kāyakamma, vacīkamma, manokamma.
Related concepts
- vipaka — the ripening; the structural pair to kamma
- kamma paccaya — Paṭṭhāna kamma-condition
- kamma action and fruit — concept page
- cetanā — volition; the essence of kamma per AN 6.63 (cited; not yet ingested) (pending)
- punabbhava — re-becoming; the continuity that makes long-range ripening intelligible (pending)
- paticcasamuppada — the broader causal frame (pending)
Related pages
- kamma action and fruit — concept page
- dhammapada 05 balavagga — Dhp 66–72 kamma-locus
- dhammapada 01 yamakavagga — Dhp 1–2 manopubbaṅgamā mental-action frame