Editing Karma (section)

==== Causality ====
[[File:Karma AS.jpg|upright=0.8|thumb|right|Karma as action and reaction: if we show goodness, we will reap goodness]]A common theme to theories of karma is its [[principle of causality]].<ref name="karlpotter"/> This relationship between karma and causality is a central motif in all schools of [[Karma in Hinduism|Hindu]], [[Karma in Buddhism|Buddhist]], and [[Karma in Jainism|Jain]] thought.<ref name="brucer">Bruce R. Reichenbach, The Law of Karma and the Principle of Causation, Philosophy East and West, Vol. 38, No. 4 (Oct. 1988), pp. 399–410</ref> One of the earliest associations of karma to causality occurs in the ''[[Brihadaranyaka Upanishad]]'' verses 4.4.5–6:

{{Blockquote|
1=<poem>
Now as a man is like this or like that,
according as he acts and according as he behaves, so will he be;
a man of good acts will become good, a man of bad acts, bad;
he becomes pure by pure deeds, bad by bad deeds;

And here they say that a person consists of desires,
and as is his desire, so is his will;
and as is his will, so is his deed;
and whatever deed he does, that he will reap.
</poem>
|2=[[Brihadaranyaka Upanishad]]|3=<ref>{{Citation
|year=2013 | orig-date= 1879
| publisher= Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs
| translator= Max Müller
|title=Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4.4.5-6
|url=http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/resources/quotes/brihadaranyaka-upanishad-4-4-5-6|access-date=2023-01-14
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130413042723/http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/resources/quotes/brihadaranyaka-upanishad-4-4-5-6 |archive-date=13 April 2013 }}</ref>{{refn|group=note|The words "deed", "acts" above are rendered from ''karma''.<ref name=jbbu>{{Cite web|url=https://mywebspace.wisc.edu/jrblack/web/SKT/DL/upanishads.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140107061016/https://mywebspace.wisc.edu/jrblack/web/SKT/DL/upanishads.html|archive-date=2014-01-07|access-date=2023-01-14
| first = James| last= Black
| title=Brihadaranyaka Original Sanskrit & Müller Oxford English Translations
| publisher= University of Wisconsin
| year=2011
}}</ref>}}
}}

The theory of karma as causation holds that: (1) executed actions of an individual affects the individual and the life he or she lives, and (2) the intentions of an individual affects the individual and the life he or she lives. Disinterested actions, or unintentional actions do not have the same positive or negative karmic effect, as interested and intentional actions. In Buddhism, for example, actions that are performed, or arise, or originate without any bad intent, such as covetousness, are considered non-existent in karmic impact or neutral in influence to the individual.<ref>Anguttara-Nikaya 3.4.33, Translator: Henry Warren (1962), Buddhism in Translations, Atheneum Publications, New York, pp 216–217</ref>

Another causality characteristic, shared by karmic theories, is that ''like deeds'' lead to ''like effects''. Thus, good karma produces good effect on the actor, while bad karma produces bad effect. This effect may be material, moral, or emotional – that is, one's karma affects both one's happiness and unhappiness.<ref name="brucer" /> The effect of karma need not be immediate; the effect of karma can be later in one's current life, and in some schools it extends to future lives.<ref>see:
* {{harvc|author=James McDermott |c=Karma and Rebirth in Early Buddhism |in=O'Flaherty |year=1980 |pp=165–192}}
* {{harvc|author=Padmanabh Jaini |c=Karma and the problem of rebirth in Jainism |in=O'Flaherty |year=1980 |pp=217–239}}
* {{harvc|author=Ludo Rocher |c=Karma and Rebirth in the Dharmasastras |in=O'Flaherty |year=1980 |pp=61–89}}</ref>

The consequence or effects of one's karma can be described in two forms: ''[[phala]]'' and ''[[Samskara (Indian philosophy)|samskara]]''. A ''phala'' ({{Literal translation|fruit' or 'result}}) is the visible or invisible effect that is typically immediate or within the current life. In contrast, a ''samskara'' ({{Langx|sa|संस्कार}}) is an invisible effect, produced inside the actor because of the karma, transforming the agent and affecting his or her ability to be happy or unhappy in their current and future lives. The theory of karma is often presented in the context of ''samskaras''.<ref name="brucer" /><ref>Damien Keown (1996), Karma, character, and consequentialism, The Journal of Religious Ethics, pp 329–350.</ref>

Karl Potter and [[Harold Coward]] suggest that karmic principle can also be understood as a principle of psychology and habit.<ref name="karlpotter"/><ref name=coward1983>[[Harold Coward]] (1983), "Psychology and Karma", ''Philosophy East and West'' 33 (Jan): 49–60.</ref>{{refn|group=note|Karl Potter's suggestion is supported by the Bhagavad-Gita, which links good bondage and bad bondage to good habits and bad habits respectively. It also lists various types of habits – such as good (sattva), passion (rajas) and indifferent (tamas) – while explaining karma.<ref name="karlpotter"/> In Yoga Sutras, the role of karma to creating habits is explained with ''Vāsanās''.<ref>{{cite book |first=Ian |last=Whicher |title=The Integrity of the Yoga Darsana: A Reconsideration of Classical Yoga |publisher=State University of New York |isbn=0-7914-3816-3 |chapter=Chapter 3 |date=13 November 1998 |pages=102–105}}</ref>}} Karma seeds habits (''[[vāsanā]]''), and habits create the nature of man. Karma also seeds [[Self-perception theory|self perception]], and perception influences how one experiences life-events. Both habits and self perception affect the course of one's life. Breaking bad habits is not easy: it requires conscious karmic effort.<ref name="karlpotter"/><ref>{{cite journal|first=Ian |last=Whicher |date=1998 |title=The final stages of purification in classical yoga |journal=Asian Philosophy |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=85–102|doi=10.1080/09552369808575474 }}</ref> Thus, psyche and habit, according to Potter and Coward, link karma to causality in ancient Indian literature.<ref name="karlpotter"/><ref name=coward1983/> The idea of karma may be compared to the notion of a person's 'character', as both are an assessment of the person and determined by that person's habitual thinking and acting.<ref name="jamesloch" />