Editing Karma (section)

== Early development ==
[[File:Tema Nezahat Gokyigit Park 1060584 nymphaea.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|Lotus symbolically represents karma in many Asian traditions. A blooming lotus flower is one of the few flowers that simultaneously carries seeds inside itself while it blooms. Seed is symbolically seen as cause, the flower effect. Lotus is also considered as a reminder that one can grow, share good karma and remain unstained even in muddy circumstances<ref>Maria I. Macioti, The Buddha Within Ourselves: Blossoms of the Lotus Sutra, Translator: Richard Maurice Capozzi, {{ISBN|978-0-7618-2189-2}}, pp 69–70</ref>]]
{{anchor|Etymology}}
The [[Vedic Sanskrit]] word  [[:wikt:कर्मन्#Sanskrit|{{IAST|kárman-}}]] ([[Nominative case|nominative]] {{IAST|kárma}}) means 'work' or 'deed',<ref name="krishan" /> often used in the context of [[Srauta]] rituals.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia
| quote = a neuter ''n''-stem, {{lang|sa|कर्म}} from the root ''{{IAST|√kṛ}}'' {{lang|sa|कृ}} "to do, make, perform, accomplish, cause, effect, prepare, undertake"
| url = http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia/ebooks/mw/0300/mw__0334.html
| title = kṛ,कृ
| year = 1899
| page = 301
| place = Delhi
| dictionary = Monier-Williams Sanskrit–English Dictionary
| publisher = Motilal Banarsidass Publishers
| editor1 = Monier Monier-Williams
| editor2 = E. Leumann
| editor3 = C. Cappeller
| display-editors = etal
| access-date = 7 January 2014
| archive-date = 24 September 2015
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150924134232/http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia/ebooks/mw/0300/mw__0334.html
| url-status = live
}}</ref> In the ''[[Rigveda]]'', the word occurs some 40 times.<ref name="krishan">{{cite journal|last=Krishan |first=Y.|year=1988 |title=The Vedic Origins of the Doctrine of Karma|journal=South Asian Studies|volume=4 |issue=1|pages=51–55 |doi=10.1080/02666030.1988.9628366<!--|access-date=1 May 2016-->}};<br />
{{cite book|author=Krishan, Yuvraj |title=The Doctrine of Karma: Its Origin and Development in Brāhmaṇical, Buddhist, and Jaina Traditions|publisher=Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan |year=1997|isbn=978-81-208-1233-8|pages=4, 12, 17–19, for context see 1–27 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_Bi6FWX1NOgC |access-date=11 October 2016|archive-date=11 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111060833/https://books.google.com/books?id=_Bi6FWX1NOgC|url-status=live}}</ref> In ''[[Satapatha Brahmana]]'' 1.7.1.5,  ''sacrifice'' is declared as the "greatest" of works; ''Satapatha Brahmana'' 10.1.4.1 associates the potential of becoming [[Immortality|immortal]] (''amara'') with the karma of the ''[[agnicayana]]'' sacrifice.<ref name="krishan" />

In the early Vedic literature, the concept of karma is also present beyond the realm of rituals or sacrifices. The Vedic language includes terms for sins and vices such as āgas, agha, enas, pāpa/pāpman, duṣkṛta, as well as for virtues and merit like sukṛta and puṇya, along with the neutral term karman.

{{Blockquote|text=Whatever good deed man does that is inside the Vedi; and whatever evil he does that is outside the Vedi.|source=[[Shatapatha Brahmana]] 11.2.7.33}}

The verse refers to the evaluation of virtuous and sinful actions in the afterlife. Regardless of their application in rituals (whether within or outside the Vedi), the concepts of good and evil here broadly represent merits and sins.

{{Blockquote|text=What evil is done here by man, that it (i.e. speech = [[Brahman]]) makes manifest. Although he thinks that he does it secretly, as it were, still it makes it manifest. Verily, therefore one should not commit evil.|source=[[Jaiminiya Upanishad Brahmana]] 2.13.5}}{{Blockquote|text=This is the eternal greatness of the Brahmin. He does not increase by kárman, nor does he become less. His [[Ātman (Hinduism)|ātman]] knows the path. Knowing him (the ātman) one is not polluted by evil karman.|source=[[Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa]] 3.12.9, 7–8}}

The Vedic words for "action" and "merit" in pre-Upaniṣadic texts carry moral significance and are not solely linked to ritual practices. The word karman simply means "action," which can be either positive or negative, and is not always associated with religious ceremonies; its predominant association with ritual in the Brāhmaṇa texts is likely a reflection of their ritualistic nature. In the same vein, sukṛta (and subsequently, puṇya) denotes any form of "merit," whether it be ethical or ritualistic. In contrast, terms such as pāpa and duṣkṛta consistently represent morally wrong actions.<ref>{{cite book | last=Bodewitz | first=Henk | editor-first1=Dory | editor-first2=Jan | editor-first3=Karel | editor-last1=Heilijgers | editor-last2=Houben | editor-last3=Van Kooij | title=Vedic Cosmology and Ethics | chapter=Non-ritual kárman in the Veda | publisher=BRILL | date=2019-05-15 | isbn=978-90-04-39864-1 | doi=10.1163/9789004400139_020 | pages=253–261}}</ref>

The earliest clear discussion of the karma doctrine is in the ''[[Upanishads]]''.<ref name="jbowker">"Karma" in: John Bowker (1997), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions, Oxford University Press.</ref><ref name="krishan" /> The doctrine occurs here in the context of a discussion of the fate of the individual after death.{{sfn|Tull|1989|p=28}} For example, causality and ethicization is stated in [[Brihadaranyaka Upanishad|''Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad'']] 3.2.13:{{Sfn|Juergensmeyer|Roof|2011|p=653}}{{sfn|Tull|1989|p=31}}<blockquote>Truly, one becomes good through good ''deeds'', and evil through evil ''deeds''. </blockquote>Some authors state that the ''[[Saṃsāra|samsara]]'' (transmigration) and karma doctrine may be non-Vedic, and the ideas may have developed in the "[[shramana]]" traditions that preceded [[Buddhism]] and [[Jainism]].<ref>see:
*Y. Masih (2000) ''A Comparative Study of Religions'', Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi, {{ISBN|81-208-0815-0}}, page 37, Quote – "This confirms that the doctrine of transmigration is non-aryan and was accepted by non-vedics like Ajivikism, Jainism and Buddhism. The Indo-aryans have borrowed the theory of re-birth after coming in contact with the aboriginal inhabitants of India. Certainly Jainism and non-vedics [..] accepted the doctrine of rebirth as supreme postulate or article of faith."
*Gavin D. Flood (1996), An Introduction to Hinduism, [[Cambridge University Press]]: UK {{ISBN|0-521-43878-0}}, page 86, Quote – "The origin and doctrine of Karma and Saṃsāra are obscure. These concepts were certainly circulating amongst sramanas, and Jainism and Buddhism developed specific and sophisticated ideas about the process of transmigration. It is very possible that the karmas and reincarnation entered the mainstream brahaminical thought from the sramana or the renouncer traditions."
*Bimala Law (1952, Reprint 2005), The Buddhist Conception of Spirits, {{ISBN|81-206-1933-1}}, Asian Educational Services; in particular, see Chapter II</ref> Others state that some of the complex ideas of the ancient emerging theory of karma flowed from Vedic thinkers to Buddhist and Jain thinkers.<ref name="wdointro"/><ref>Krishan, Y. (1985), The doctrine of Karma and Śraddhas, Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Vol. 66, No. 1/4, pages 97–115</ref> The mutual influences between the traditions is unclear, and likely co-developed.<ref>{{harvc|author=Wendy D. O'Flaherty |c=Introduction |in=O'Flaherty |year=1980 |pp=xvii–xviii}}; Quote – "There was such constant interaction between Vedism and Buddhism in the early period that it is fruitless to attempt to sort out the earlier source of many doctrines, they lived in one another's pockets, like Picasso and Braque (who, in later years, were unable to say which of them had painted certain paintings from their earlier, shared period)."</ref>

Many philosophical debates surrounding the concept are shared by the Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist traditions, and the early developments in each tradition incorporated different novel ideas.<ref name="wendydonigerpxii">{{harvc|author=Wendy D. O'Flaherty |c=Introduction |in=O'Flaherty |year=1980 |pp=xii–xxiii}}</ref> For example, Buddhists allowed karma transfer from one person to another and sraddha rites, but had difficulty defending the rationale.<ref name="wendydonigerpxii"/><ref>{{harvc|author=James McDermott |c=Karma and rebirth in early Buddhism |in=O'Flaherty |year=1980 |pages=165–192 |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_4WZTj3M71y0C/page/n188}}.</ref> In contrast, Hindu schools and Jainism would not allow the possibility of karma transfer.<ref>{{harvc|author=Padmanabh Jaini |c=Karma and the problem of rebirth in Jainism |in=O'Flaherty |year=1980 |pages=217–239 |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_4WZTj3M71y0C/page/n240}}.</ref><ref>{{harvc|author=Ludo Rocher |c=Karma and rebirth in the Dharmaśāstras |in=O'Flaherty |year=1980 |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_4WZTj3M71y0C/page/n86 |pages=61–89}}.</ref>