Meaning Of Karma In The Hindu And Buddhist Perspective

The way karma is defined from both the Hindu and Buddhist perspective has very different meanings from both religions. From a reader’s standpoint, one might define karma as something bad that happens to a person in their lifetime resulting from that person committing some sort of wrongdoing. One act of wrongdoing could include something as small as talking back to another person, and a more serious act could include something like talking god’s name in vein. In the next few paragraphs some ideas will be discussed between the Hindu and Buddhist religions. Before anything else, it is important to define what karma means coming from the Hindu perspective. Patterns of Religion defines karma as ‘“work, action, the result of action; does not mean “fate.”’ (Schmidt et al., 2014, p.340). So,

Patterns of Religion states, “This process proceeds without case unless one can achieve release, or moksha liberation from the cycles of samsara or rebirth” (Schmidt et al., 2014, p.309). The quote is saying one can become pure from all evil that has been committed in the past by a cleansing of your soul. Hindu religion believes strongly in the purification and rebirth of your body from all evil in past lives. In the middle of the Hinduism chapter the authors of the book make an extremely important observation that is one hundred percent true. Patterns of Religion states, “Rebirth, however, is by nature a never-ending process” (Schmidt et al., 2014, p.326). Most people would agree with this statement because after a person dies many people believe that their soul can be reborn and take the form of some life object. It really makes you think how you were first born, and then later on down the road how you will have kids of your own someday. Now that karma was discussed from the Hinduism perspective, the next few paragraphs will talk about karma from the Buddhism