Originally Posted by The Swede

Karma- (Sanskrit) This term is key in Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and is even used (or misused) in today's Western cultures.

Karma is often associated now days with some kind of cosmic law of retribution, but its literal meaning is simply 'action'. Because all actions take place in a universe in which every thing/event is interrelated to all other thing/events, it has come to mean also the law conditioning action, that is, cause and effect.

Alan Watts notes "Karma does not mean 'Fate,' except in the sense that man cannot escape from the effects of his own deeds, though so far as the deeds themselves are concerned he is free to choose." So here one's karma is simply the circumstances under which one lives, resulting from choices.

The three main kinds of karma are chains of causes and effects which come from actions of the body (deeds), the mouth (speech) and mind or consciousness. One's present experience is a product of all of these three kinds of actions in the past; likewise, future conditions depend on what one does in the present. Can be compared to the statement of Jesus that you reap what you sow.