How Does Karma Work in Buddhism?

The Buddhist concept of karma has entered the English lexicon in recent decades, and its use has exploded. People use it in casual conversation, and it’s a popular and convenient term for that proverb that says, “what goes around comes around,” i.e., people get what they deserve. Karma is the Sanskrit word for “action” or “doing” and is an integral part of many East Asian and Southeast Asian religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism. In these religions, karma is the consequences of actions, but it is more than the basic sense of cause and effect. In Buddhism, karma is a moral natural law that, like gravity, operates with or without awareness of it. Karma is not fate or predetermination, both of which suggest that there is nothing the individual can do to change things. In Buddhism, change is always possible. Each life bears the karmic results of earlier lives, yet the actions of each life can make future lives better or worse.