Karma & intention
Intention, action and consequences, and why past action does not explain every experience.
Intention expressed through action · AN 6.63
AN 6.63 identifies intention as kamma and describes intentional action through the body, speech and mind. It distinguishes action from its results, which may be experienced immediately, later in this life, or beyond this life.
The discourse places understanding kamma within an inquiry into its origin, variety, results and cessation. It identifies the Noble Eightfold Path as the way leading to its cessation. Kamma is the Pāli form of the Sanskrit word karma.
Examining actions and their effects · MN 61
The Buddha instructs Rāhula to examine bodily, verbal and mental actions before, during and after acting. The question is whether an action causes harm to oneself, others or both. Harmful actions should be avoided or stopped.
After harmful bodily or verbal action, Rāhula is instructed to disclose it to the teacher or a knowledgeable companion and exercise restraint afterward. Skillful actions are also reviewed and developed with joy. This teaching joins intention with attention to consequences.
Feeling has more than one kind of cause · SN 36.21
Sīvaka asks whether everything a person feels is entirely caused by previous actions. The Buddha rejects that claim. The discourse includes bodily disturbances, seasonal change, care of the body, harsh treatment and karmic results among conditions for feeling.
The medical categories belong to the discourse’s ancient setting. Its central distinction is that past action is included among conditions without becoming the sole explanation of every experience. The text does not supply a diagnosis of another person’s illness or suffering.
The salt crystal · AN 3.101
AN 3.101 compares the different effects of a small harmful deed to salt placed in a cup and in the Ganges. The salt is the same, but the effect differs with the surrounding conditions. The discourse contrasts an undeveloped, restricted person with someone developed in conduct, mind and discernment.
This account gives present cultivation a meaningful role. The example concerns a minor harmful deed; it is not a promise that later goodness cancels every consequence of any action.
Related reading & sources
Source-specific summaries of early Buddhist discourses. Numbering follows the linked editions and can differ across collections.