1. Introduction
Overview.
2. Body: Compare and discuss:
When the Buddha taught that there was no self, Brahma taught about eternal self.
Similarly, in the Indian context karma refers to ritual action, whereas for the Buddhists karma
has always been an ethical action.
Buddha: explained karma in a manner that avoids every form of metaphysics => Dependent
“Owners of their karma are the beings, heirs of their karma. The karma is their womb from
which they are born, their karma is their friend, their refuge”
For Buddhists, karma (action)—whether good or bad —lay in the intention. Buddha
deemphasized Brahmanical rituals by making karma an ethical act and focusing on intention.
According to the Buddha’s teachings, each karma or deed or action produces its reaction or
effects. Karma is a causative factor in creation. It is the intention of the doer that determines the
quality of each productive, fruit-producing action, good or bad, and consequently of the quality
of the results or fruits of that act.
A karma can or cannot produce its effect immediately.
Brahma: focused on the physicality of karma => Absolute determinism
“There is no room for any variations to occur between the action and consequence”
Brahmanical theory of karma is deterministic that as a person performs an action, they will
experience the consequences without any qualifications. It is argued that whether karma is
performed voluntarily or involuntarily, the consequences invariably follow.