Core tenet of Buddhism
Karma is intention.
It is intention, monks, that I call karma — the act begins in the mind, before the hand moves.
Understanding it — context, not catechism: how this passage is held
The move that made Buddhism an ethics of the mind. Ritual acts, on this view, have no automatic power; what counts is the intention the act carries. It quietly demoted the entire sacrificial religion around it — and made the mind, where intention forms, the primary field of practice.
From the sources — the passages this rests on; concise renderings, cited
It is intention, monks, that I call karma. Intending, one acts by body, speech, and mind.
Nibbedhika Sutta — AN 6.63
The same ground, other faiths
claims that share this one's ideas
Action bears fruit: karma binds consequence to deed across lifetimes.
Hinduism
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The soul is liberated by its own effort.
Jainism
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A human birth is the opening, and it closes.
Sikhism
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The ledger of merit and demerit.
Taoism · precept
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The knowledge cuts both ways.
Yoruba Religion · precept
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There is no devil in this.
Haitian Vodou
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