Buddhist term for the moral law of cause and effect, where actions in past lives influence one's present condition.
Extended from the Buddhist sense, used to refer to an inescapable fate or the consequences of one's past actions, often with a negative connotation.
uncontrollable temper
Used only in the set phrase 業を煮やす (ごうをにやす), meaning to lose one's patience or become exasperated.
See also: 業を煮やす
It's said that he lives carrying the karma of a past life.
In Buddhism, karma is believed to determine one's next rebirth.
Maybe all this hardship is the result of karma from a past life.
He lost his patience with the other person's attitude and left his seat.
As if his karma had run out, he quietly passed away.
The monk said this illness was caused by karma from a past life.
運命 is a neutral, general word for fate or destiny, whereas 業 carries a Buddhist moral weight tying one's fate to past deeds.
因果 names the abstract principle of cause and effect, while 業 refers to the accumulated karmic residue that principle produces in a person.
業 is the native Buddhist term for karma, carrying a heavier sense of retribution or destiny, while カルマ is a neutral Sanskrit loanword used in broader spiritual or New Age contexts.
Written with the same kanji, 業 read ぎょう means 'work, business, industry', a completely different word from 業 read ごう meaning 'karma'.
劫 (read こう, or ごう in compounds) denotes a vast span of time in Buddhist cosmology, whereas 業 (ごう) refers to karma, the moral consequence of one's actions; the two Buddhist terms are easily confused because of their similar readings.
hellfire; flames of hell · raging fire; large fire · fire that consumes an evildoer
unnatural death; untimely death
bad karma; evil deed; sinful act
sin; evil deed; crime
three activities (action, speech, thought)
auxiliary practices
good deeds; good karma
heartless; cruel; karmic retribution
karma from a previous life
Standard kanji spelling for the Buddhist concept of karma and its extended meanings.
Kana spelling is sometimes used in casual writing or when the kanji is considered difficult.
Borrowed from Middle Chinese 業 (MC *ŋɨɐp̚), originally meaning 'work, deed, action', and adopted in Buddhism as a translation of Sanskrit karma.
karma; cause of karma
karmic retribution; fate; inevitable consequence
effects of karma; karmic results
incurable disease from past karma; chronic affliction
infuriating; extremely irritating; galling