noun
Buddhist term for the moral law of cause and effect, where actions in past lives influence one's present condition.
仏教では、業が次の生まれ変わりを決めると考えられている。
In Buddhism, karma is believed to determine one's next rebirth.
noun
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.
こんなに苦労するのも、前世の業かもしれない。
Maybe all this hardship is the result of karma from a past life.
noun
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
彼は相手の態度に業を煮やして、席を立った。
He lost his patience with the other person's attitude and left his seat.
宿命 refers to a predetermined fate or destiny, often with a sense of inevitability, while 業 specifically implies a fate shaped by one's own past actions (karma).
運命 is a general term for fate or destiny, without the moral or karmic implications of 業.
Borrowed from Middle Chinese 業 (MC *ŋɨɐp̚), originally meaning 'work, deed, action', and adopted in Buddhism as a translation of Sanskrit karma.