The origin of the word karma is found in the Sanskrit word karman which simply means act and held no special significance in the earliest Vedic texts.

Buddha defined karma as intention.

Richard Gombrich says*, “whether the intention manifested itself in physical, vocal or mental form, it was the intention alone which had a moral character: good, bad or neutral […]”

In the Buddhist tradition, karma refers to acts driven by intention, a deed done deliberately through body, speech or mind, which leads to future consequences. The Buddhist concepts of karma (acts) and karmaphala (the fruits of acts) explain how our intentional actions keep us tied to rebirth in samsara, the wheel of life, whereas that path called the Noble Eight-fold Path reveals the way out of Samsara.

The Buddhist idea of rebirth says that these cycles are driven by ignorance, desire and hatred. The Noble Eight-fold Path is said to lead to knowledge, or freedom from ignorance and the stilling of desire and hatred at which time the cycles of samsara cease.

On the other hand, there is also the Acintita Sutta to consider. The Buddha warned that there are Four Imponderables and should be avoided at all cost. These are:

• The range of powers a Buddha develops as a result of becoming a Buddha
• The range of powers that one may obtain while absorbed in jhana
• The precise working out of the results of karma
• Conjecture about the origin of the world

So as you might guess, this question opens up quite the can of worms.

Awakened? Enlightened? — and Still Creating Karma?

There are three types of karma:

1. Karma that has been accumulated over many lives
2. Present karma created immediately
3. Future karma, acts in the present that will cause acts in the future.

In the most simple terms, karma is cause and effect. And karma is not the most pertinent issue here. Samskara is.

Samskara is the impressions that are accumulated on the physical and psychical sheaths of the human being through actions and thoughts. External stimuli create impressions on the psyche. Personal choices create impressions on the psyche. Impressions upon impressions create the personality of the little I. Seeing through the impressions to the original impression-less reality is one of the references to ‘waking up’.

An enlightened one has merged the little ‘I’ with the Supreme ‘I’. External stimuli no longer create impressions. Past impressions melt away quickly.

But choice will continue to reap effect.

There is no need to think in terms of freeing oneself from future karma. Being alive means there is going to be some effect on the external world due to your presence.

An awakened one will understand the strength of this statement and work accordingly. The Buddha still worked! He left quite a legacy! At the same time, he was unaffected by it.

Dive deeper into the ways and means of the sages who worked intimately, intentionally with their karmas. Check out this piece.

*Gombrich, Richard F. (1997), How Buddhism Began. The Conditioned Genesis of the Early Teachings, New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd.