All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him, as the wheel follows the foot of the ox that draws the carriage.
A shared theme
Karma: As You Sow
As you sow, so shall you reap: every tradition here teaches that actions have consequences that return to the one who acts. Good deeds bear good fruit, harm rebounds, and intention shapes the deed.
Buddhism
1 verseChristianity
0 versesNo passage in the collection yet.
Confucianism
0 versesNo passage in the collection yet.
Hinduism
0 versesNo passage in the collection yet.
Islam
1 verseThat man can have nothing but what he strives for; That (the fruit of) his striving will soon come in sight: Then will he be rewarded with a reward complete;
Jainism
0 versesNo passage in the collection yet.
Judaism
0 versesNo passage in the collection yet.
Sikhism
0 versesNo passage in the collection yet.
Sufism
0 versesNo passage in the collection yet.
Taoism
0 versesNo passage in the collection yet.
Where the traditions differ
Karma as an impersonal moral law of cause and effect, working across lifetimes, is the teaching of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism, though they differ: Jainism sees karma as subtle matter binding the soul, Buddhism stresses intention (cetana) and denies a permanent self, and Sikhism holds that divine grace (nadar) can override it. The Abrahamic faiths and Sufism frame the same moral logic as God's justice and judgement rather than an impersonal law. Confucian and Taoist texts speak of Heaven rewarding goodness and of blessings accumulating in families.