Buddhist Vocabulary: Karma

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Written By Lama Döndrup

Karma is a Sanskrit word that has come into common use in English. The Tibetan term, lé (las), means action or deed.

In Buddhism, karma refers to action and result—the ongoing relationship between what we do and what unfolds. Every action of body, speech, and mind leaves an imprint. These imprints are said to be carried within the ālaya-vijñāna, or storehouse consciousness, where they remain as potential until the appropriate conditions arise.

When causes and conditions come together, these karmic imprints ripen as experience: patterns of perception, tendencies in behavior, and the circumstances of our lives. This process is not linear or predictable. Multiple causes are always interacting, and results may unfold immediately, later in this life, or over a much longer span.

Karma is often described in terms of four types of actions:

  • Wholesome actions – those aligned with care, clarity, and responsiveness, which tend to support more easeful and beneficial experiences

  • Unwholesome actions – those rooted in confusion or reactivity, which tend to lead to more constricted or difficult experiences

  • Mixed actions – actions that contain both helpful and unhelpful elements, leading to correspondingly mixed results

  • Indeterminate actions – actions arising from awakened awareness, which do not produce further karmic accumulation within conditioned existence

A key factor in karma is intention. The quality of intention shapes the imprint of an action—whether it reinforces patterns of grasping and confusion, or opens into greater clarity and care.

Importantly, karma is not a system of reward and punishment, nor is it fixed or deterministic. It is a way of understanding how patterns form and how they can change. Because experience arises dependently, it is always responsive to new conditions.

Seen in this way, karma becomes something practical and immediate. It invites us to notice how we are participating in each moment, and to recognize that even small shifts in how we speak, act, or relate can begin to change the trajectory of what unfolds.

Lama Döndrup

Lama Döndrup has been practicing and studying in the Buddhist tradition since the mid-1990’s. After five years of Theravadin Buddhist training, she immersed herself in the teachings and practices of the Shangpa and Kagyu Vajrayana lineages. In 2005, she completed a traditional three-year retreat under the guidance of Lama Palden and Lama Drupgyu with the blessing of her root guru, Bokar Rinpoche and was authorized as a lama. Upon her return to Marin County, she began teaching at Sukhasiddhi Foundation. In January 2020, as Lama Palden’s successor, she stepped into the role of Resident Lama, guiding the Center’s ministerial work. Lama Döndrup’s teaching style is thorough and clear yet with light touch as she supports the natural unfolding of each student’s innate wisdom and compassion. She aims to preserve the authenticity of the tradition while making the teachings and practices relevant and accessible to the lives of 21st century Westerners. In addition to her Buddhist practice, Lama Döndrup trained the Ridhwan School’s Diamond Approach for seven years and has a Masters of Fine Arts degree in piano performance. She is an active classical pianist and teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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Buddhist Vocabulary: Bodhicitta