The driver who cuts you off and then gets a flat tire two miles later feels like instant karma, but the traditions that originated the idea never described a cosmic vending machine. This episode returns to the Sanskrit roots, where karma means action or deed rather than fate, and walks through Wilhelm Halbfass's distinction between kriya, the physical act, and karma, the act fused with intention, using the example of a corporate donation made out of compassion versus as a cynical tax write-off.

From there the hosts explore the Buddhist emphasis on cetana or volition, the psychological residue of samskaras that aggregate into vasanas, the Hindu taxonomy of sanchita, prarabdha, kriyamana, and agami karma, and the Sarvastivada debate over whether repentance can interrupt karmic momentum. Jainism gets a full treatment as the tradition where kar ...