The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1242 page)

 
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Kardec, A.
(spiritualist)
:

see
UMBANDA
.

 
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(1878–1953).
Talmudic
scholar. Karelitz was an enormous influence on his generation. He was the author of over forty books, including
Hazon Ish
(1911), by which name he is often known. After he settled in
Erez Israel
, in 1933, his house was a centre for teaching and guidance.

 
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Kare sansui
(Zen dry gardens)
:

see
GARDEN
.

 
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(Heb., ‘cutting off’). Punishment from God. Karet is defined as premature death (
Sifra, Emor
14. 4) and more particularly as ‘death at the age of fifty’ (
BMK
28a). The
Mishnah
lists the thirty-six sins for which karet is the penalty (e.g.
idolatry
, eating
leaven
at
Passover
, incest, and
adultery
).

 
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Karma
,
kamma

(Skt., P
li: ‘action’, ‘deed’; Chin.,
yin-yuan
; Jap.,
innen
; Korean,
inyon
). Karman, the law of consequence with regard to action, which is the driving force behind the cycle of reincarnation or rebirth (
sa
s
ra
) in Asian religions. According to karma theory, every action has a consequence which will come to fruition in either this or a future life; thus morally good acts will have positive consequences, whereas bad acts will produce negative results. An individual's present situation is thereby explained by reference to actions in his past history, in his present or in previous lifetimes. Karma is not itself ‘reward and punishment’, but the strict law producing consequence.
In Hinduism, the word karma first appears in the
g Veda
, where it means religious action, specifically sacrifice; there is no hint here of its later meaning as the force driving beings through sa
s
ra. There is some hint of this in the
Br
hma
as
, but only with the
Upani
ads
do we really find karma in the sense of causality of action—e.g.
B
had
ranyaka Upani
ad
4. 4. 5.
Action creates impressions (
sa
sk
ras