In Theravāda Buddhism, karma (kamma) is understood as intentional action of body, speech, and mind, grounded in the central role of volition (cetanā). Only deliberate, volitional actions are considered karmic; unintentional or purely mechanical acts do not generate karmic results. Karma functions as an impersonal moral law of cause and effect, where wholesome actions rooted in non-greed, non-hatred, and wisdom yield pleasant results, and unwholesome actions rooted in greed, hatred, and delusion lead to suffering. This moral causality is not overseen by any deity; rather, each being is responsible for the consequences of its own choices. In this way, karma provides a framework of ethical accountability that is both natural and deeply personal.

Karma also serves as the mechanism that shapes rebirth and the broader pattern of existence. At death, the accumulated force of past intentional actions conditions the next rebirth in one of several realms, such as human, deva, animal, or other states of existence. There is no enduring soul that transmigrates; instead, the karmic process sustains a stream of becoming from life to life. Present circumstances—social position, health, mental capacities, and many life experiences—are understood as at least partly conditioned by previous karma. Yet this does not amount to fatalism, because new karma is being created in every moment of intentional action, and other conditions besides karma also influence what is experienced.

Within the path of practice, karma plays a crucial role as both explanation and motivation. Ethical conduct (sīla), mental cultivation (samādhi), and wisdom (paññā) are all ways of generating wholesome karma and weakening the roots of greed, hatred, and delusion. The Five Precepts and the monastic discipline are framed as protections for oneself and others, precisely because they foster beneficial karmic patterns. Mindfulness and insight practice refine intention, so that actions increasingly align with non-greed, non-hatred, and wisdom. In this sense, understanding karma is not merely theoretical but becomes a practical guide for shaping character and destiny.

From the standpoint of liberation, karma marks both the problem and the key to its resolution. As long as craving and ignorance fuel intentional action, karma continues to propel the cycle of rebirth and suffering. The goal is not simply to accumulate good karma, but ultimately to transcend the entire karmic process through the cessation of craving and ignorance. An arahant may still experience the residual results of past karma in this life, yet no longer generates new karma that could lead to future rebirth. Nibbāna is thus described not as a karmic reward, but as the ending of the conditions that give karma its power to sustain samsāric existence.