Does what goes around always come around? And is instant karma gonna get you? In the first episode of a season devoted to Sanskrit-to-English loanwords, we’ll examine how three groups of Indian philosophers understand karma: Jains, Buddhists, and Naiyayikas (or Nyaya philosophers).

Sounds and Music

All music excerpts and soundbites used with an understanding of fair use modification for educational purposes.

Drake featuring Bryson Tiller, “Bad Karma”

Alicia Keys, “Karma”

John Lennon and Yoko Ono with The Plastic Ono Band, “Instant Karma! (We all Shine On)”

Taylor Swift, “Karma”

Indigo Girls, “Galileo”

Culture Club, “Karma Chameleon”

Fox News clips:

Joey Jones, July 2021

Sean Hannity, August 2017

Theme music by­ https://incompetech.filmmusic.io Kevin MacLeod’s music

Bibliography and Further Reading

My YouTube lecture on Milinda’s Questions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rBqC43PK8Q

Bronkhorst, Johannes. Karma. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2011. http://muse.jhu.edu/pub/5/monograph/book/1739.

Finnegan, Bronwyn. “Karma, Responsibility, and Buddhist Ethics.” In The Oxford Handbook of Moral Psychology, by Manuel Vargas and John Doris, 7–23. Oxford University Press, 2022.

McDermott, James. “Kamma in the Milindapañha.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 97, no. 4 (October - December 1977): 460-468.

Hermann Jacobi’s translation of the Ācāraṅgasūtrahttps://www.wisdomlib.org/jainism/book/acaranga-sutra