Knowra Samsara Samsara Samsara is the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth described in Indian religious traditions. Its nature and causes differ across Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, and other traditions.
Karma : Karma is the principle that intentional actions shape future experiences and, in some traditions, rebirth. Karma is a principal cause linking actions in one life to later births.
Atman : Atman is the enduring self or inner essence affirmed by many Hindu philosophical schools. Many Hindu explanations of samsara describe the atman as continuing through successive bodies.
Hinduism : Hinduism is a diverse family of religious and philosophical traditions originating in South Asia. Hindu schools commonly connect samsara with karma, dharma, and liberation of the self.
Rigveda : The Rigveda is the oldest collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns, composed in ancient South Asia. Its early funerary hymns provide context for later doctrines of rebirth, though they do not present samsara fully.
Dharma : Dharma encompasses duty, ethical order, and right conduct, with meanings that vary across Indian traditions. In Hindu thought, dharma guides conduct within worldly life and can shape future consequences.
Rebirth : Rebirth is the continuation of existence in a new life after death, understood differently across traditions. It is the transition that makes samsara a repeated cycle rather than a single afterlife.
Jiva : Jiva is the living soul or life-principle, especially in Jain and some Hindu traditions. Jain accounts center the jiva as the entity bound to repeated births.
Buddhism : Buddhism is a religious and philosophical tradition founded on teachings attributed to the Buddha. Buddhist traditions accept rebirth while generally rejecting an eternal, independent self.
Upanishads : The Upanishads are philosophical texts exploring self, ultimate reality, knowledge, and liberation. They articulate influential early connections among action, rebirth, and release.
Ahimsa : Ahimsa is the principle and practice of nonviolence toward living beings. Jain ethics links restraint from harm to reducing karmic bondage and advancing toward liberation.
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