1.
karma; (one's) deeds; inescapable fate
In Buddhism, the accumulated effect of one's past actions that shapes one's destiny. By extension, a deep-rooted nature or burden one cannot escape.
A Buddhist term (Sanskrit "karma"). Read ごう in this sense; the same kanji is read 業 for "work, occupation" and わざ for "deed, feat," which are separate words.
Common expressions
- 業が深い: to be deeply sinful or burdened by karma
- 業を背負う: to bear one's karma
- 業を煮やす: to lose patience; to become exasperated
Register
Literary and somewhat heavy in tone. In everyday conversation it survives mainly in the fixed idiom 業を煮やす (to lose patience), whose sense of accumulated frustration only loosely echoes the Buddhist meaning above.