Japanese meaning of 因果応報
Reading:
いんがおうほう (inga ouhou)
English Translation:
What goes around comes around
Meaning & Cultural Context
Meaning:
Every action inevitably leads to a result, and people are bound to receive outcomes that match their deeds, whether positive or negative. This idea is often linked to concepts of justice or fate.
人が行った善悪の行為には、必ずそれに見合った報いや結果が生じるということ。努力には成功や評価が、悪事には罰がもたらされるなど、原因と結果の必然性を説く考え方です。
Cultural Context:
Closely tied to Buddhist karma, it is deeply ingrained in Japanese moral culture and often cited in proverbs, legal rhetoric, and interpersonal judgments. Western equivalents include “what goes around comes around.”
仏教の業や因果の思想と強く結びつき、日本の道徳観に深く根付いている。ことわざ、法律用語、日常の価値判断などでも用いられ、英語の "what goes around comes around" に近い。
Grammar & Learning Points
Grammar Point
The phrase uses a circular structure—what “goes around” will “come around.” The focus is on inevitable results rather than on who is involved.
Trap for English Speakers
Avoid confusing this with physical movement; it refers to consequences in life or society, not to actual objects moving in a circle.
Example
Basic Example
悪いことをすれば必ず因果応報がある。
If you do bad things, what goes around comes around.
Applied Example
かつての裏切りが、今になって牙を剥いた。因果応報からは逃れられない。
A past betrayal came back to bite him — there’s no escaping what goes around comes around.