In the Buddhist tradition, karma is bondage, and its antidote is enlightenment and liberation. Enlightenment is awareness of the karmic conditional nature of existence. In accord with the analysis in the preceding section, karma may be conditioned either by the past, present, future, or all simultaneously. Enlightenment is to see into this nexus and the play of causality, moment by moment, in the present. Therefore, enlightenment is not an arid philosophical attainment.
Liberation is the corollary to enlightenment.
With knowledge of the play of causality comes freedom from delusion and liberation of the essential man. The Self is no longer in thrall to appearance. Its identifications are relinquished, and It is set free. So liberated, the Self is no longer subject to karma. Therefore karma only accounts for the material conditions of existence, not transcendence.