IV
342 [DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES]
‘Here they are, or there ?’ ”
“Certainly not, sir,”
“Just so, great king, so long as the continuity of life is not cut off, it is impossible to point out the deeds that are done.”
“Very good, Nagasena.”
§ 3. Did the Buddha believe in Past Karma having effect on Future Life? —concluded
The Buddha’s doctrine of Past Karma is thus in keeping with science.
He did not believe in the inheritance of Past Karma.
How can he, having held to the view that birth is genetic and whatever inheritance comes to the child it comes through its parents ?
Apart from logic there is more direct evidence on the point contained in a sutta called the Cula— Dukkha—Khanda—Sutta which contains a dialogue between the Buddha and the Jains.
In this dialogue this is what the Buddha says :—“Niganthas, you have done evil in the past ; extirpate it by these severe austerities. Every present restraint on body, speech and mind will hereafter undo the evil doings of the past. Hence, by expelling through penance all past misdeeds, and by not committing fresh misdeeds, the future becomes cleared; with the future cleared, the past is wiped out ; with the past wiped out, Ill is no more ; with Ill no more (Painful) feelings are no more ; and, with painful feelings now no more, all Ill will be outworn.—This teaching commends and approves itself to us, and we rejoice in it.”
Thereupon, I said to those Niganthas :— “Do you know, reverend sirs, whether you had an existence before this or you were not non-existent ?”
“No, Sir.”
“Do you know that, in a former existence, you were guilty, and not guiltless, of misdeeds ?”