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EVIL.
avoids a dangerous road; as a man who loves life avoids poison.
124. He who has no wound on his hand, may touch poison with his hand ; poison does not affect one who has no wound ; nor is there evil for one · who does not commit evil.
125. If a man offend a harmless, pure, and innocent person, the evil falls back upon that fool, like Nght dust thrown up against the wind.
126. Some people are born again ; evil-doers go to hell; righteous people go to heaven; those who are free from all worldly desires attain Nirvana.
127. Not in the sky, not in the midst of the sea, not if we enter into the clefts of the mountains, is there known a spot in the whole world where a man might be freed from an evil deed.
128. Not in the sky, not in the midst of the sea, not if we enter into the clefts of the mountains, is there known a spot in the whole world where death could not overcome (the mortal).
125. Cf. Suttanipâta, v. 661; Indische Sprüche, 1582; Kathậsaritsagara, 49, 222.
126. For a description of hell and its long, yet not endless sufferings, see Buddhaghosha's Parables, p. 132. The pleasures of heaven, too, are frequently described in these Parables and elsewhere. Buddha himself enjoyed these pleasures of heaven, before he was born for the last time. It is probably when good and evil deeds are equally balanced, that men are born again as human beings; this, at least, is the opinion of the Gainas. Cf. Chintamani, ed. H. Bower, Introd. p. xv.
127. Cf. St. Luke xii. 2, 'For there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed;' and Psalm cxxxix. 8–12.
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