Karma Story of Buddhist Ethics

Author(s): Paul Carus
Publisher: Chicago Open Court Publishing Company

Page 15

THE JEWELLER'S PURSE.
HE samana saluted Dêvala, the farmer,
and began to help him repair his cart and load up the rice, part of which had been thrown out. The work proceeded quickly and Dêvala thought: “This samana must be a holy man; invisible devas seem to assist him. I will ask him how I deserved ill treatment at the hands of the proud Brahman." And he said: “Venerable sir, can you tell me why I suffer an injustice from a man to whom I have never done any harm?”.
And the samana said: “My dear friend, you do not suffer an injustice, but only receive in your present state of existence the same treatment which you visited upon the jeweller in a former life. You reap what you. have sown, and your fate is the product of your deeds. Your very existence, such as
met