Karma Story of Buddhist Ethics

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

Page 24

16
KARMA.
finally it will conie home to us. Therefore it is said:
Slowly but surely deeds Home to the doer creep. Of kindness sow thy seeds, And bliss as harvest reap.'".
“Give me, O samana, the explanation," said the jeweller, “and I shall thereby be better able to follow your advice.”
The samana said: “Listen then, I will give you the key to the mystery. If you do not understand it, have faith in what I say. Self is an illusion, and he whose mind is bent upon following self, follows a will-o'-the-wisp which leads him into the quagmire of sin. The illusion of self is like dust in your eye that blinds your sight and prevents you from recognising the close relations that obtain between yourself and your fellows, which are even closer than the relations that obtain among the various organs of your body. You must learn to trace the identity of your self in the souls of other beings. Ignorance is the source of sin. There are few who know the truth. Let this motto be your talisman: