Karma Story of Buddhist Ethics

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

Page 38

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KARMA.
was so strong that it held, and he ascended higher and higher.
"Suddenly he felt the thread trembling and shaking, for behind him some of his fellowsufferers were beginning to climb up. Kandata became frightened. He saw the thinness of the web, and observed that it was elastic, for under the increased weight it stretched out; yet it still seemed strong enough to carry him. Kandata had heretofore only looked up; he now looked down, and saw following close upon his heels, also climbing up on the cobweb, a numberless mob of the denizens of Hell. 'How can this thin thread bear the weight of all?' he thought to himself, and seized with fear he shouted loudly: 'Let go the cobweb. It is mine!'
E
"At once the cobweb broke, and Kandata fell back into Hell.
"The illusion of self was still upon Kandata. He did not know the miraculous power of a sincere longing to rise upwards and enter the noble path of righteousness. It is thin like a cobweb, but it will carry millions of people, and the more there are that climb it,