Sambodhi 1990 Vol 17

Author(s): H C Bhayani
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 84

mountains, wilt thou find a place on earth where thou canst escape the fruit of thy evil actions." (-Dha. Verse : 127).
23. From ignorance come conformations (Sankhära). Sankhara can be
translated as "actions", if we understand by this word both the 'internal as well as the external actions' (e.g. internal actions in the form of wish and will). The old scholastic teachers divide actions into three classes as corresponding to the three categories of thought, word and deed. From the principle of moral division, the action can be categorized as either "pure" or "impure". And this brings us to the doctrine of Kanima (karma in Sanskrit) or the law of retribution, which traces out for the wandering soul its path through the world of earthly being through heaven and hell. "Whatsoever he does, to a corresponding state he attains” (M. V., vi. P. 49). For the stream of Sankhāras, the figurative language of Buddhism employs both the stream and the flame as the symbols of the restless movement involved in every state of being. There are four great currents which break-in with the destructive force upon the
human world; the stream of desire, of being, of error, of ignorance. 24. 'Sammadithisuttānta in M. N. 25. Svam asadhāraṇam laksanam tattvam svalaksanam-N. B. T., Dharmot.
tara. Edi. by Peterson, Page 15., I: 20,