..續本文上一頁dha blessed her for it.

　　228. Q. What did the Buddha say in Vasalasutta about a man of the Pariah Sopâka caste

　　A. That by his merits he reached the highest fame; that many Khattiyas (Kshattriyas) and Brahmans went to serve him; and that after death he was born in the Brahma world: while there are many

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　　[paragraph continues] Brâhmaṇas who for their evil deeds are born in hell,

　　229. Q. Does Buddhism teach the immortality of the soul

　　A. It considers "soul" to be a word used by the ignorant to express a false idea. If every thing is subject to change, then man is included, and every material part of him must change. That which is subject to change is not permanent: so there can be no immortal survival of a changeful thing. *

　　230. Q. What is so objectionable in this word ”soul”

　　A. The idea associated with it that man can be an entity separated from all other entities, and from the existence of the whole of the Universe. This idea of separateness is unreasonable, not provable by logic, nor supported by science.

　　231. Q. Then there is no separate "I," nor can we say "my" this or that

　　A. Exactly so.

　　232. Q. If the idea of a separate human soul

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　　is to be rejected, what is it in man which gives him the impression of having a permanent personality

　　A. Tanhâ, or the unsatisfied desire for existence. The being having done that for which he must be rewarded or punished in future, and having Tanhâ, will have a re-birth through the influence of Karma..

　　233. Q. What is it that is born

　　A. A new aggregation of Skandhas, or personality *

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　　caused by the last generative thought of the dying person.

　　234. Q. How many Skandhas are there

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　　A. Five.

　　235. Q. Name the five Skandhas.

　　A. Rûpa, Vêdanâ, Saññâ, Samkhârâ, and Viññâna.

　　236. Q. Briefly explain what they are.

　　A. Rûpa, material qualities; Vedanâ, sensation; Saññâ, abstract ideas; Samkhârâ, tendencies of mind; Viññâna, mental powers, or consciousness. Of these we are formed; by them we are conscious of existence; and through them communicate with the world about us.

　　237. Q. To what cause must we attribute the differences in the combination of the five Skandhas which make every inpidual differ from every other inpidual

　　A. To the ripened Karma of the inpidual in his preceding births.

　　235. Q. What is the force or energy that is at work, under the guidance of Karma, to produce the new being

　　A. Tanhâ—the will to live. *

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　　239. Q. Upon what is the doctrine of re-births founded

　　A. Upon the perception that perfect justice, equilibrium and adjustment are inherent in the universal system of Nature. Buddhists do not believe that one life—even though it were extended to one hundred or five hundred years—is long enough for the reward or punishment of a man”s deeds. The great circle of re-births will be more or less quickly run through according to the preponderating purity or impurity of the several lives of the inpidual.

　　240. Q. Is this new aggregation of Skandhas—this new personality—the same being as that in the previous birth, whose Tanhâ has brought it into existence

　　A. In one sense it is a new being; in another it is not. In Pâlî it is—"nacha so nacha añño," which means not the same nor yet another. During this

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　　life the Skandhas are constantly changing; * and while the man A. B., of forty, is identical, as regards. personality, with the youth A. B., of eighteen, yet, by the continual waste and reparation of his body, and change of mind and character, he is a different being. Nevertheless, the man in his old age justly reaps the reward or suff…

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