[Buddha-l] Website of the Arya Sanghata Sutra

[Jayarava]

--- On Fri, 31/7/09, [DPD CDT] Shen Shi'an <shian at kmspks.org> wrote:

> On ' the sutra has the power to wash that all away. Not in Pāli texts 
> where one simply cannot escape one's karma.' Well, here's a sutta on not 
> so much of washing away negative karma, but diluting its effects:
> http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an03/an03.099.than.html
There are a couple more examples in my JBE article on confession.

Yes. There are certainly ways to mitigate the effects of the consequences of actions - spiritual practice makes us more robust in the face of painful vedanā. But some sūtras, I may be wrong but it seems like the translations in Chinese, take this a step further. In the case of Ajātasattu there is no escape in the Pāli - he is "wounded and done for", according to the Buddha. But in the later versions of that same story, Ajātasattu is freed of the negative consequences of his actions simply by meeting the Buddha. The Ajātasattu story goes for being the frame of an important discussion of the fruits of the spiritual life in the Pālu, to becoming the central feature of the sūtra in Sanskrit and Chinese.

Clearly - despite what Mike Austin is saying - some Buddhists at least thought the Buddha _could_ save them, and wanted him to do so. One can argue from a purist point of view, but the weight of evidence suggests that this was and is the way many Buddhists think. 

Best Wishes
Jayarava