[Buddha-l] Website of the Arya Sanghata Sutra

[jkirk]

On Behalf Of [DPD CDT] Shen Shi'an
Sent: Friday, July 31, 2009 3:18 AM


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.htm
l

================
Most intriguing text.


>"_Now suppose that a man were to drop a salt crystal into the
River Ganges. What do you think? Would the water in the River
Ganges become salty because of the salt crystal, and unfit to
drink?" "No, lord. Why is that? There being a great mass of water
in the River Ganges, it would not become salty because of the
salt crystal or unfit to drink."

>_And what sort of person is not thrown into jail for half a
dollar... for a dollar... for one hundred dollars? There is the
case where a person is wealthy, with many belongings, many
possessions. This is the sort of person who is not thrown into
jail for half a dollar... for a dollar... for one hundred
dollars.

>_Now, when what sort of person has stolen a goat is the goat
butcher empowered to beat him or bind him or slay him or treat
him as he likes? There is the case where a person is poor, of
little wealth, of few possessions. This is the sort of person
who, when he has stolen a goat, the goat butcher is empowered to
beat or bind or slay or treat as he likes. And when what sort of
person has stolen a goat is the goat butcher not empowered to
beat him or bind him or slay him or treat him as he likes? There
is the case where a person is wealthy, with many belongings, many
possessions; a king or a king's minister."


Here we clearly see that virtues and moral errors are
counted/countable--including the figure of people with small or
big hearts (size matters after all :)

2 comments:
First, this sutta reflects what is found in all the major world
religions: that is, the idea of the count and accumulation of
either virtues or of sins. Also shared is the idea that
accumulated wealth and power reflect/are a sign of  good karmic
effects in Buddhism, and the same of god's grace in most
Protestant Christianity. 

Second. willy nilly, the Buddha has engaged in some class
analysis here. If you remove the idea of no-grace or negative
karmic effects from "the case where a person is poor, of little
wealth, of few possessions...the sort of person who, when he has
stolen a goat, the goat butcher is empowered to beat or bind or
slay or treat as he likes", vs. its opposite for a wealthy and
powerful goat thief,  we find Karl Marx at work long before his
time.

Joanna K.