124 



BUDHISM. 



The King further enquires," Lord Nagasena is there any 

 Being who transmigrates from this body to another body ? 

 No, Great King. But, "Lord Nagasena, if there be no Be- 

 ing who transmigrates from this body to another body, is 

 there not a deliverance from the consequences of evil ac- 

 tions. True, Great King, if there be no conception there 

 is deliverance. By this body and mind good or evil actions 

 are performed, and in consequence of those actions another 

 body and mind are produced, and therefore there is not 

 deliverance from the consequences of sin." 



Budha explicitly declares that sin and punishment are 

 necessarily united. But it appears that it is sin that is 

 punished, and not the sinner. To avoid the difficulty con- 

 nected with this doctrine, the Budhists say, that although 

 the child born is not the same with the man who previously 

 existed, he cannot be said to be entirely a new Being, 

 because his present existence is the result of actions per- 

 formed by a person who formerly existed, but who is now 

 non-existent ; and they illustrate it by the metaphor of a 

 mango-tree. A mango from the tree having been eaten 

 the stone is planted, and a fresh mango-tree is produced, 

 which is not properly a new tree but a continuance of the 

 old one, being produced from it. (43) But according to this, 

 the son must be the same with his father, being produced 

 by his instrumentality. The mango-tree metaphor is this : 

 the mango tree represents an existing man : the mango 

 fruit the good or evil conduct of that man : as from a stone 

 of that tree another tree grows which is not altogether dif- 

 ferent from the first tree being a result of that first tree, 



(43.) This metaphor of the Mango tree is also used by Naga- 

 sena (Milinda Prashna.) 



