History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c95.277

v7.c95.277

The Purāṇas also emphasize the importance of good or evil deeds and say that one has to reap the fruits of one's actions, whether good or evil, and Karma does not come to an end even after hundreds of lives unless the results thereof are undergone.²⁵⁵⁴ The Padmapurāṇa states 'there is no destruction of Karma except by reaping the fruits thereof; no one can set aside the bondage due to the Karma of past lives' and further 'man by his own actions may become a God, or a human being, cattle, a bird or a lower animal or even a tree (or rock); no man in this world is able to annul the effects of actions done in previous existences by his power or by the birth of progeny'²⁵⁵⁵ (son &c). The idea of transmigration as described in the Upaniṣads had become universal in India at the time of Buddha. Buddha rejected the reality of a permanent ego or self as an entity. He was not a metaphysical philosopher, but wanted to lay down a way or method by which mankind could be freed from ignorance and suffering and liberation could be achieved. Therefore, while rejecting a permanent ego he accepted the doctrine of rebirth.