The History of Buddhist Thought c16.54

c16.54

In one sense karma transmigrates, because the individual which transmigrates is loaded with karma in every stage. The groups of which he consists are always changing, but it is because they are not wholly dispersed that he continues to be reborn. Freedom from re-birth is exactly the final dispersion of all the khandhas, and this takes place with the destruction of craving. But until this happens the individual is a being with a definite past, which with the proper training he can remember. This is not a mere concession to popular ideas, for apart from the fact that no other teaching is mentioned, we find the remembrance of former births continually referred to as one of the acquirements of the disciple under training.