The History of Buddhist Thought c27.44

c27.44

Morals has not always been a part of religion, but all religions that have developed a theology have come to recognize that ultimate reality cannot be separated from the ultimate truth of morals. Fortunately for Indian ethics it early became possible to separate the question of ethics from the question of the morality of the gods, for the tales of the gods were as little edifying as those of Greek mythology. This was done through the doctrine of karma combined with the doctrine of repeated births. Karma became a law of moral cause and effect, which even the gods could not escape.