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Potaliputta comes to
Samiddhi in his forest hut, near
Veluvana in Rājagaha, and tells him that the
Buddha has declared that all one
says or does is vain; the only thing of importance is that which passes in one's
mind. Samiddhi protests against this, and when Potaliputta says, "Tell me, what
does a man experience who acts of set purpose?" gives his own explanation.
Potaliputta then goes away without further talk and seeks
Ananda, to whom he
reports the incident. Ananda takes him to the Buddha, remarking that Samiddhi
should not have given a single direct reply to a question, which required
careful qualifications in the answer. Lāludāyi interrupts and is rebuked by the
Buddha, who explains that the question was essentially a triple one and should
have been so answered. If a man's purposeful act is calculated to produce a
pleasant feeling, his experience is pleasant; if an unpleasant feeling,
unpleasant; if neither pleasant nor unpleasant, it is neither. Ananda asks him
to explain further, and this he does. A man may be wicked in this world and yet,
at death, pass either into heaven or into hell, he may be good yet go into hell
or into heaven. But one should not rush to conclusions from this truth, because
the consequence of man's action, good or bad, may be felt either here and now,
in the next birth, or at some other time. Kamma can be divided into four
classes:
- (1) not only in operation, but also having the
appearance of being so;
- (2) in operation, though not appearing so;
- (3) in operation, and appearing so;
- (4) not in operation, and not appearing so. (M.136).

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