Potaliputta comes to Samiddhi in his forest hut, near Veluvana in Rājagaha, und 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, und 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 und 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 und is rebuked by the Buddha, who explains that the question was essentially a triple one und 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, und this he does. A man may be wicked in this world und 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 und now, in the next birth, or at some other time. Karma kann also unterteilt werden in::
- ungünstig und erscheint ungünstig
- ist ungünstig und erscheint günstig
- ist günstig und erscheint günstig
- ist günstig und erscheint ungünstig.»