Page:The Development of Mahayana Buddhism - The Monist 1914.pdf/14

578 quite inefficacious the evil karma perpetrated by the ignorant. It is possible for us to substitute ourselves for others and to bear their burden upon our own shoulders in order to save them from their self-created curse.” The result of this conviction is the doctrine of parinâmanâ.

In this, however, it is seen that quite in accordance with the cosmic conception of dharmakâya, the Mahâyâna philosophers emphasize the universal or supra-individual significance of karma more than its solitary, individual character. In the Hînayâna system, the conception of karma is individualistic, pure and simple; there is no escape whatever from the consequence of ones own evil or good deeds, for it follows one even after death which is merely another form of birth. The Mahâyâna Buddhists believe in this as far as the law of causation is concerned; but they go a step further, and assert that karma also has its cosmic or supra-individual aspect, which must be taken into consideration, when we want to realize fully the meaning of our spiritual existence. Though a man has to reap what he has sown and there is no escape possible from the consequence of his evil deeds, the Mahâyâna thinkers would say: A Bodhisattva wishes from the fulness of his heart to turn over whatever merit he can have from his acts of goodness to the general welfare of his spiritual kingdom, and to bear upon himself whatever burden of evil is going to befall his ignorant, self-destroying fellow-beings. The good he does is not necessarily for his own benefit. In whatever deed he performs, he does not forget its universal character; above all, he desires to be of service in any capacity whatever to the whole spiritual organization, of which he is a unit.

Therefore, the doctrine of parinâmanâ is no more than that of vicarious sacrifice. It is in point of fact vicarious sacrifice in that a Bodhisattva wishes to bear the burden of evil for the real offenders and to save them from suffer-