7.8 Of Decay and Death and Karma (KV7.8)

Controverted Point: That old age and death are a result of action.

Theravādin: The first two sections are verbatim as in the preceding discourse, save that instead of “result of action” (kamma-vipāka), “result” (vipāka) only is used.

Again, you admit, do you not, that the decay and dying of bad states of mind is the result of previous bad states? But then you must also admit that the decay and dying of good states of mind is the result of previous good states—which you deny … But in denying the latter, you imply denial of the former statement … .

Or do you hold that the decay and dying of good states of mind is the result of previous bad states? You do, you say. Then you imply that the decay and dying of bad states is the result of previous good states—which you deny … But in denying this, you imply denial of the former statement … .

Or do you affirm that the decay and dying of both good and bad states of mind are the result of bad states? You do, you say. Then you must say no less: “is the result of good states”—which you deny … .

Andhaka: You say my proposition is false. But surely acts conduce to the deterioration and to the curtailment of life? If so, my proposition is true.

The Points of Controversy, an English translation of the Pali Abhidhamma Kathāvatthu. Translated by Shwe Zan Aung and C.A.F. Rhys Davids. First published by Pali Text Society, 1915.

This SuttaCentral edition was prepared by Manfred Wierich and Ven. Vimala and proofread by Josephine Tobin. Some changes were introduced:

Abbreviations, i.e., those of cited works and the participants in the controversies, were expanded.

Cross-references were linked.

Some typographic changes were introduced, among others, i.e.: the phonetic symbol “ŋ” was changed to the Pāli diacritical letter “ṃ”, “ô” to “o”, single quotes to double quotes, and “:—” to “:”.

Letter-spacing with fixed spaces was replaced with bold font.

The corrigenda were merged into the text. Some could not be resolved, though.

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