Points of Controversy

21.8. Of Karma

Controverted Point: That all karmas are inflexible.

Similar to PTS CS 20.7.1, PTS CS 20.7.2 in the foregoing.

Theravādin: Do you mean that karma which eventuates in this life is a fixed fact as such? You assent. Then does it belong to either of the fixed orders? You deny. Then it belongs to no fixed order. The same holds good with respect to karma, results of which will be experienced at the next rebirth, or in a succession of rebirths.

Andhakas and Uttarapāthakas: But you admit, do you not, that none of these three kinds of karma is mutually convertible with the other two? How then am I wrong?

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

This SuttaCentral edition was prepared by Bhikkhu Sujato, assisted by Jatin Patel and team from Hi-Tech Outsourcing, in 2013–2014. It contains several minor changes in terminology, the intent of which was to bring the translation in line with more commonly accepted renderings, while eliminating some ambiguities and archaisms. These were particularly apparent in the verses, so I have newly translated most of these. In addition, the corrections listed on pp. lv–lvi of the original edition incorporated in the text. Much of the text is highly compressed, and is often a paraphrase rather than a translation. All notes and excerpts from the commentaries have been omitted, with the exception of the identification of schools, which is marked with each argument. These do not entail that these schools existed at the time of the Kathāvatthu’s composition.

In May 2013, this volume was kindly released by the Pali Text Society under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 licence (CC BY-NC 3.0). The current SuttaCentral edition, including all revisions, corrections, additions, and modifications, is released under the same terms.

Prepared for SuttaCentral by Bhikkhu Sujato.