To Sivaka (Number 1)

The Teacher was once staying at the squirrels' feeding ground in the Bamboo Grove at Rajagaha. Then the wanderer Topknot Sivaka approached and exchanged greetings with him. After a pleasant and courteous conversation, he sat down to one side and said, "Gotama, there are some wanderers and brahmins who voice the opinion and hold the view that whatever a person experiences—be it pleasant, painful, or neither—is caused by what was done in the past. What do you say about this?"

The Buddha answered, "Some experiences are caused by bile, some by phlegm, some by wind, some by all three together. Some experiences are caused by the change of season, some by poor care, some by sudden assault, and some are the fruit of one's actions.

"You can know for yourself how such experiences occur.

" People in the world agree on how such experiences occur.

"Those who believe that all experience is caused by what was done in the past overestimate what can be known by themselves and what is accepted as true in the world. Therefore, I say that those wanderers and brahmins are mistaken."

~The Samyutta Nikaya