ABSTRACT
In Buddhism, as it is popularly understood, what regulates transmigration is ethical retribution. Transmigration reviews man’s existence entirely from the point of view of ethics and religion; it is hardly concerned with his intelligence. Transmigration then comes to be connected with the idea of punishment and reward. There is another implication of transmigration, which is the idea of the moral perfectibility of human nature. This chapter presents the difference of attitude between the earlier and the later Buddhists toward the doctrine of transmigration and trisna. Trisna or ‘thirst’ or ‘craving’ then comes to be known as mahakaruna, or ‘absolute compassion’, which they consider the essence of Buddhahood and Bodhisattvahood. This trisna emancipated from all its encumbrances incarnates itself in every possible form in order to achieve a universal salvation of all beings, both sentient and non-sentient.
