After Sinning: Some Thoughts on Remorse, Responsibility, and the Remedies for Sin In Indian Religious Traditions

Abstract

This chapter briefly discusses the two early texts, the Mahābhārata , and the Buddhist Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra . It describes the remorse of Yudhiṣṭhira and Ajātaśatru. After suggesting that the discussion of the king's innocence is more at home in the Mahābhārata than in the Buddhist sources, the author then turns to the treatment of Yudhiṣṭhira's remorse in the Mahābhārata . The chapter examines in detail some of the arguments in the Śāntiparvan of the Mahābhārata that are given to convince Yudhiṣṭhira that he has not sinned. Even in its proclamation of emptiness, it argues for the centrality of remorse. The chapter ends with a statement echoed in other texts that the cultivation of the mind of Enlightenment, bodhicitta , removes all sin. The way to measure a religion, the Bhāgavata Purāṇa tells us, is in its ability to deal with sin. Keywords:Ajātaśatru; Bhāgavata Purāṇa ; Mahābhārata ; Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra ; remorse; sin; Yudhiṣṭhira