Beings are owners of their actions, heirs of their actions; they originate from their actions, are bound to their actions, have their actions as their refuge. It is action that distinguishes beings as inferior and superior.
We are a continuum. Just as we reach back to our ancestors for our fundamental values, so we, as guardians of that legacy, must reach ahead to our children and their children. And we do so with a sense of sacredness in that reaching.
Do you expect, forsooth, that a mother will hand down to her children principles which differ from her own?
There is nothing more important than parents passing on a generational legacy of faith and values to their children.
Pity the poor infant. Born perfect into the world from imperfect parents.
I think it must somewhere be written that the virtues of mothers shall be visited on their children, as well as the sins of their fathers.
Let parents bequeath to their children not riches, but the spirit of reverence.
I'd rather speak as a student of philosophy. Philosophically it makes no sense, absolutely makes no sense. Why should people inherit evil things when their memories could contain and should invoke good things?
The noblest contribution which any man can make for the benefit of posterity, is that of character. The richest bequest which any man can leave to the youth of his native land, is that of a shining, spotless example.
The Bible tells us that the sins of the fathers are passed to succeeding generations. The virtues of the fathers can be passed along, too.
And yet one carries the sins of his forebears as one carries their features in his face. One bears their blood, and their honor or their blight.
I have also seen children successfully surmounting the effects of an evil inheritance. That is due to purity being an inherent attribute of the soul.
That's a very Japanese idea - that children are an extension of their parents. And that when you're reborn, your new form reflects the sins of your previous life - you can't escape.
