Edwin Arnold, in his wonderful poem, "The Light of Asia," which tells the story of the Buddha, explains the doctrine of Karma from the Buddhist standpoint. We feel that our students should become acquainted with this view, so beautifully expressed, and so we herewith quote the passages referred to: "Karma--all that total of a soul Which is the things it did, the thoughts it had, The 'self' it wove with woof of viewless time Crossed on the warp invisible of acts. * * * * * "What hath been bringeth what shall be, and is, Worse--better--last for first and first for last; The angels in the heavens of gladness reap Fruits of a holy past. "The devils in the underworlds wear out Deeds that were wicked in an age gone by. Nothing endures: fair virtues waste with time, Foul sins grow purged thereby. "Who toiled a slave may come anew a prince For gentle worthiness and merit won; Who ruled a king may wander earth in rags For things done and undone. "Before beginning, and without an end, As space eternal and as surety sure, Is fixed a Power divine which moves to good, Only its laws endure. "It will not be contemned of any one: Who thwarts it loses, and who serves it gains; The hidden good it pays with peace and bliss, The hidden ill with pains. "It seeth everywhere and marketh all: Do right--it recompenseth! Do one wrong-- The equal retribution must be made, Though DHARMA tarry long. "It knows not wrath nor pardon; utter-true Its measures mete, its faultless balance weighs; Times are as naught, to-morrow it will judge, Or after many days. "By this the slayer's knife did stab himself; The unjust judge hath lost his own defender; The false tongue dooms its lie; the creeping thief And spoiler rob, to render. "Such is the law which moves to righteousness, Which none at last can turn aside or stay; The heart of it is love, the end of it Is peace and consummation sweet. Obey! * * * * * "The books say well, my brothers! each man's life The outcome of his former living is; The bygone wrongs bring forth sorrow and woes, The bygone right breeds bliss. "That which ye sow ye reap. See yonder fields! The sesamum was sesamum, the corn Was corn. The silence and the darkness knew; So is a man's fate born. "He cometh, reaper of the things he sowed, Sesamum, corn, so much cast in past birth; And so much weed and poison-stuff, which mar Him and the aching earth. "If he shall labor rightly, rooting these, And planting wholesome seedlings where they grew, Fruitful and fair and clean the ground shall be, And rich the harvest due.