121. Q. _Does Buddhism specify places or conditions of torment into which a bad man's Karma draws him on leaving this life?_ A. Yes. They are: Sanjīva; Kālasūtra; Sanghāta; Raurava; Mahā-Raurava Tāpa; Pratāpa; Avīchi. 222. Q. _Is the torment eternal?_ A. Certainly not. Its duration depends on a man's Karma. 223. Q. _Does Buddhism declare that non-believers in Buddha will of necessity be damned for their unbelief?_ A. No; by good deeds they may enjoy a limited term of happiness before being drawn into rebirth by their unexhausted _tanhā_. To escape rebirth, one must tread the Noble Eight-fold Path. 224. Q. _What is the spiritual status of woman among Buddhists?_ A. According to our religion they are on a footing of perfect equality with men. "Woman," says the Buddha, in the _Chullavedalla Sutta_, "may attain the highest path of holiness that is open to man--Arhatship." 225. Q. _What does a modern critic say about the effect of Buddhism on woman?_ A. That "it has done more for the happiness and enfranchisement of woman than any other creed" (Sir Lepel Griffin). 226. Q. _What did the Buddha teach about caste?_ A. That one does not become of any caste, whether Pariah, the lowest, or Brāhmana the highest, by birth, but by deeds. "By deeds," said He, "one becomes an outcast, by deeds one becomes a Brāhmana" (See _Vassala Sutta_). 227. Q. _Tell me a story to illustrate this?_ A. Ananda, passing by a well, was thirsty and asked Prakrti, a girl of the Mātanga, or Pariah, caste, to give him water. She said she was of such low caste that he would become contaminated by taking water from her hand. But Ananda replied: "I ask not for caste but for water"; and the Mātanga girl's heart was glad and she gave him to drink. The Buddha blessed her for it. 228. Q. _What did the Buddha say in "Vasala Sutta" about a man of the Pariah Sopāka caste?_ A. That by his merits he reached the highest fame; that many Khattiyas (Kshattriyas) and Brāhmanas went to serve him; and that after death he was born in the Brāhma-world: while there are many Brāhmanas who for their evil deeds are born in hell. 229. Q. Does Buddhism teach the immortality of the soul? A. It considers "soul" to be a word used by the ignorant to express a false idea. If everything is subject to change, then man is included, and every material part of him must change. That which is subject to change is not permanent: so there can be no immortal survival of a changeful thing.[10] 230. Q. _What is so objectionable in this word "soul"?_ A. The idea associated with it that man can be an entity separated from all other entities, and from the existence of the whole of the Universe. This idea of separateness is unreasonable, not provable by logic, nor supported by science. 231. Q. _Then there is no separate "I," nor can we say "my" this or that?_ A. Exactly so.