The well-known but often misunderstood doctrine of Karma amounts to this, that no man’s life is a product of the present only but is the result of a long chain of moral causation, in which the quality of his deeds and character bears the fruits deserved. It teaches that there is a necessary course of life and fortune for everyone, which is determined by his or her moral disposition tantamount to the merit or demerit of the past and present deeds. The doctrine sounds like fatalism, yet the intention was to admonish every one to do his best in endeavouring to free himself from vicious Karma and to advance on the way to Buddhist perfection.