If we consider a man at two different moments of his present life, it is safe to say that he is not the same; but is it not equally evident that he is not another?
The 'murderer' whom the executioners lead to the scaffold is not a 'murderer,' for he is not the same man who has committed murder; but he merits punishment because he cannot be said to be another than the murderer, being the 'continuation' of the murderer. The girl is not the child; but she nevertheless belongs to the man to whom she has been married when a child and who has paid the dowry. The father of the girl has not the right of giving the girl to a new husband for a new dowry, because the girl is the 'continuation' of the child.
(
Milinda, p. 46 foll.; Warren, p. 236; E. J. Thomas,
Buddhist Scriptures, p. 123.)
In the same way, the being who is to enjoy the fruit of the acts of a dead man is the continuation of the dead man.
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