Kamma and rebirth explain the inequality among mankind: why is one man rich, healthy, intelligent and successful, while another is poor, sickly, mentally retarded and a failure. They explain the differences of characters, tendencies and talents among members of the same family. They explain why some people possess special powers, and why do we sometimes instinctively like or dislike certain things and people at first sight.

Rebirth in this life is conditioned by the good and evil Kamma we have acquired in previous lives. The Buddha taught that we are the owners of heirs of our Kamma which conditions our birth into hight or low states.

Sometimes we see the injustices that good men suffer, while the bad are living in splendour and happiness. When the good suffer, the cause of suffering are not only found in the actions of the present life but are also based on  guilt in a former birth. The bad prosper because of merits accumulated in former births or in the past actions of the present birth. But after the bad have enjoyed the fruit of their merit, they will also have to taste the bitter fruit of their merit, they will also have to taste the bitter fruit of their misdeeds in this or subsequent births.

So long his evil deed has not ripened,
A fool thinks it is sweet as honey;
But when it ripens, he is stricken with grief. - Dhammapada 69

Kamma and rebirth accounts for the arising of geniuses and infant prodigies. Mozart wrote a sonata when he was four and an opera when he was seven, Marcel Lavallard had a picture accepted by Paris Salon when he was twelve. A boy called Zerah Colburn, in his eight year could solve difficult mathematical problems. On being asked how many minutes there are in forty-eight years, he gave the correct answer without making a mark on paper.

Even more amazing is Christian Heinecken who was born at Lubeck in 1721. He could talk within a few hours of his birth, repeat passages from the Bible at the age of one, answer any question on Geography at two, speak French and Latin at three, and be a student of philosophy at four. He died at four just after learning how to write. If not for rebirth, how else do we account for an infant prodigy like him ?

- Extracted from Buddhism for You, Lesson 9, Published by The Buddhist Missionary Society.