Modifications are noted as already present in the later strata of this literature. The problem is then examined in the Abhidhamma Pitaka, where certain abstract developments in the definition and categorization of Kamma are discovered. In order to provide a greater chronological scope, the text then turns to an analysis of Kamma in the milindapanha. Finally, the Abhidharmakosa of Vasubandhu is considered. A new concern with the mechanism of Karmic retribution becomes evident in the Abhidharmakosa.
The modifications which the concept of karma is found to have undergone roughly speaking are of two broad types. First, there were popular folk developments which were accepted only reluctantly, if at all, in more scholarly circles. Then there were the more scholastic developments in the direction of greater precision of definition and refinement of categories. In the same vein, a growing scholarly concern for specific implications of the more general principle of karma is also noted.
