Question: Can ‘sin’ be passed down, according to Buddhism?
Answer: In Buddhism, the terms ‘transgression’, ‘evil karma’ and ‘negative karma’ are preferred, as ‘sin’ has the connotation of a deed done that offended a lawmaker personally. Karma however, is a natural and impersonal law, without any maker. Back to the question, no, one’s karma, be it good, evil or mixed, cannot be passed to another person — unless that person is ‘oneself’ reborn in the next life.
A fraction (i.e. one-seventh) of one’s good karma and/or meritorious merits (merits) can be dedicated to others with good will though, through the law of karma being able to be collective in nature, while evil karma cannot be dedicated (or it would be possible to wish anyone the worst possible immediately). As good is ‘dedicatable’, while evil is not, this is proof that good is greater than evil. (It is not true at all, that there must be balance of good and evil.)
Question: Why is it that some families seem to ‘inherit’ the ‘(original) sin(s) of the (grand)father’ (or [grand]mother)?
Answer: As mentioned, karma can be collective. The fact that one is reborn in a specific family means there is common karma binding one another together. Thus, even when the entire family seems to suffer for the transgressions of one family member, all family members actually have similar evil karma as common factors, to experience repercussions accordingly, but with each still having some differences in degrees of suffering due to individual karmas’ uncommon factors.
The good news is that exactly since there is common karma, and since the course of karma can change accordingly with new karma created, familial karma can be bettered together. Even if all in the family do not change their ways, one or more persons changing greatly can still alter the course of the whole family’s collective karma. Since all changes have to begin with someone, it might as well be oneself.
Related Articles:
Can Dedication Of Merits Solve Problems?
https://thedailyenlightenment.com/2013/05/can-dedication-of-merits-solve-problems
Why Merits Can Only Be Partially Dedicated
https://thedailyenlightenment.com/2017/10/why-merits-can-only-be-partially-dedicated
Does The Donor Or Deceased Gain Merits From Post-Death Donations?
https://thedailyenlightenment.com/2018/12/does-the-donor-or-deceased-gain-merits-from-post-death-donations
