Who Knows About the Accumulation of Hidden Merit?

The deeds a person does, the words a person speaks, and the thoughts in a person's mind are all known by sentient beings who possess supernatural powers, including immortals, ghosts, spirits, devas, asuras, Rāhulas, mahoragas, and so forth, as well as humans with supernatural powers, great arhats, pratyekabuddhas, bodhisattvas, Buddhas, and Dharma-protecting deities, etc. Even bodhisattvas without supernatural powers and people of lofty wisdom can discern these things. And the one who knows them most minutely, most comprehensively, and most precisely is, of course, one's own tathāgatagarbha; at the very moment of knowing, everything is recorded in full, becoming karmic seeds. When the karmic seeds ripen, the retributive results appear. Therefore, the only way to keep something from being known by others is not to do it in the first place. Wholesome deeds need not be publicized, and unwholesome deeds cannot be hidden—all of them are done in broad daylight.