Can Karmic Results Vanish?

Living beings create unwholesome karma throughout countless lifetimes, and the karmic retribution is the cycle of rebirth in the six realms. If karmic results cannot vanish, the cycle of rebirth in the six realms will never cease, and beings will never attain Buddhahood. Yet, the reality is not so. Why, after attaining the fruit of enlightenment, are the three fetters severed, ensuring one never falls into the three lower realms again? Before attaining the fruit, countless karmic seeds for the three lower realms have not yet manifested, and their karmic results have not yet been experienced. Where did these karmic seeds go? When beings create unwholesome karma, the Buddha instructs them to eliminate the karma through repentance, thereby avoiding the unwholesome retribution. So, where did this unwholesome karma go? If cause and effect must inevitably manifest, how could any being attain Buddhahood?

All dharmas, except for the Tathagatagarbha, are illusory and unreal, like objects in a dream. Things in a dream vanish upon awakening; all actions performed within the dream no longer incur responsibility after waking. Illusory things bear no karmic results, and upon awakening, one no longer creates unwholesome karma and is no longer deluded. However, within the dream, it is different; actions performed in the dream incur corresponding retribution.

Upon attaining the fruit of severing the view of self, it is like awakening from the dream for the first time. Realizing the mind is like awakening again. Attaining the contemplation of illusion is another awakening. Attaining the contemplation like a mirage is another awakening. Attaining the contemplation like a dream is yet another awakening. Attaining each dharma is like awakening each time. Entering the first bhūmi is an awakening, entering the second bhūmi is another awakening, and so on, until upon attaining Buddhahood, one awakens completely from the dream. This time, it is a thorough awakening; henceforth, one never re-enters the dream, and there are no more dream states. So, do the unwholesome karmas created within the dream still exist? Do the people, things, and events in the dream still exist after awakening? They do not. They vanish, become utterly non-existent. In the Buddha's mind, there is only vast emptiness; no dharma exists. What karmic cause and effect would the Buddha need to repay? How would they be repaid? If the skin does not exist, where would the hair attach? Without the supporting framework of people, things, events, and principles, where would karmic results exist?

The Buddha expounds the Dharma for beings to make us fully realize that we are all dreaming, that all dharmas exist within the dream. Outside the dream, all dharmas cease to exist. As long as one awakens, nothing remains—neither good nor evil deeds. The Buddha Dharma is nothing but dispelling delusion. When the mind is free from delusion, it is enlightenment, and with enlightenment, there is nothing left to bind.

I am not real. You are not real. Events are not real. Principles are not real. Recognizing these truths and realizing them, are there still real people, events, things, or principles? No. Is there still any karmic retribution? No. Karmic retribution is also events and principles; it is also illusory and unreal. Upon awakening, it all vanishes. With partial awakening, part vanishes. With complete awakening, all wholesome and unwholesome karmic results vanish entirely. When one attains the fruit of enlightenment, is that not a partial awakening? Initially realizing the principle of no-self—no six sense bases, no six sense objects, no six consciousnesses—are the three lower realms, unwholesome karma, and karmic results not within the six sense bases, six sense objects, and six consciousnesses? They certainly are. Therefore, those phenomena cease to exist, and a portion of the karmic retribution vanishes.

If the degree of realization of the Dharma is very profound, and the depth of understanding is very great, then the degree of awakening is correspondingly vast. Thus, one realizes that more events and principles are unreal, more phenomena vanish, and more unwholesome karma is eliminated. Upon the moment of awakening and enlightenment, one knows: Where are there any real causes and effects? Where are there any real selves, persons, beings, or life spans? Where are there any wholesome or unwholesome karmic actions? Realizing this, a portion of the karmic seeds vanishes.

If one is as awake as the Buddha, comprehending all dharmas as the Buddha does, then all unwholesome karmic seeds are entirely eliminated. How could there be even a trace of unwholesome karmic retribution? There is none. However, to prevent beings from creating unwholesome karma, the Buddha may manifest unwholesome karmic retribution for the sake of beings, to alert them. This is acting for the sake of saving beings. The Buddha, throughout immeasurable kalpas of liberating beings, has been acting. The Buddha is the finest, greatest actor, the supreme teacher. All actions are performed to awaken the deluded minds of beings, to make them awaken. Beyond this, what personal, selfish interest does the Buddha have? None whatsoever. Utterly selfless.