Can Karmic Results Vanish?

Sentient beings create unwholesome karma throughout countless lifetimes, resulting in the retribution of the six realms of rebirth. If the karmic fruits cannot be extinguished, the cycle of the six realms will never cease, and sentient 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, there are countless seeds of karma for the three lower realms that have not yet manifested, and the karmic retribution has not been experienced. Where do these karmic seeds go? Sentient beings create unwholesome karma, yet the Buddha teaches that through repentance, the karma can be purified, allowing one to avoid the unwholesome retribution. So where does this unwholesome karma go? If cause and effect must inevitably manifest, then which sentient being could ever become a Buddha?

All dharmas, apart from the tathāgatagarbha (Buddha-nature), are illusory and unreal, like things in a dream. When one wakes from a dream, the things in the dream vanish; all actions performed within the dream no longer carry responsibility upon waking. The illusory has no karmic fruit, and upon waking, one no longer creates unwholesome karma and is no longer deluded. But within the dream, it is different; actions performed in the dream incur corresponding retribution.

When severing the view of self and attaining the fruit, it is like waking from the dream for the first time. Upon realizing the mind (明心), one wakes again. Attaining the insight of illusion (如幻观), one wakes once more. Attaining the insight of shimmering heat (阳炎观), one wakes again. Attaining the insight of the dream-like nature (如梦观), one wakes again. With the realization of each dharma, one wakes once. Upon entering the First Ground (初地), one wakes once; entering the Second Ground (二地), one wakes again, 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 is no more dream state. So, does the unwholesome karma created within the dream still exist? Do the people, things, and events of the dream still exist upon waking? They do not; they vanish, becoming utterly non-existent and invisible. In the Buddha's mind, there is only vast emptiness; no dharma exists. What karmic cause and effect would the Buddha need to requite, and how would it be requited? With the skin gone, where can the fur adhere? Without the person, event, or physical basis to which karma attaches, where does the karmic fruit exist?

The Buddha expounds the Dharma to sentient beings precisely to make us fully realize that we are all dreaming, that all dharmas are within the dream. Outside the dream, all dharmas cease to exist. Merely by waking up, nothing remains – neither good deeds nor evil deeds. The Buddha Dharma is nothing but dispelling confusion. When the mind is free from confusion, that is enlightenment (开悟). With enlightenment, there is nothing left to be concerned about.

I am not real. You are not real. Events are not real. Principles are not real. Recognizing these truths and realizing them, is there any real person, event, or physical principle? No. Is there any retribution? No. Retribution is also an event and principle, equally illusory and unreal; it vanishes upon waking. As one becomes partially awake, part vanishes. With complete awakening, all karmic fruits of good and evil entirely disappear. When one attains the fruit, is that not a partial awakening? Initially realizing the principle of non-self, the absence of the six roots, the six dusts, and the six consciousnesses – aren’t the three lower realms, unwholesome karma, and karmic retribution all within the six roots, six dusts, and six consciousnesses? They certainly are. Therefore, those things cease to exist, and a portion of the retribution vanishes.

If the degree of realization of the Dharma is very deep, and the understanding of the principles is profound, then the degree of awakening is great. Consequently, one realizes more events and principles as unreal, causing more of them to vanish, and more unwholesome karma is eliminated. Once awakened and enlightened, one realizes: where is there any real cause and effect? Where is there any real self, person, sentient being, or life span? Where is there any real good or evil karmic action? Attaining this realization causes a portion of the karmic seeds to vanish.

If one is as awake as the Buddha, cognizing all dharmas as the Buddha does, then all seeds of unwholesome karma are completely eliminated. Where could there be even a trace of unwholesome karmic retribution? There is none. However, to prevent sentient beings from creating unwholesome karma, the Buddha may also manifest unwholesome karmic retribution for the sake of sentient beings, to alert them. This is acting out a performance to save sentient beings. The Buddha, throughout immeasurable kalpas, has been liberating sentient beings through such performances. The Buddha is the best and greatest actor, the supreme teacher. Everything done is to awaken the confused minds of sentient beings, to make them wake up. Apart from this, what personal, selfish interest could the Buddha possibly have? Absolutely none; it is complete selflessness.