What Is the Most Equal Thing in the World?

If cause and effect belong to this world, then cause and effect are the most utterly impartial: good deeds bring good retribution, evil deeds bring evil retribution; when the time comes, the retributions for good and evil manifest, and there is no escaping them. Some people say the virus is the most impartial—regardless of rich or poor, powerful or powerless, regardless of men, women, old, or young, anyone can be infected by the virus. Yet some people simply do not get infected and do not fall ill. Death, however, is different: no matter who you are, death is certain. Those who have attained the fourth dhyāna of meditative concentration can extend their lifespan, yet in the end they still perish—the body of the five aggregates passes away. The Buddha could remain in the world for many great kalpas, even for immeasurable kalpas, yet in the end He too had to step down and leave the lands He Himself had established.