The Principle of Karmic Purification

Some say: karmic obstructions are like a painting on a wall—if the wall disappears, the picture is gone as well.

The body of the five aggregates is like the wall, and karmic obstructions are the obstructions and afflictions upon the body of the five aggregates. If the body and mind of the five aggregates are emptied, and the mind consciousness and the manas are emptied, karmic formations will naturally be eliminated. Karmic obstructions come rushing toward the body and mind of the five aggregates, attaching themselves to the body and mind of the five aggregates—in fact, they attach to the minds of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses. When the minds of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses are emptied, are the karmic obstructions emptied or not? Karmic obstructions have nothing to attach to; unable to find the body and mind of the five aggregates, they vanish and disappear—emptied. When the owner who created the karma no longer exists, who is there to undergo the karmic retribution? With no one to undergo the retribution, the retribution is ended.

However, this depends on the degree to which the body and mind of the five aggregates have been emptied: the more the mind is emptied, the more karmic obstructions are eliminated. The emptiness of a stream-enterer differs from that of a once-returner, the emptiness of a once-returner differs from that of a non-returner, and the emptiness of a non-returner differs from that of an arhat; therefore the elimination of karmic obstructions also differs. But if the karmic obstructions are too heavy, the mind cannot be emptied to escape the debt. For example, if a person owes one million and is reborn in the land of bliss (Sukhāvatī), to whom would the creditors go to collect the one million? If a person owes a debt of one hundred million, with creditors watching him every moment, could he run off to the land of bliss? He certainly could not go far—as soon as he moves, the creditors would block his way and not let him leave. Only when the debt is relatively light will the creditors not bother to keep constant watch over him.