How Is the Karma of Sentient Beings Eliminated?

Throughout the immeasurable kalpas of sentient beings' cultivation, their karmic obstructions are eliminated bit by bit; only when karma is exhausted can buddhahood be attained. The elimination of karma is mainly accomplished through one's own cultivation—eradicating ignorance and transforming the mind to eliminate it. However, at the very beginning, sentient beings have heavy ignorance and weak mental power, so most of their karmic obstructions are eliminated and carried for them through the blessings of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. If the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas did not carry and eliminate each sentient being's karma, no one could realize the Way and become a Buddha. The Buddhas and Bodhisattvas eliminate, resolve, and carry sentient beings' karma in countless ways, yet sentient beings remain unaware and unknowing, and sometimes even go so far as to slander the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. When sentient beings are ignorant, they do not understand how immense the kindness and grace of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas is.

The cause and effect of sentient beings is the cycle of rebirth in the six realms, with birth, aging, sickness, death, sorrow, grief, suffering, and distress (śoka-parideva-duḥkha-daurmanasyopāyāsa). Yet when each sentient being encounters the Buddhadharma, the karma of birth-and-death and the feelings of suffering become lighter and lighter, until finally the karma leading to the three evil realms is cut off, and even the karma of rebirth in the six realms is eliminated. When each sentient being has the opportunity to encounter the Buddhadharma, do not think that it is all due to the being's own merit and virtue—it is all due to the kindness and grace of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. The Buddhas and Bodhisattvas make vows and aspirations every day, with their vow-power extending to sentient beings in the three evil realms. The beings of the three evil realms, unknowingly and in a muddled state, receive this grace; their merit increases day by day, and finally they encounter the Buddhadharma and begin the immeasurable kalpas of learning Buddhism and cultivating practice. Their karmic obstructions then begin to be eliminated bit by bit, until they finally become Buddhas—all of this is due to the kindness and grace of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Unless one becomes a Buddha, no one can ever fully repay the kindness of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.

The blessings and vows of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are all formless; their elimination of countless karmic obstructions for sentient beings is also formless—invisible and intangible. When sentient beings are ignorant, they cannot perceive it, yet in reality its power is boundless. Sentient beings are not merely ungrateful—they simply do not know the kindness at all, and they slander in all sorts of ways without cause. Yet the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas never hold it against them; who would quarrel with ignorant and foolish sentient beings? No matter how much karma the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas carry for sentient beings, no matter how much Buddhadharma they teach, and no matter how profound the dharma they teach, ignorant sentient beings will not even allow the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to bear the title of an ordinary bodhisattva—isn't that a deep karmic obstruction of sin?