The Sutra of the Father and Son Assembly: Commentary (227)

Merit is Also Manifested Through Collective Karma

This time, the Wheel-Turning King wished for a rain of gold; his greed grew ever greater, no longer fixated on small things. If such a greedy thought could become reality, what does that signify? It signifies that his merit was complete, enabling him to realize such desires. If a person were to conceive the thought of causing gold to rain from the heavens, and it truly rained gold, under what circumstances would this occur? It would require that all people under heaven possess such great merit; not only must the one who conceived the thought have merit, but all other relevant beings must also have the merit to receive and enjoy it. If those who would share in this enjoyment lack the merit to receive it, that rain of gold would not fall. Even if it could fall, those without merit would not obtain it. Without the karmic seeds of merit, the flowers and fruits of merit cannot manifest. The prerequisite is that sentient beings possess complete merit. During the era when the Wheel-Turning Sage King lived, his subjects were all greatly blessed; they possessed that fortune in their destiny, which enabled them to manifest a rain of gold throughout the land.

This was the manifestation of the collective karma of the Wheel-Turning Sage King and the people of the Four Continents. Collective karma means having collectively accumulated the same merit, enabling them to jointly enjoy the shared retribution. For instance, spouses share collective karma; without shared karma, they would not come together. Spouses share the same wholesome or unwholesome karma, enabling them to jointly manifest prosperity or poverty. It is impossible for one to be prosperous and the other poor, for then they would not unite. If the collective karma between a couple ceases—if one is due to receive the retribution of prosperity and the other the retribution of poverty—they cannot continue to live together.

Parents and children also share collective karma. If parents and children lack collective karma—for example, if the parents are due to receive the retribution of poverty while the child is due to enjoy the retribution of prosperity—then when the child grows up and leaves home, they may become prosperous and wealthy elsewhere, while the parents cannot enjoy it. This illustrates their lack of shared karma. Sentient beings living together on Earth share collective karma; the humans on Earth all have collective karma. Similarly, those living in a small city share collective karma within that city. Therefore, if we wish to attain the retribution of prosperity and nobility, we need not seek it externally; we need only genuinely practice generosity and cultivate merit. Those who cultivate it attain it; those who do not, do not. Wholesome karma has no boundaries or limits; it is not that if you cultivate the karma for prosperity, I will have none. Those who cultivate it attain it; if all cultivate it, all attain it.

Thus, collective karma enables sentient beings to gather in one place, while the absence of shared karma causes them to separate. In the Land of Ultimate Bliss, the collective karma of its inhabitants manifests heavenly robes and celestial food spontaneously arising, with the seven treasures covering the ground and gold paving the earth—this is the collective karma of the beings in the Land of Ultimate Bliss. In contrast, people on Earth regard gold as a treasure to be worn on their bodies. When the merit of humans on Earth is nearly exhausted, the finest thing on Earth will be iron. At that time, humans will obtain a piece of scrap iron and wear it as a treasure, because sentient beings will lack merit; the collective karma of meritlessness will manifest inferior objects, devoid of precious treasures.