What constitutes fixed karma, and what constitutes unfixed karma

When the causes and conditions for the ripening of karmic results are not yet mature, that karma is indeterminate—it can be eliminated through repentance, through attaining the fruits of realization, through seeing one's true mind and awakening to one's true nature, through entering the bhūmis, or through realizing any stage of attainment; all of these can eliminate it. When the causes and conditions for karmic results have already matured, that karma is fixed karma (niyata-karma); for ordinary people, the retribution must be undergone. However, for those whose cultivation has real strength, when the karmic results manifest, heavy offenses may be met with light retribution, and the karmic results may also be transformed—none of this is fixed.

For the noble ones, all karmic results are indeterminate: they may manifest, or may be transformed and never manifest at all—it depends entirely on the person concerned. In terms of ultimate truth, all karmic results are indeterminate. If karmic results were fixed, then sentient beings could never become Buddhas, because the offenses sentient beings have committed over countless kalpas could never be fully extinguished; and if offenses could never be fully extinguished, Buddhahood would be impossible. Yet in the actual world, the Buddhas of the ten directions are countless, and their offenses have all been extinguished without remainder. Therefore it is said that no karmic result is ever fixed.