What Is Fixed Karma and What Is Indeterminate Karma

When the causes and conditions for the maturation of karmic effects are not yet ripe, such karma is indeterminate and can be eliminated through repentance, eliminated upon attaining fruition, eliminated through attaining enlightenment by insight into one's true nature, eliminated upon reaching the bodhisattva grounds, or eliminated upon achieving any stage of realization. For karmic effects whose causes and conditions have already matured—known as fixed karma—ordinary people will inevitably undergo retribution. However, for practitioners possessing sufficient spiritual strength, even when karmic effects manifest, severe retribution may be mitigated, or the karmic effects may be transformed; these outcomes are not predetermined.

For saints, all karmic effects are indeterminate: they may manifest or be transformed without manifesting, depending entirely on the individual. Ultimately, from the perspective of absolute truth, all karmic effects are indeterminate. If karmic effects were fixed, sentient beings would be unable to attain Buddhahood, because the immeasurable karmic transgressions accumulated over countless eons could never be fully eradicated, and without eradicating transgressions, Buddhahood is unattainable. Yet in the actual world, countless Buddhas in the ten directions exist, all having completely exhausted their karmic transgressions without remainder. Therefore, it is taught that all karmic effects are without fixity.