The Direct Retribution and Circumstantial Retribution of Sentient Beings

The karmic retribution of sentient beings is divided into direct retribution and circumstantial retribution. Direct retribution refers to the karmic causes and effects experienced by the five aggregates and the physical body—for example, the type and condition of a sentient being's physical body, which of the four noble ones and six realms of ordinary beings it belongs to, and among ordinary beings, which realm of sentient beings it belongs to, whether the six faculties are complete, whether they are normal, whether there are impairments or obstructions of illness, and so on. The physical body of a sentient being's direct retribution is determined by that individual sentient being's karmic seeds (the karma created in past lives and this life), and is manifested solely by that single sentient being's tathāgatagarbha. Circumstantial retribution, on the other hand, is the shared living environment of sentient beings. The living environment is not enjoyed by a single sentient being alone; it is jointly enjoyed by sentient beings of collective karma. Therefore, the living environment is jointly determined by the karmic seeds of many sentient beings of collective karma. Thus, the circumstantial retribution of the living environment is the karmic causes and effects generated by the tathāgatagarbhas of all sentient beings with karmic connections, in accordance with their collective karmic seeds.

Circumstantial retribution is the external living environment of sentient beings. The living environment cannot be determined by a single sentient being; it is determined by the karmic conditions and karmic seeds of all sentient beings of collective karma. Therefore, the external living environment is not something that a single sentient being's tathāgatagarbha can create alone; it is jointly manifested by the tathāgatagarbhas of all sentient beings with karmic connections. The tathāgatagarbhas of sentient beings of collective karma jointly output the four great seeds of earth, water, fire, and wind, and output the karmic seeds of the karma created by sentient beings. After these are output, they jointly manifest the circumstantial retribution of all sentient beings of collective karma—the living environment.

The harvest of the food, fruits, and vegetables we depend on for survival is determined by the collective karmic conditions of all sentient beings with karmic connections. So how is this circumstantial retribution formed? The karma of sentient beings includes collective karma and individual karma. Individual karma includes the karma of a single sentient being and the karma of a portion of sentient beings that differs from that of all sentient beings. Collective karma and individual karma are relative terms, not absolute. For example, the karma of a certain region is both collective karma and individual karma: the collective karma is the common karmic conditions shared by the sentient beings of that region, while the individual karma is the karmic conditions that differ from those of other regions and from those of the sentient beings of the entire world. The karma of all sentient beings is the circumstantial retribution of the living environment formed after the tathāgatagarbhas of all sentient beings output karmic seeds in accordance with the karmic conditions of sentient beings. Therefore, the circumstantial retribution of the living environment cannot be determined by the tathāgatagarbha of a single sentient being; it is determined by the tathāgatagarbhas of all sentient beings in accordance with their collective karmic seeds.