Are There Unfair Things in the World?

The karmic actions that sentient beings have committed since beginningless kalpas cannot be calculated even by countless computers. If the karmic seeds of sentient beings from immeasurable kalpas could be formatted, their past karma would be considered settled. However, if this karma has not been fully retributed, or if one has not undergone repentance of offenses, or has not cultivated practice to achieve complete purity, the karma will not come to an end. Because the karma that has been created is so vast, if empty space had form, it would be burst apart by it. All that karma is subject to the individual cause-and-effect karmic retribution of each sentient being.

All the things we do not know are recorded in the tathāgatagarbha. Those complicated matters entangled in causes and effects are all known to the tathāgatagarbha, and when the conditions are complete, they will all manifest truthfully and justly. Therefore, we must not look only at those seemingly unfair matters on the surface; the cause and effect behind them are too complex. The tathāgatagarbha will calculate them all clearly and present karmic retribution truthfully. Thus, there is no such thing as injustice in the world. With the tathāgatagarbha existing, everything will be equal and everything will be just. As long as you have done something, it has not been done in vain, whether good or bad.

The tathāgatagarbha is truly inconceivable. After studying the dharma of the tathāgatagarbha, one will understand many principles of the human world, the heavens, and the three realms of existence, and thus ignorance will be reduced. Regarding those karmic actions, the more the manas clings to them, the more deeply the eighth consciousness records them. Therefore, the karmic retribution from creating karma intentionally differs from that of creating karma unintentionally. So when we do good deeds, we should not consider whether we will receive good karmic retribution—the eighth consciousness will bring you the corresponding good karmic retribution. When it comes to doing evil deeds, one must not harbor a fluke mentality, thinking one can escape it—the tathāgatagarbha will not let you escape it. Guard well your bodily, verbal, and mental actions; do not refrain from doing good just because it is small, and do not commit evil just because it is small.