The True and Undeceiving Nature of Cause and Effect

In the Dharma-Ending Age, sentient beings are restless and unsettled in mind, yet some deliberately cater to this restlessness to please them. If one does not oppose the unwholesome habits of sentient beings at all, how can these habits be transformed, and how can sentient beings attain liberation?

Sentient beings are not only greedy but also ignorant, stubbornly craving the tiny bit of honey on the knife's edge. What do they ultimately gain? No one considers this. Most people focus only on the immediate, so-called benefits, yet risk falling into the three lower realms. They appear bold, but in reality, it is due to ignorance and shortsightedness, unable to consider the vast, long-term benefits of the future.

Most people actually plan and act for personal gain, yet their actions not only fail to bring them benefit but often cause them to lose what they already have. However, no one realizes this or sees it clearly. Why? Because of ignorance and delusion, because afflictions obscure their vision, preventing them from seeing themselves clearly or discerning true gains and losses.

Many do not genuinely believe in cause and effect, always harboring a sense of luck, thinking that karmic consequences will fall upon others but not themselves. Thus, for their own benefit, they warn others that if they do not comply with their demands, they will surely suffer certain evil retributions, unaware that their own karmic retribution is imminent and that they are currently creating the causes for such evil results.

When I first studied Buddhism and read the sutras, I encountered true accounts about cause and effect, which convinced me of its absolute reality. I became careful in my actions, speech, and thoughts. Yet, Buddhists today do not read the sutras at all; they do not know what the sutras teach. Consequently, their minds are blind, and they do not understand cause and effect.

With the internet now so developed, creating unwholesome karma is far more convenient than before. With just a flick of a finger, unwholesome karma spreads throughout the entire country. It is truly lamentable. No one is alert to the evil consequences that follow their finger's movement. The ignorant are fearless; their minds are blocked, blindly following others, unaware of good and evil, committing grave unwholesome deeds without remorse.

Some create unwholesome karma because they are incited or deceived by others, unaware of the truth. For example, someone might tell them, "Go ahead and do this; it will be fine. I will bear the karmic consequences for you. You will only receive good results, not evil ones." Some who are blind in mind then believe this person, thinking they can truly bear the karma on their behalf. Little do they know that when karmic consequences arise, each must bear their own retribution; it cannot be transferred to another. Even one’s own parents cannot help.