Which Creates Greater Karma: Deliberate Actions or Unintentional Actions?

"With deliberate purpose" means having preparation, aim, and intention; it is deliberate. "Without deliberate purpose" means having no preparation, no aim, and no intention; it is unintentional. When creating karma with deliberate purpose, the mind is not empty. When creating good karma, the karma is small and the merit is small. When performing good deeds without deliberate purpose, the mind is empty, the karma is great and the merit is great. When creating evil karma with deliberate purpose, the mind is evil, the karma is great and the sin is great. When creating evil karma without deliberate purpose, there is no evil mind, the karma is small and the sin is small. Understanding and observing "with deliberate purpose" and "without deliberate purpose" must be done from the perspective of intention and mental action. Whether there is a purpose and what kind of purpose exists are also key. When sentient beings perform good deeds with deliberate purpose and aim, the goodness is small; when performing good deeds without aim, the goodness is great. When committing evil without deliberate purpose, the evil is small; when deliberately and intentionally committing evil, the evil is great.

Creating karma from the depths of the mind means the mental faculty intends to create good or evil karma; both good and evil karma are great because the fundamental mind that governs is of the nature of good or evil. When sentient beings perform good deeds without deliberate purpose, it means they originally had no thought of performing good; their mind is not good, yet coincidentally performed a good deed, so their merit is small. This is not the same principle nor the same level as the Buddha's state of "without deliberate purpose." Performing good deeds without considering the karmic retribution also belongs to "without deliberate purpose," and its merit is great. Due to the great power of wholesome dharmas, they can temporarily prevent the conditions for evil karma from ripening, and prevent great evil karma from ever ripening; this is the power of great vows. Without this power, at the end of life, one will inevitably follow the force of evil karma, as is the case for most people. The Tathagatagarbha is without deliberate purpose towards any person or matter at any time; it has neither merit nor sin, yet its merit and virtue are the greatest. The Buddha does all things without deliberate purpose; his merit is immeasurably great.