What determines the karmic retribution for the crime of stealing?

Question: When I was in school and had just started working, my wallet and phone were stolen on a bus. At the time I felt very indignant, but I have long since forgotten about it. If the manas truly no longer cares, does the thief's karmic offense thereby get eliminated?

Answer: The thief's karmic offense of stealing will not be exempted from its retribution just because of your forgiveness. As long as the offense has been committed, the corresponding retribution must inevitably follow. The retribution brought about by stealing is repaying debts at a high multiple and poverty, and in the future he will likewise be stolen from. So even if your manas no longer cares, his karmic offense remains a fact, and in the future the tathāgatagarbha will still actualize the retribution of stealing for him. As for you no longer seeking repayment, that is your own affair; perhaps in the future he will not have to repay you. Although you have forgotten it, the thief's mind has not changed; the karmic retribution of his offense depends on his mind. If he repents and makes amends, his karmic offense can be lightened. Although you have forgiven him, his tathāgatagarbha still records this matter, and in the future the retribution will be actualized according to the original shape of this matter and his mental disposition.

The Buddha forgives all people and does not hold anything against anyone—have the karmic offenses of all people been lightened? Those who fell directly into hell right before the Buddha—this had nothing to do with whether the Buddha forgave them; it was related to whether the manas of the offense-maker could truly repent. Even after repentance, the karmic retribution still must be undergone, only more lightly. A person who slandered an arhat sincerely repented right before the arhat at the time, yet in the end still fell into hell. The reason was that the karmic offense was too heavy; but had he not repented, the karma of falling into hell would have been even heavier, and the time of undergoing the evil retribution even longer.

Repentance can only lighten karmic offenses; completely eliminating them is very difficult, depending on the intensity and earnestness of the repentance, as well as the severity of the offense. If one wishes to be completely free from evil retribution, the only way is to attain realization of the fruits, eliminating the karma of the three evil destinies. Even after attaining realization of the fruits, one still must undergo retribution—only the evil retribution is undergone in the human realm rather than in the three evil destinies—whereas those who have not attained realization of the fruits must, in most cases, undergo retribution in the three evil destinies. However great the evil retribution undergone in the human realm, it is smaller than that undergone in the three evil destinies; however small the evil retribution in the three evil destinies, it is greater than that in the human realm. Therefore, no matter what kind of suffering one encounters, one should still persist in living and finish undergoing the suffering in the human realm; do not leave the suffering to be undergone in the three evil destinies—the suffering in the three evil destinies is beyond description.