Selected Lectures on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (Pitāputrasamāgamanasūtra)

Original text: 大王。彼无边称王。复更思惟。以我所有。善根力故。令四天下。降雨黄金。作是念已。于四天下。皆雨黄金。所以者何。皆由无边称王。于往昔时。与诸众生。共修善业。之所获得。

Parents and children also share collective karma. If parents and children had no collective karma—for example, if the parents were destined to receive the retribution of poverty while the child was destined to enjoy the retribution of wealth and honor—then after the child grew up and left home, he would prosper and become wealthy elsewhere, and the parents would be unable to enjoy it, which shows they had no collective karma. Sentient beings live together on Earth, so all humanity on Earth shares collective karma; or if people live in a small city, the people of that small city also share collective karma. Therefore, if we wish to obtain the retribution of wealth and honor, there is no need to pray for it; we need only genuinely practice generosity (dāna) and cultivate merit. Whoever cultivates it obtains it; whoever does not cultivate it does not obtain it. Wholesome karma is boundless and limitless. It is not the case that if you cultivate this karma of wealth and honor, then I will no longer have it—whoever cultivates it obtains it; if everyone cultivates it, everyone obtains it.

Thus collective karma causes sentient beings to gather in one place, while unshared karma causes them to separate from one another. For the beings in the land of bliss (Sukhāvatī), their collective karma manifests celestial garments and celestial food arising naturally, with the seven treasures everywhere and gold paving the ground—that is the collective karma of the beings in the land of bliss—whereas people on Earth treat gold as a treasure to wear on their bodies. When the merit of Earth's people has been mostly exhausted, the best thing on Earth will be iron; at that time, humans who obtain a piece of broken iron will treasure it and wear it on their bodies, because sentient beings no longer have merit. The collective karma of the meritless will attract vile things, with no treasures at all.

When the Earth first formed, it was covered with sweet springs, and nourishing earth-essence grew naturally. At that time humans descended from the second dhyāna heaven and had great merit. Later, sentient beings developed greed, their merit diminished, and the sweet springs and earth-essence disappeared, after which natural husked rice began to grow. Later, as merit diminished further and even the natural husked rice ceased to grow, humans had to plant the five grains, and from then until now crops have all been cultivated by human labor. There are highly nutritious grains and plants on Earth today whose names we have never even heard—this is the result of our depletion of merit. We now belong to sentient beings of meager merit (alpa-puṇya), and beings in the future will have even thinner merit than we do; delicious grains will all have vanished, and they will neither taste nor see them. Therefore, everything in our lives comes entirely from our merit.

Where is this merit stored? It is all stored in the tathāgatagarbha. The tathāgatagarbha is our bank. If we exhaust all the deposits in the bank, we become poor and lowly people; if the merit stored in the bank is not withdrawn, or only a little is withdrawn for our enjoyment, we are wealthy and noble great elders. Practitioners should deposit much and use little; after withdrawing merit, they should use it to benefit and bring joy to sentient beings, thereby depositing merit back in again. Then the deposits in the bank will grow ever larger, with interest compounding upon interest. When the cultivation of merit is brought to perfection, one can attain buddhahood.