The Law of Cause and Effect

If a novice monk who has left home mocks an old monk who has also left home, he incurs such a great evil retribution. If a layperson mocks a monastic, what evil retribution should he receive? If a layperson mocks a monastic who expounds the Dharma, what evil retribution should he receive? If a layperson slanders a monastic who expounds the Dharma, what evil retribution should he receive? If a layperson mocks a monastic who has attained the Way, what evil retribution should he receive? If a layperson mocks a monastic who has attained the Way and expounds the Dharma, what evil retribution should he receive? If a layperson slanders a monastic who has attained the Way and expounds the Dharma, what evil retribution should he receive?

Karma and its effects are beyond the comprehension of ordinary people. If a person has a mind of arrogance and delights in mocking others, no matter who the other person may be, there will be evil retribution. If a person delights in lying and deceiving others—saying east is west and west is east, engaging in false speech and frivolous speech, which is not proper speech—no matter who the other person may be, there will be evil retribution. If a person delights in berating others (except one's parents and teachers), showing no respect for seniority or hierarchy in order to display his own cleverness and talent, there will also be evil retribution.

In short, all ten unwholesome actions of bodily, verbal, and mental actions carry evil retribution. Therefore, in learning Buddhism one should understand karma and its effects, should uphold the precepts, should guard one's bodily, verbal, and mental actions, should discern the difference between wholesome and unwholesome, and strive to eliminate evil and cultivate goodness. Only when one's disposition is transformed and draws near to the disposition of sages will one have the opportunity to become a sage. The prerequisite for becoming a sage is possessing a disposition close to that of a sage; only then is one qualified to become a sage.

With virtue like the Buddha's, He could entirely say that noble arhats are scorched sprouts and rotten seeds. But anyone whose level of cultivation and realization is inferior to that of an arhat—no matter who he is—must not say this; to say it incurs evil retribution. The wholesome roots of an ordinary being are not worth even a single hair of an arhat's; an ordinary being has no qualification whatsoever to slander arhats as scorched sprouts and rotten seeds. Even with evidence it is not permissible; even if it is fact, it is not permissible; there will surely be evil retribution. For a layperson to speak of ordinary monastics in this way is also not permissible, and also carries evil retribution. Those of high virtue may speak of those of low virtue; those who hold the precepts may speak of those without precepts; those who received the precepts earlier may speak of those who received them later. Precepts are virtue: having monastic precepts is virtue, having bodhisattva precepts is virtue, daring to leave home is virtue, being able to leave home and renounce worldly life is virtue. Having cultivation and realization is even more so a virtue—the higher the cultivation and realization, the higher the virtue. Those of low virtue may not speak of it, and those without virtue even less so. Otherwise, the evil retribution will not be light.