What Kind of Person Can Escape the Karma of the Three Evil Destinies?

Only those who have truly eradicated the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi), truly seen the mind, and severed the three fetters can be guaranteed not to fall into the three evil destinies. If one has not truly eradicated the view of self, but merely believes in one's mind that the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) are without self, the three fetters remain unsevered, and the three evil destinies cannot be avoided. The aspiration to propagate the Dharma and deliver sentient beings is precious, but if one has not cultivated any real attainment oneself, one cannot deliver sentient beings from birth and death, one's own progress on the Path is also delayed, and once afflictions and delusion manifest, one goes straight to the three evil destinies. Cause and effect depend on one on the aspiration, and on the other on the actual facts.

For those who would deliver others before attaining liberation themselves, although they give rise to the bodhisattva's aspiration, without genuine practice of the Path, the consequences are also fearsome. If one can already avoid the three evil destinies oneself, and then comes out to propagate the Dharma and deliver sentient beings, sacrificing one's own progress on the Path, then it does not matter. Some people will say, "I have eradicated the view of self, I have seen the mind, I can avoid the three evil destinies." But whether one has truly eradicated the view of self, whether one has truly seen the mind—that is not something one can decide for oneself, nor is it something the person who gives the certification can decide; cause and effect have their own logic.

Some people say that by upholding the five precepts without violation one can attain a human body. But the devas of the formless realm maintain a pure mind for eighty thousand great kalpas without committing the slightest unwholesome karma, yet when their lives end, the unwholesome karma from beginningless kalpas past ripens and they fall directly into hell. The same is true for the devas of the desire realm and the devas of the form realm. In this life they commit no unwholesome karma, but in beginningless kalpas past they have committed great evil deeds, and an enormous amount of unwholesome karma has not yet come to fruition. Once those unwholesome karmic conditions ripen at the end of life, they transmigrate according to their karma, with no ability to direct themselves at all. Only by truly eradicating the view of self and severing the three fetters can the karma of the three evil destinies be eliminated. But if one commits great unwholesome karma again, one will still have to undergo retribution in the three evil destinies.