Pleasant and Painful Feelings Arise from Afflictive Karmic Formations

After attaining the fruits of realization, the karma leading to the three evil destinies is eliminated, but this karma must still be retributed in the human realm. However one receives retribution in the human realm, it is lighter than in the three evil destinies. The greatest evil retribution among humans is a short lifespan—being killed by others or tortured to death—which is still lighter than the suffering experienced in the three evil destinies. As long as there are the six consciousnesses, there is feeling; one can experience suffering, happiness, and neither-suffering-nor-happiness. The sages are the same in this respect. It is only that sages use their minds less; their minds are not on the five desires and the six sense objects, so their feelings of suffering and happiness are very slight. If they do care about the six sense objects, their feelings of suffering and happiness will also be somewhat greater.

Where there are afflictions, there are karmic formations, and one will do wrong things; it is the same even after enlightenment and attaining the fruits of realization. If the afflictions are slight, fewer wrong things are done; when afflictions are eradicated, even fewer wrong things are done. Even after afflictions are eradicated, there remain the habit energies of afflictions, so one will still make some slight mistakes. Only when a bodhisattva at the eighth bhūmi has completely eradicated the view of self-grasping and completely eliminated the habit energies of afflictions are there no longer any karmic formations related to the self. For bodhisattvas at the fourth bhūmi and above, who have attained the four dhyānas and eight samādhis and possess supernatural powers, there is hardly any suffering to experience; they rarely come to the human world—especially bodhisattvas at the seventh and eighth bhūmis, who have no need at all to come to the human world.