What Is Equal in the Mundane World?

Some say the virus is the most equal—it does not matter whether one is rich or poor, powerful or powerless, male or female, young or old—yet some people simply do not get infected with the virus and do not fall ill. Death, however, is different: no matter who you are, death is certain. Those who have attained the fourth dhyāna can extend their lifespan, yet in the end they still must perish along with the body of the five aggregates. The Buddha could remain in the world for several great kalpas or even countless kalpas, yet in the end He too had to step down and leave the lands He Himself had established.

If cause and effect belong to this world, then cause and effect are the most equal of all: wholesome actions bring wholesome retribution, and unwholesome actions bring unwholesome retribution. When the time comes, the retributions of wholesome and unwholesome actions manifest, and there is no escaping them.

In one's lifetime, a person can possess everything, yet after death, all of it becomes useless. Money, power, status, fame, knowledge, learning, relatives, family, and so on—when it comes to the matter of death, none of these can help; there is nothing one can do about it. Observing at this moment, apart from the wholesome and unwholesome karma one has created throughout one's life, which can be carried away by the mind and whose retributions one must undergo, everything else can no longer be enjoyed or used. Therefore, we should know what the wise, living a lifetime in the mundane world, ought most to pursue; what can bring them the greatest benefit; what can bring them suffering, poverty, and lowliness; and what can never be obtained nor taken away.