Can the Karma of Sentient Beings Alter the Intrinsic Realm?

However, the unchanging nature of the fundamental realm is merely a temporary phenomenon, destined to change sooner or later. For the fundamental realm is also subject to the law of dependent arising and cessation, the law of arising and ceasing, transformation and variation. When conditions change, the fundamental realm inevitably changes. Even when conditions remain unchanged, if sentient beings direct their attention and expectations toward the fundamental realm, and the volitional aspirations of the mental faculty become involved, the fundamental realm is bound to transform. When the minds of the multitude are sincere and united with a single heart and mind, they inevitably cause the fundamental realm to shift according to the collective consciousness, and it may even transform according to the mind of a single enlightened individual.

Take the Earth, for example. Before the advent of humanity, although it existed in a state of arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing, its transformations were exceedingly slow. The delicious earth's essence and fertile soil remained on the Earth's surface for many kalpas, rich and bountiful, neither diminishing nor thinning. When beings descended to Earth and became human, due to their greed for the earth's essence, it grew progressively thinner and scarcer until it ceased to regenerate entirely and finally became extinct. This was the result of sentient beings' karmic influence. After its extinction, humans began cultivating delicious rice. Ultimately, due to the sentient beings' insatiable greed and unwillingness to relinquish it, the rice vanished, to the extent that even its name could no longer be found. Such is the power of sentient beings' karma.