Is Your Present Predicament a Cause or a Result?

Karma spans the three periods of time—the past life, the present life, and the future life. Therefore, the things one does now and the wholesome or unwholesome experiences one encounters may be either a fruit or a cause. What is called a fruit means that there was a cause in a past life, and the fruit is reaped in this life; as for what is called a cause, it means that the deeds done in this life serve as the cause, and the fruit will come in a future life. If someone else commits toward you an act—whether it is a wholesome dharma or an unwholesome dharma—it may be a fruit or a cause. If it is a fruit, then you planted the cause in a past life, and in this life you deserve to receive this fruit; if it is not a fruit but a cause, then the other person is planting a cause upon you, and in the future it is he who will reap the fruit. This is the principle that karma spans the three periods of time. Therefore, present experiences are not necessarily fruits, nor are they necessarily causes. Only those with supernatural powers or great wisdom can determine whether a given matter is a cause or a fruit.