Bodily, Verbal, and Mental Actions and Their Retribution

The actions of body, speech, and mind, as soon as they occur, are karma. Body refers to the actions and deeds of the physical body, speech refers to the actions and deeds of language, and mind refers to the thoughts and mental actions of the seven consciousnesses. No matter which sentient being it is, as long as there are actions and deeds, there is karma, and there are karmic retributions; one must look at the wholesome or unwholesome nature and the severity of the bodily, verbal, and mental actions. The actions and deeds of the body can be wholesome or unwholesome, serious or minor; the actions and deeds of speech can be wholesome or unwholesome, serious or minor; the thoughts and mental actions of the seven consciousnesses can be wholesome or unwholesome, serious or minor. Accordingly, the karmic retributions are wholesome or unwholesome, serious or minor. If there is intention, there is an intended retribution; if there is no intention, there is an unintended retribution—no one escapes retribution. Only those of the third and fourth fruits who have eliminated the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion, and bodhisattvas who have attained the bhūmis, do not commit mental karma or commit it only very lightly; everyone else commits mental karma. Verbal karma is easier to commit than bodily karma; most people speak without restraint, while not so many create karma through bodily actions. Those who create much karma through bodily actions are people whose afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion are extremely heavy.

All dharmas created by the actions of body, speech, and mind are stored away as seeds. Intelligence and wisdom are stored away, so that in future lives one will still possess intelligence and wisdom in the same matters; things one does not understand will still not be understood in the next life. Every undertaking, whether wholesome, unwholesome, or neutral (avyākṛta), is entirely recorded and stored by the tathāgatagarbha. Nothing is done in vain, as if doing it were the same as not doing it at all; words that have been spoken are not spoken in vain either—each will eventually have a result, a reckoning.

Karmic seeds can only manifest when the causes and conditions are complete. The karmic seeds of countless kalpas cannot all manifest at once; rather, whichever karmic seed ripens first, the retribution of that karma is realized first. If all of them manifested together, the retributions would be an interweaving of wholesome and unwholesome, an interweaving of joy and suffering, and cause and effect would appear even more intricate and complex.