Signs That One Is Purifying Karmic Obstacles

Since beginningless kalpas, everyone has created an enormous amount of evil karma, and there are immense karmic obstructions hindering cultivation of the Path. If the main karmic obstructions that obstruct the Path are not cleared away, seeing the Path is impossible. Only when one's practice becomes relatively effective and yields some results can part of the karmic obstructions be eliminated and the conditions obstructing the Path be removed. What counts as effective practice? After studying the Dharma and understanding the principles of the wholesome and the unwholesome, when one knows that one has many afflictions, has created much evil karma, and has many karmic obstructions, and a mind of repentance arises, the karmic obstructions will be expelled little by little. 

There are many channels and ways for expelling karmic obstructions, such as receiving evil retribution, encountering all kinds of adversity, suffering illnesses of the body, being bullied and slandered by others, being despised and discriminated against, and so on. As stated in the Diamond Sutra, because of reciting the Diamond Sutra, a person who would originally have fallen into the evil destinies due to evil karma from past lives can, through reciting the Diamond Sutra, dissolve that karma; in this life they are merely despised by others, and the evil karma is thereby eradicated, so that they need not undergo retribution in the three evil destinies in future lives. Being despised by others is suffering endured among humans, a retribution far, far lighter than that of the three evil destinies; even if one loses one's life, it is still far, far lighter than the retribution of the three evil destinies. Therefore, when a Buddhist practitioner receives evil retribution in this life—being bullied, beaten, or scolded by others—they should feel fortunate, and should not retaliate against the other party, thereby suffering in vain. 

After one's practice becomes effective, there are many ways of dissolving karma, and there are also many signs indicating that karma is being dissolved. For example, some people in dreams vomit up a great deal of filthy matter, such as rotten flesh, or black blood, or yellow pus, or impure and foul substances flow from the nine orifices, or they find themselves in a toilet surrounded by excrement and urine with no place to set foot or turn around—these filthy things also represent the greed, hatred, and delusion in one's mind. In dreams there may also appear phenomena that one would normally find unacceptable, embarrassing, and unimaginable—all of these are signs of dissolving karma. These are phenomena of dissolving karma through practice: having eaten the flesh of sentient beings before, one's mind and body are impure; after understanding the principles, when the mind becomes somewhat purer, some karma is dissolved, and the dissolution of karmic obstructions will manifest in dreams.

Dreams will also present situations in which the mind has become somewhat purer. The defilements in the mind will manifest in dreams through material form: filthy things coming out of the body indicate that defilements are coming out. The filthy things that appear are of many kinds, and each person's situation will differ somewhat. Foul odors emanating from the body are also a manifestation of dissolving karma, as are illnesses of the body and all kinds of setbacks; all sorts of unpleasant things will occur at home and at work, and scenes of chaos and commotion happen from time to time. 

The more vigorous, effective, and rapid one's practice is, the faster and more abundantly the filthy things and defiled phenomena appear, and the greater the change in one's mind. If these phenomena do not appear, it shows that one's practice is not yet very effective, has not touched the manas, and therefore cannot touch the karmic seeds. If the mind has not changed noticeably, karmic obstructions cannot be eliminated; one has not yet reached the stage of actual practice, but is only engaging with theory intellectually—interested in theory, yet without having reflected on how to transform oneself. 

When some people exert effort in recollection of the Buddha (buddhānusmṛti), their bodies sometimes act like a sand-throwing machine, and a great deal of black filth is expelled from the mouth and from all over the body—phlegm, flesh, powder, and so on. This is a phenomenon of dissolving karma manifested from having eaten the flesh of sentient beings in the past. Some people vomit in dreams, feeling that there is something like sand and soil in the stomach that they want to vomit up but cannot; when they do vomit, there is even a sensation of pulling out their internal organs along with it, and in an instant a particularly large chunk of filth is expelled. All of this is the defiled karma of greed, hatred, and delusion created in the past—evil karma of body, speech, and mind, harsh speech, slander, and so on. 

From these phenomena one should be able to appreciate that indeed, with a single utterance of the Buddha's name, sins as numerous as the sands of the Ganges are extinguished. As long as one practices in accordance with the Dharma, many karmic offenses will be eliminated. Even if in this life one cannot eradicate the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) or achieve seeing the mind, merely being able to dissolve karma is well worth it. One must dissolve as much karma as possible; only when karmic obstructions become slight can one see the Path. One must absolutely not create evil karma anymore—creating evil karma is extremely unworthy and extremely unprofitable, whereas diligent practice and eliminating afflictions are extremely worthwhile and extremely profitable.