Signs That Karmic Obstructions Are Being Eliminated

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 obstructing the Path are not cleared away, seeing the Path is impossible. Only when one's practice becomes relatively effective and produces some results can a portion of the karmic obstructions be eliminated, and the causes and 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 you recognize that you have many afflictions, have created much evil karma, and have many karmic obstructions, and repentance arises, the karmic obstructions will be expelled bit by bit. 

There are many channels and ways for expelling karmic obstructions, such as receiving evil retribution, encountering all kinds of adversity, physical illness, 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 otherwise have fallen into the evil destinies due to evil karma from past lives can dissolve that karma through recitation; in this life, merely being despised by others causes the evil karma to be eradicated, so there is no need to 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—one should feel fortunate, and should not retaliate against the other party, otherwise the suffering would be endured 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 lot of filthy things, such as rotten flesh, black blood, yellow pus, or impure and foul substances flowing from the nine orifices, or they find themselves in a toilet surrounded by excrement and urine with nowhere 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 normally could not accept, very embarrassing and unimaginable scenes—all of these are signs of karma being dissolved. 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 dreams will manifest the elimination of karmic obstructions.

Dreams may 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. There are many kinds of filthy things that appear, and each person's situation will differ somewhat. Foul odors emanating from the body are also a manifestation of dissolving karma, as are the appearance of illness, all kinds of setbacks, and various unsatisfactory things occurring at home and at work, with chaos and commotion happening from time to time. 

The more vigorous, effective, and rapid one's practice, the faster and more abundantly the filthy things and defiled phenomena appear, and the greater the change in the mind. If these phenomena do not appear, it means 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, without yet 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-spraying machine, and a great deal of black filth is expelled from the mouth and from all over the body—such as 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, with something like sand and soil in the stomach that they want to vomit up but cannot; when it does come out, there is a feeling of pulling it out together with the internal organs, 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 and slander, and the like. 

From these phenomena, one should be able to appreciate that indeed a single utterance of the Buddha's name extinguishes sins as numerous as the sands of the Ganges. As long as one practices in accordance with the Dharma, many karmic offenses will be eradicated. Even if in this life one cannot eliminate self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi) or awaken to the true 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 is extremely worthwhile and extremely profitable.