What Does "Manifestation According to Karma" Mean?

The phrase "manifest according to karma" in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra means that sentient beings, in accordance with their karmic power and karmic conditions, can only come into contact with a certain portion of the Dharma; without karmic conditions, they cannot come into contact with it. For example, with a gold mine, some people who go to mine it will obtain gold, while others who mine it will not. For example, with water, some people need water but cannot obtain it and die of thirst, while others come into contact with too much of it and drown. For example, with hell, some beings can see it and enter hell, while others cannot see it and cannot go to hell. The same is true of heavenly realms, and the same is true of the land of bliss (sukhāvatī). The environments in which every sentient being lives are all manifested according to karma; without karma, nothing appears.

All dharmas manifest in the mind in reliance on karmic power. Even when sentient beings come into contact with the same external six sense objects, because their karmic power differs, the inner six sense objects transmitted by each one's tathāgatagarbha into the supreme faculty (indriya) differ, so each sentient being is affected differently, and their perception and experience of the same realm differ. The most famous example is that devas, humans, and hungry ghosts see the same river: the external object-aspect (nimitta) is the same, but the inner object-aspect each perceives differs, and thus their enjoyment of it differs.