Though Without Guilt, Unintentional Faults Incur Negative Karmic Retribution

First, to explain why faults arise even when there is no conscious intention to create evil karma—this is due to the mind's ignorance and delusion. Ignorance and delusion are fundamental afflictions, and from this root affliction arise all other major, medium, and minor derivative afflictions. The two fundamental afflictions of greed and hatred are also caused by ignorance and delusion. If there were no ignorance, no delusion, there would be no greed and no hatred. Without ignorance and delusion, all kinds of faults would not arise. Superficially, these faults may seem unintentional, but are they truly unintentional? No, they are not unintentional; they arise from the force of habitual tendencies born of afflictions. Because the habits are deeply ingrained, faults—even irreparable ones—are committed without passing through conscious thought or deliberation, resulting in severe harm to others, great losses, or even killing people, slandering the Three Jewels, or damaging the reputation of the Three Jewels.

Ordinary people often say these are unintentional mistakes, not deliberate acts, claiming they happened carelessly or uncontrollably. Viewed this way, they are not unintentional errors or oversights; rather, they are intentional, arising from a mind polluted by afflictions, a mind of delusion, signifying heavy habitual tendencies. Pure individuals do not have these faults or transgressions; their bodily, verbal, and mental actions are pure and perfect, free from error. Even Māra Pāpīyas, searching for faults in such people for hundreds or thousands of years, finds no flaw, no chink through which he can seize an opportunity to create evil karma, and thus departs disappointed. Therefore, all faults and transgressions are intentional, and thus all incur karmic retribution. The karmic retribution for ignorance and delusion is rebirth in the three lower realms, primarily the animal realm. Among all afflictions, ignorance is the hardest to eradicate. Only after greed and hatred are completely eliminated can ignorance be eradicated. It is not until the stage of Equal Enlightenment Bodhisattva that the last trace of ignorance is severed, demonstrating the stubbornness, subtlety, and pervasiveness of ignorance and delusion.

The heaviest karma of ignorance is not killing or arson. Although killing karma can lead to rebirth in hell, the duration is finite; once the sinful karma is exhausted, one emerges from hell. However, slandering the Three Jewels or committing evil deeds against the Three Jewels incurs retribution over an extremely long, almost immeasurable period. Even after emerging from the three lower realms and being reborn among humans, due to having slandered the Three Jewels, one still suffers retribution as blind, deaf, and mute, or fails to encounter the Three Jewels, never hearing their names. Even if part of the evil karma is exhausted and one encounters the Three Jewels, the Dharma teachings cannot enter the mind; one cannot find the door to entry, experiencing great distress. Among all evil retributions, none is heavier than this—obstructing the study of the Dharma and liberation, resulting in the greatest loss of supreme benefit.