An Unintentional Fault Carries No Sin, Yet Still Brings an Evil Retribution

First, let us explain: if there was no intention in the mind to commit evil karma, why do faults still appear? This is because the mind has ignorance and delusion. Ignorance and delusion are root afflictions, and from these root afflictions arise the other major, medium, and minor affiliated afflictions. The two root afflictions of greed and aversion are also caused by ignorance and delusion; without ignorance, without delusion, there would be neither greed nor aversion; without ignorance and delusion, all manner of faults would not appear. On the surface, these faults seem to be committed unintentionally, but is it really without intention? It is not without intention—it is driven by afflictive habits. Because the habitual tendencies are heavy, faults are committed without going through the brain, without thinking—sometimes irreparable faults—so that people are severely hurt, or the loss is great, even to the point of killing someone, or slandering the Three Jewels and damaging the reputation of the Three Jewels.

Most people say these are unintentional faults, that one did not deliberately want to do anything, that they were committed carelessly, out of an inability to restrain oneself. But viewed this way, they are not unintentional faults or unintentional losses; rather, there was intention—there was an afflicted, defiled mind, a deluded mind—indicating heavy habitual tendencies. A pure person has no such faults and errors; their bodily, verbal, and mental actions are pure and perfect, without fault. Even Māra Pāpīyas, searching for such a person's faults for hundreds or thousands of years, could find none—there is no gap, no opening through which Pāpīyas can take advantage and seize the opportunity to commit some evil karma, and he can only return disappointed. Therefore all faults and errors involve intention, and thus all carry evil retribution. The retribution for delusion and ignorance is the three evil destinies, primarily the animal destiny. Among all the afflictions, delusion is the hardest to eliminate: greed and aversion must be completely eliminated before delusion can be eliminated, and only at the stage of an equal-enlightenment bodhisattva can the last portion of ignorance be severed. From this one can see the solidity, subtlety, and pervasiveness of ignorance and delusion.
The heaviest karma of delusion is not killing and arson. Though the karma of killing can cause one to fall into hell, the duration is limited; once the sinful karma is exhausted, one emerges from hell. But slandering the Three Jewels, or committing evil karma against the Three Jewels, carries an extremely, extremely long period of retribution. Even after emerging from the three evil destinies and being reborn among humans, because one once slandered the Three Jewels, one still suffers the retribution of being blind, deaf, mute, or will not encounter the Three Jewels, and will not hear the names of the Three Jewels. Even if part of the evil karma is exhausted and one does encounter the Three Jewels, when studying the Dharma it cannot enter the mind—one cannot find the door of entry—and this is very distressing. Of all evil retributions, none is heavier than this: it obstructs the study of the Dharma and liberation, and is the loss of the greatest benefit.